National RTAP FAQs

National RTAP provides research and technical assistance related to the rural and tribal transit industry. Services include help finding training materials, documents, regulations, reports, and other types of information, as well as connecting you to experts in the field.

1. Training modules: traditional hard-copy training modules suitable for self-learning and/or instructor-led training.  Many include discs with videos and/or presentations.
2. Technical briefs: Short, informative guides on topics relevant to rural and tribal transit.
3. eLearning: self-guided, interactive online training hosted on our learning management system (LMS). 
4. eNews: email newsletter published every other Thursday with industry news, resources, training, legislation and opportunities. Archived on our website.
5. Web apps: web-based applications to help transit organizations with procurement compliance, building a website, and getting route and schedule data into online trip planners like Google Maps.  
6. Toolkits: comprehensive information and guidance on transit topics in e-textbook format.
7. Topic guides: lists of links to recommended full-text resources on transit topics. 
8. Webinars: 1 to 1 ½-hour-long online training from subject matter experts, with presentations and Q&A.  The recordings and handouts are posted on our website.
9. Peer roundtables: informal discussion of issues affecting various stakeholder groups and an open information exchange. Summaries are posted on our website. 
10. Twitter chats: interactive 1-hour Twitter sessions on a transit topic with one or more subject matter experts.  Transcripts and summaries are posted on our website.

All National RTAP products are free of charge to rural and tribal transit agencies. 

Yes. Our focus is rural and tribal transit providers, so our products and services are developed with their needs in mind. However, transit providers in small urban or urban areas are welcome to use them.

National RTAP is funded by the Federal Transit Administration to assist rural and tribal transit providers and to support the state RTAP programs. There is no charge for any of our training materials, eLearning courses, items in our Resource Library, or use of National RTAP in the Cloud web tools.

Documents can be downloaded from our Resource Library, through the Resource Share system. For discs and printed copies of training materials, you can order directly from the Resource Library, by phone (888-589-6821), e-mail (info@nationalrtap.org), or through a chat (click the Chat icon above). Please see the User Guide to the National RTAP Resource Library for instructions.

If the materials you requested are in stock, you should have them within approximately five business days. If they are not in stock, we will do everything we can to get them to you as soon as possible.

Yes, you can reproduce National RTAP training materials as needed. You may also download materials directly from our Resource Library.  Please note that not all of the resources in our Resource Library were created by National RTAP; please contact the publisher directly if you would like to reproduce materials created by other organizations, as they may have different policies.

Our staff are available from 9:00 am – 5:00 pm Eastern Time Monday through Friday, excluding major holidays.  If you do not reach us, please leave a message and we will reply the next business day. 

The Support Center houses how-to videos and Getting Started Guides for our web tools: Website Builder, GTFS Builder and ProcurementPRO. If the materials in the Support Center don’t answer your questions, tech support is available in several ways: call 888-589-6821 and ask for tech support, e-mail support@nationalrtap.org, or chat with the tech support staff by clicking the chat button above or in the Support Center.

Many questions can be answered on National RTAP’s eLearning page, which contains a technical brief and a team admin getting started guide. For National RTAP eLearning (National RTAP’s Learning Management System, or LMS) support, please call 888-589-6821 and ask for eLearning support, email elearning@nationalrtap.org, or chat with the eLearning support staff by clicking the chat button on the top of www.nationalrtap.org.

The National and State RTAP programs share the objective of providing training and technical assistance resources to rural and tribal transit providers. National RTAP products and services are available not only to rural and tribal transit providers, but also to the State RTAP managers for use in their local programs. We support the state programs in other ways, by hosting special events, an online forum, and webinars for sState RTAP managers, for example. There is no formal relationship between the national and state programs, however. See the State RTAP Manager section of our website for more information about state RTAP programs and to find the manager in your state.

Sign up for our bi-weekly eNews on our homepage for announcements about the latest National RTAP products and other news of interest to the rural transit industry. We also highlight products and services on our homepage.  In addition, you can follow us on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube – we provide buttons at the bottom of our website.

You may want to sign up for eNews using an email address with a different domain. For example, if you signed up with driver@bus.org, you may need to sign up with an email address that isn't @bus.org. Sign up for eNews here. You could also try getting your internet service provider (ISP) to allow Constant Contact emails. Find out more about how to do this on Constant Contact's support page.  You can also view all editions of eNews on our website.

Yes. Our webinars and peer calls are recorded and posted to our website after the event. The recordings and associated documents (for example, PDF of the presentation slides, Q&A document, etc.) are posted within a week of the event on our Webinars page and Peer Calls page, respectively.

National RTAP does not conduct on-site trainings at transit agencies. National RTAP’s primary focus is providing materials that assist transit agencies in conducting their own trainings. National RTAP training materials are also often used by consultants to conduct on-site training.  Visit our Directory of Trainers to find a trainer-for-hire in your area.

National RTAP hosts a 3-Day Technical Assistance Conference every other year in the fall.  The conference is always in a different geographical location in the United States.  We share information about our upcoming and past conferences in the News section of our website, eNews newsletter, and social media outlets. The next conference will be in fall 2025, but the location is still to be determined.

No. Our Resource Center often receives questions from passengers asking us to arrange rides for them.  Web visitors unfamiliar with National RTAP may see “Transit Assistance Program” and think that means assistance with providing passengers with transportation. While we do not provide this service, we can provide passengers with contact information for transit agencies in their area.

National RTAP offers certain products that require a login, though all are free: National RTAP eLearning and the following applications (technology tools): Cost Allocation Calculator, ProcurementPRO, GTFS Builder and Website Builder. Below is a breakdown of these products and the different logins currently required to access them.

We recommend that you use the same username and password for all if you are creating new accounts. If you have any questions or need help with your login credentials, contact us. 

National RTAP eLearning

• National RTAP eLearning is a learning management system (LMS) where you can take free online trainings.
• Register or login via the green buttons in the top right or at the bottom of the page.
• If you have any questions about the LMS, email elearning@nationalrtap.org.

Resource Share

• Use this system to order free training materials from our Resource Library.
• Register via the Self Registration button on the bottom of the left side navigation column.  Sign in with the Sign In button on the top navigation bar.  If you need assistance, email info@nationalrtap.org

ProcurementPRO, Cost Allocation Calculator, GTFS Builder and Website Builder

• If you haven't logged in since before February 14, 2019, you will need to create a new account. 
• Register or login via the “Cloud Signup” or “Cloud Login” buttons in the top right corner of the National RTAP website.