Job Access and Reverse Commuting Program

Program Goals

In order to meet the challenges of suburbanizing employment, the 1998 Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century established the Job Access and Reverse Commuting (JARC) program. In 2005, the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users reauthorized JARC as a formula-based program. Designed to rectify the spatial barrier between low-income people and suburbanized employment, JARC has several goals.

First, the program aims to connect low-income residents of central city areas to employment centers in the suburbs. (Low-income people are defined as those who are at or below 150 percent of the federal poverty line.) A second goal is to build interagency collaborations, broadening the potential scope of funded projects. Although narrow transit experiments could possibly produce valuable lessons or solutions, the broader approach can address larger systematic transportation needs. The final goal is to use collaborations as a mechanism for leveraging local funds and building diverse partnerships.

Funding

The leveraging of local funds is promoted through the program's funding structure. Eligible recipients include state and public entities. Funds are then passed to subrecipients, such as nonprofits, local governments, and public transportation operators. The Federal Transit Administration allocates 60 percent of JARC funds to large urban areas, 20 percent to small urban areas, and 20 percent to rural or smaller urban areas. Local recipients are expected to match federal contributions; the federal portion can be no more than 80 percent for eligible capital and planning costs and no more than 50 percent for operating costs. Ten percent of funds can be used for administrative costs with no required match for this activity.

The eligible uses for JARC funding correspond directly to the programmatic goals. Though subsidizing vehicle purchases for low-income individuals would provide access to employment, car ownership is not an eligible use of JARC funding because it would come at a high cost per person and would be an ineffective means for addressing large-scale transit problems. Eligible uses, therefore, encourage projects that involve mass transit.

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