School Bus Operations

<RULE> DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION <SUBAGY>Federal Transit Administration</SUBAGY> <CFR>49 CFR Part 605 </CFR> <DEPDOC>[Docket No. FTA-2025-0004] </DEPDOC> <RIN>RIN 2132-AB53 </RIN> <SUBJECT>School Bus Operations </SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> Federal Transit Administration (FTA), Department of Transportation (DOT). <HD SOURCE="HED">ACTION:</HD> Final rule. <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is revising its regulations governing school bus operations to update outdated information and harmonize the regulation with current statutory language and existing practice. </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> This final rule is effective on July 1, 2025. </EFFDATE> <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Heather Ueyama, Office of Chief Counsel, (202) 366-7374 or <E T="03">heather.ueyama@dot.gov.</E> Office hours are from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD1">I. Purpose and Summary of Regulatory Action</HD> This final rule amends FTA's regulations regarding school bus operations at 49 CFR part 605. On April 1, 1976, FTA (then the Urban Mass Transportation Administration) initially adopted the regulations at part 605 (41 FR 14127). The regulations implemented section 109(a) of the National Mass Transportation Assistance Act of 1974 (NMTAA) (Pub. L. 93-503) and section 164(b) of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1973 (Pub. L. 93-87). These provisions directed an applicant for Federal financial assistance for the construction or operation of facilities and equipment for use in providing public mass transportation service must agree not to engage in school bus operations, exclusively for the transportation of students and school personnel, in competition with private school bus operators, unless certain exceptions were met. Since the regulations were first codified in 1976, the statute governing the prohibition on school bus service has been superseded by 49 U.S.C. 5323(f). However, FTA has not updated part 605 since it was initially adopted. Accordingly, FTA is revising part 605 to remove outdated provisions and bring the regulation into alignment with current statutes. These revisions will increase clarity for the public by removing obsolete language from the Code of Federal Regulations and reflect FTA's existing practice. <HD SOURCE="HD1">II. Section-by-Section Analysis</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD2">Authority Citations</HD> FTA has revised the authority citations to reflect that that the statute regarding school bus operations has been superseded by 49 U.S.C. 5323(f). FTA also revised other authority citations for accuracy. <HD SOURCE="HD2">Subpart A—General</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD3">Section 605.1 Purpose</HD> FTA revised this section to remove and replace obsolete language. This section provided a lengthy discussion of section 109(a) of NMTAA and section 164(b) of the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1973, which have been superseded by 49 U.S.C. 5323(f). FTA replaced this with current statutory language at 49 U.S.C. 5323(f). <HD SOURCE="HD3">Section 605.2 Scope</HD> FTA revised this section to align with the current governing statute at 49 U.S.C. 5323(f). The section now states that the regulations apply to all recipients of Federal financial assistance under 49 U.S.C. chapter 53 for a capital project, or to operate public transportation equipment or a public transportation facility. <HD SOURCE="HD3">605.3 Definitions</HD> FTA has revised this section throughout to reflect that the Federal Mass Transit Act of 1964 been superseded by 49 U.S.C. chapter 53. FTA made minor, non-substantive revisions throughout the section for clarity. In addition, FTA revised “mass transportation” and “mass transit” to “public transportation” throughout this section to remove outdated terminology. Similarly, it revised the term “grantee” to “recipient,” and replaced the term “applicant,” with “recipient” throughout the regulation. These are non-substantive changes that reflect existing law and FTA's existing practice. FTA made corresponding revisions throughout part 605 to reflect these terminology changes. FTA removed several definitions from this section. It removed the definition for the term “Act,” as FTA has replaced all instances of this term throughout part 605 with relevant citations. It removed the terms “Grant contract,” and “Government,” as these terms are no longer used in the regulations and therefore are unnecessary. It removed the term “Agreement” because the meaning of this term is self-evident. It removed the term “urban area” because it is no longer used in 49 U.S.C. 5323(f). FTA updated the definition of “incidental” to remove the reference to the Opinion of the Comptroller General from December 7, 1966. FTA included this reference as contextual information to explain how it adopted the definition pursuant to the opinion letter. However, the