ATLANTA A regional administrator for the Federal Transit Administration has whacked a rural Georgia transit agency with a 2-by-4 because it was using federal dollars to operate and maintain a trolley bus whose only function was to provide illegal charters through a sham arrangement with a private van operator.

In a decision that only a lawyer could truly appreciate, Regional FTA Administrator Yvette Taylor and Regional Counsel Paul Jensen said the City of Rome (Ga.) Transit Department violated both the spirit and intent of federal charter regulations in its dealings with Shuttle Tran, which operates an airport van service out of Rome.

The FTA ruling stemmed from a complaint filed earlier this year by the United Motorcoach Association. UMA accused the Rome transit of providing illegal charters by engaging in a sham lease of its trolley bus to Shuttle Tran on at least 49 occasions last year.

The chartering activity was so commonplace and well known that area residents would call the Rome transit department and contract for the trolley bus like they were ordering a taxicab.

To cover its tracks, Rome Transit set up a sham lease arrangement with Shuttle Tran, which was paid a $50 "commission" for supposedly providing the charters when, in fact, they were provided by Rome Transit drivers using the trolley bus.

And, rather than stop the charter operation, Rome transit 'subcontracted' all charter work through Shuttle Tran. The subcontracting was nothing more than a sham.

For Shuttle Tran, however, the arrangement produced thousands of dollars in additional income.

But while the FTA ruling said Rome Transit breached the spirit and intent of charter rules in its dealings with Shuttle Tran, it did not technically violate charter bus regulations because Rome Transit is legally entitled to lease equipment to Shuttle Tran.

Still, the FTA did rule that Rome Transit clearly violated federal regulations by blatantly operating and maintaining the trolley bus out of a facility that was paid for with federal tax dollars. Such facilities can only be used to support buses that provide mass transportation and, in this case, the trolley bus only provided charters.

The trolley bus had not been paid for using federal money.

The FTA ordered Rome Transit to immediately cease and desist from any use of the federally-paid-for facility to house, maintain and/or operate the trolley.

The regional administrator 'recognized that RTD was operating a sham but rather than split hairs over the operation of a bus not purchased with federal funds, she chose to go after the bigger picture,' said Ken Presley, UMA vice president of industry relations.

Presley says that because of its misrepresentations, Rome transit should be compelled to refund the federal money it used to operate and maintain the trolley bus. In their decision, Taylor and Jensen said the issue of 'any remittance and reimbursement for the improper use of the facility for storing and maintaining the trolley bus will be addressed separately.'

'Although she (Taylor) punted . . . on whether the charters were in violation, she went straight for the FTA win,' said Presley.

'There is significant precedence in this ruling that we will likely be quoting for a long time,' he noted.