August 10, 2016
“WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration (FTA) today announced a Final Rule that will improve the process for ensuring the safety and reliability of new transit buses funded with FTA dollars. The new rule will establish a set of minimum performance standards, a standardized scoring system, and a pass-fail threshold that will better inform local transit agencies as they evaluate and purchase buses for use in their communities.
“Throughout our nation, millions of Americans rely on transit buses every day, and they expect to ride in safe, reliable vehicles that meet or exceed federal requirements,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. “This rule will help local transit agencies put well-tested, high-quality vehicles on the road, while streamlining the testing process.”
The new bus testing rule will require newly procured buses to meet minimum thresholds in key areas such as safety, reliability, and performance. Existing procedures used by the FTA Bus Testing Facility will largely remain intact, but data generated will be used to apply a new 100-point scoring system to tested buses, making it easier to compare similarly sized bus models from different manufacturers.”