definition of “incidental” is found in numerous FTA Circulars, and readers can understand its meaning without referencing the letter. Furthermore, this letter references outdated terminology that FTA seeks to revise in this action, such as “mass transportation,” and relies on the now-superseded Federal Mass Transit Act of 1964. It therefore is unnecessary and superfluous to cite this letter in the definition. FTA updated the term “reasonable rates” to clarify and simplify the definition. <HD SOURCE="HD3">605.4 Public Hearing Requirement</HD> FTA is removing and reserving this section. This section reflected the requirement in section 3(d) of the Federal Mass Transit Act of 1964 that imposed a public hearing requirement on recipients to take public comment, for every application for federal assistance, on the economic, social, or environmental effects of their requested Federal financial assistance. This hearing requirement is obsolete and has been superseded by procedures under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and FTA's planning requirements. <HD SOURCE="HD2">Subpart B—School Bus Agreements</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD3">605.10 Purpose</HD> FTA is removing and reserving this section. The purpose of the subpart is self-evident, and it is unnecessary to include this section in the regulation. <HD SOURCE="HD3">605.11 Exemptions</HD> FTA revised this section to align the list of exemptions with current statutory language in 49 U.S.C. 5323(f). It also deleted paragraph (c), as these grandfathering provisions are obsolete. <HD SOURCE="HD3">605.12 Use of Project Equipment</HD> FTA made minor, non-substantive edits in this section for clarity and to update outdated terminology. <HD SOURCE="HD3">605.13 Tripper Service</HD> FTA revised this section to cross-reference section 605.12. This edit will not change any existing requirements and will increase clarity for readers. <HD SOURCE="HD3">605.14 Agreement</HD> FTA updated this section to reflect FTA's current practice. The agreement FTA makes with recipients regarding school bus operations is executed via FTA's annual Certifications and Assurances for Grants and Cooperative Agreements (Certifications and Assurances). Specifically, recipients must certify to Category 4 (Private Sector Protections) in the Certifications and Assurances. This change has no substantive impact on the status quo and merely conforms the regulation to existing requirements. <HD SOURCE="HD3">605.15 Content of Agreement</HD> FTA is removing and reserving this section. As discussed above, FTA's existing practice is to execute agreements with recipients regarding school bus operations through the annual Certifications and Assurances. The provisions in 605.15, which discuss requirements for agreements, are obsolete and do not reflect existing requirements. FTA does not rely on them and removing them from the regulation will have no substantive impact on the status quo. <HD SOURCE="HD3">605.16 Notice</HD> FTA amended this section to remove outdated information and reflect existing practice. As noted above, FTA's practice is for recipients to certify compliance with the school bus requirements through the annual Certifications and Assurances. They do not submit this information in their applications. Accordingly, FTA has removed the reference to the recipient's application from this section and revised the term “statement” to “certification.” FTA also removed the word “urban” because this term is no longer used in the statute. FTA has removed paragraph (a)(2) and (b)(3), as the requirement to publish a statement in a newspaper of general circulation originated in section 3(d) of the Federal Mass Transit Act of 1964, which is obsolete and no longer in effect. FTA made other minor revisions for clarity and to reflect the revised numbering structure of the section. FTA added paragraph (a)(4), which states the required notice must include a statement that private school bus operators may file written comments on a recipient's proposed or existing school bus operations. This reflects existing requirements and is not a change to the status quo. <HD SOURCE="HD3">605.17 Certification In Lieu of Notice</HD> FTA edited this section to update outdated terminology and remove a reference to the recipient's application. As discussed above, these edits conform the regulation to FTA's existing practice, which is for recipients to make an agreement with FTA regarding school bus operations through the annual Certifications and Assurances. FTA also removed language regarding publishing notice in a newspaper of general circulation, as this reflects an obsolete provision from the Federal Mass Transit Act of 1964, which is no longer in effect. These edits do not impact existing requirements and merely harmonize the regulation with the status quo. <HD SOURCE="HD3">605.18 Comments by Private School Bus Oper ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 34k characters. 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