PUBLIC HEARING ON FARE AND SERVICE CHANGES IN CERTAIN AUTHORITIES.

(a) An authority consisting of one subregion governed by a subregional board created under Subchapter O must hold a public hearing on:

(1) any fare change;

(2) a service change involving:

(A) 25 percent or more of the number of transit route miles of a transit route; or

(B) 25 percent or more of the number of transit revenue vehicle miles of a transit route, computed daily, for the day of the week for which the change is made; or

(3) the establishment of a new transit route.

(b) When the number of changes of a type described by Subsection (a)(2) in a fiscal year would equal the percentage applicable in that subsection, the public hearing must be held before the change that would equal or exceed the percentage.

(c) In this section:

(1) "Transit route" means a route over which a transit vehicle travels and that is specifically labeled or numbered for the purpose of picking up or discharging passengers at regularly scheduled stops and intervals.

(2) "Transit route mile" means one mile along a transit route regularly traveled by transit vehicles while available for the general public to carry passengers.

(3) "Transit revenue vehicle mile" means one mile traveled by a transit vehicle while the vehicle is available to the general public to carry passengers.

(4) "Service change" means any addition or deletion resulting in the physical realignment of a transit route or a change in the type or frequency of service provided in a specific, regularly scheduled transit route.

(d) The length of a transit route is the distance traversed in traveling completely over the route and returning to the starting point to begin another circuit of the route. If a route is defined in one direction only, the one-directional distance is the route length.