FTA Seeks Input on Standards for Public Transit Safety

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT)'s Federal Transit Administration (FTA) recently posted a consolidated advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) on the U.S. Federal Register requesting input on a number of subject areas related to the FTA's Public Transportation Safety Program and the requirements associated with the National Transit Asset Management (TAM) System. The TAM system was authorized by the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21), a transportation reauthorization bill signed into law by President Barack Obama in July 2012. The goal of improved transit asset management is to implement a strategic approach for assessing needs and prioritizing investments for bringing the nation's public transit systems into a state of good repair.

The FTA is particularly interested in stakeholders' responses to the following questions related to safety standards for public transit:

• In addition to the American Public Transportation Association (APTA)'s voluntary consensus standards, what other sources of safety performance standards for transit vehicles are available that FTA should consider?
• What criteria should be used to identify, prioritize, and develop performance-based vehicle standards?
• To what degree should existing voluntary consensus standards be considered or used in developing and implementing a performance-based vehicle standards regime?
• Specific to rail vehicle standards, what areas or categories of standards would yield the greatest safety improvement if required as a minimum safety performance standard for the public transportation industry? What areas or categories of standards would yield the most cost-effective safety improvements?
• Specific to bus vehicle standards, what areas or categories of standards would yield the greatest safety improvement if required as minimum safety performance standards for the public transportation industry? What areas or categories of vehicle standards would yield the most cost-effective safety improvements?

All comments must be received by Saturday, January 4, 2014, and must include either the relevant docket number (FTA-2013-0030) or RIN number (2123-AB20, 2132-AB07), but not both. Comments may be submitted via the Federal eRulemaking Portal at www.regulations.gov, by fax to 202-493-2251, or by hand-delivery, courier, or mail to the following address:

Docket Operations
U.S. Department of Transportation
1200 New Jersey Avenue SE
West Building Room W12-140
Washington, DC 20590-0001

The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) strongly encourages members of the ANSI Federation, standards developing organizations (SDOs), industry representatives, consumer advocates, and other relevant stakeholders to submit comments in response to this request.

The full ANPRM is available online.