Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 238 / Thursday, December 11, 1997 / Notices 65307

will address the jurisdictional issue raised by the

motion to dismiss in a subsequent decision.

acquire certain physical assets to allow

construction and operation of a

passenger rail transit system. The notice

states that the transaction would be

consummated no sooner than the

December 1, 1997 effective date of the

exemption. The accompanying motion

to dismiss indicates that the transaction

is expected to be consummated by

December 31, 1997.

This notice is filed under 49 CFR

1150.31. If the notice contains false or

misleading information, the exemption

is void ab initio. A petition to revoke the

exemption under 49 U.S.C. 10502(d)

may be filed at any time. The filing of

a petition to revoke will not

automatically stay the transaction. An

original and 10 copies of all pleadings,

referring to Finance Docket No. 33524,

must be filed with the Surface

Transportation Board, Office of the

Secretary, Case Control Branch, 1925 K

Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20423–

0001. In addition, a copy of each

pleading must be served on Kevin M.

Sheys, Oppenheimer Wolff & Donnelly,

1020 Nineteenth Street, N.W. Suite 400,

Washington, DC 20036–6105.

Decided: December 3, 1997.

By the Board, David M. Konschnik,

Director, Office of Proceedings.

Vernon A. Williams,

Secretary.

[FR Doc. 97–32268 Filed 12–10–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4915–00–P

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Bureau of Transportation Statistics

Agency Information Collection;

Activity Under OMB Review; Report of

Passengers Denied Confirmed Space,

BTS Form 251

AGENCY: Bureau of Transportation

Statistics (BTS), DOT.

ACTION: Notice.

SUMMARY: In compliance with the

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Pub.

L. 104–13, the Bureau of Transportation

Statistics (BTS) invites the general

public, industry and other Federal

Agencies to comment on the continuing

need for and usefulness of DOT

requiring U.S. and foreign air carriers

that operate scheduled passenger

service with over 60-seat aircraft to

submit reports on their oversales

practices. Such carriers must submit the

quarterly Form 251 ‘‘Report of

Passengers Denied Confirmed Space.’’

However, carriers do not report data

from inbound U.S. international flights

because the protection of Part 250

‘‘Oversales’’ do not apply to these

flights. The Department uses Form 251

data to monitor the compliance by U.S

and foreign air carriers to the oversales

provisions of Part 250.

DATES: Written comments should be

submitted by February 9, 1998.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be

directed to: Office of Airline

Information, K–25, Room 4125, Bureau

of Transportation Statistics, Department

of Transportation, 400 Seventh Street,

SW., Washington, DC 20590–0001.

COMMENTS: Comments should identify

the OMB # 2138–0018 and a duplicate

copy should be submitted to the address

listed above. Commenters wishing the

Department to acknowledge receipt of

their comments must submit with those

comments a self-addressed stamped

postcard on which the following

statement is made: Comments on OMB

# 2138–0018. The postcard will be date/

time stamped and returned to the

commenter.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Bernie Stankus, Office of Airline

Information, K–25, Bureau of

Transportation Statistics, 400 Seventh

Street, SW., Washington, DC 20590–

0001, (202) 366–4387.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: OMB

Approval No. 2138–0018.

Title: Report of Passengers Denied

Confirmed Space Part 250.

Form No.: 251.

Type of Review: Extension of a

currently approved requirement.

Respondents: Large U.S. and foreign

passenger air carriers.

Number of Respondents: 140.

Total Annual Burden: 2,438 hours.

Needs and Uses: BTS Form 251 is a

one-page report on the number of

passengers denied boarding voluntarily

or involuntarily, whether the bumped

passengers were provided alternate

transportation and/or compensation,

and the amount of the payment. The

report allows the Department to monitor

the effectiveness of its oversales rule

and take enforcement action when

necessary. The involuntary deniedboarding rate has decreased over the

years from 4.38 per 10,000 passengers in

1980 to 1.16 per 10,000 passengers for

the nine months ended September 1997.

These statistics demonstrate the

effectiveness of the ‘‘volunteer’’

provision, which has reduced the need

for more intrusive regulation.

The rate of denied boarding can be

examined as an air carrier continuing

fitness factor. This rate provides an

insight into a carrier’s policy on treating

overbooked passengers and its

compliance disposition. A rapid

sustained increase in the rate of denied

boarding often is an indicator of

operational difficulty.

Because the rate of denied boarding is

released quarterly, travelers and travel

agents can select carriers with low

bumping incidents when booking a trip.

This information is made available to

the public through the Air Travel

Consumer Report, which the

Department publishes. The report is

sent to newspapers, magazines, and

trade journals.

Timothy E. Carmody,

Director, Office of Airline Information,

Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

[FR Doc. 97–32455 Filed 12–10–97; 8:45 am]

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