Section 4.02. Definitions.

  In this chapter:

(1)  "Department" means the Wisconsin department of transportation.

(1m)  "Eligible applicant" means a local public body in an urban area which is served by an urban mass transit system incurring an operating deficit.

(1r)  "Joint-use facility" means a facility that is shared by the public transit operation and at least one other business.

(2)  "Local public bodies" are defined to be:

(a) Counties, municipalities or towns, or agencies thereof;

(b) Transit or transportation commissions or authorities and public corporations established by law or by interstate compact to provide mass transportation services and facilities; or,

(c) Two or more of any such bodies acting jointly under s. 66.0301 , Stats.

(3)  "Mass transit system" means an entity which provides the general public with passenger transportation services on a regular and continuing basis. The transportation services for the general public may be provided by buses, rail, shared-ride taxicabs or other conveyance. A mass transit system may provide specialized transportation services for elderly and disabled persons by operating a subsystem, or by contracting for such services with another agency. An agency which provides transportation services exclusively for a subgroup of the general public is not a "mass transit system" for purposes of this chapter.

(4)  "Private provider" means a privately owned entity that owns facilities or revenue passenger vehicles used to provide transit service.

(5)  "Public provider" means any provider of mass transit service not defined as a private provider.

(5m)  "Revenue hours" means hours in which a mass transit vehicle is operating in revenue service, such as being available to pick up or discharge passengers.

(6)  "Revenue passenger vehicle" means a vehicle used to transport revenue paying passengers on a mass transit system.

(6m)  "Secretary" means the secretary of the Wisconsin department of transportation.

(7)  "Shared-ride taxicab" means a taxicab legally able to simultaneously transport passengers having different origins or destinations.

(8)  "Subsystem" means that part of a transit system which provides special services to elderly or disabled persons.

(8m)  "Unlinked trip" means a trip beginning when a passenger boards the vehicle and ending when the passenger alights from the vehicle, even though the passenger may have to transfer to another vehicle to complete his or her journey.

(9)  "Urban area" means any area that includes a city or village having a population of 2,500 or more or an area that includes 2 American Indian reservations and that is served by a mass transit system operated by a transit commission. The department shall determine the population of a city or village within an urban area using the most recent estimates prepared by the department of administration.

(10)  "Urban mass transit system" means a mass transit system providing at least two-thirds of its revenue miles of service within the boundaries of an urban area.

(11)  "User-side subsidy" means financial assistance provided directly to a user of a mass transit system or of a subsystem thereof in the form of a voucher provided to the user by the local public body for use in payment of a fare, or a portion of a fare, for a trip taken on an urban transit system or eligible subsystem.

History: Cr. Register, November, 1978, No. 275 , eff. 12-1-78; am. (1), (3) and (6), Register, May, 1982, No. 317 , eff. 6-1-82; renum. (3) to (6) to be (10), (3), (9) and (8) and am. (3), cr. (4) to (7) and (11), Register, October, 1986, No. 370 , eff. 11-1-86; am. (9), Register, August, 1989, No. 404 , eff. 9-1-89; r. and recr. (9), Register, December, 1989, No. 408 , eff. 1-1-90; cr. (intro.), am. (1), (3) and (8), Register, April, 1993, No. 448 , eff. 5-1-93; renum. (1) to be (1m) and cr. (1), (1r), (5m), (6m) and (8m), Register, November, 2000, No. 539 , eff. 12-1-00; correction in (2) (c) made under s. 13.92 (4) (b) 7. , Stats., Register March 2012 No. 675 .