6372 Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 24 / Friday, February 5, 2016 / Notices 

1The requirement for minimum standards for 

operations was authorized under the Fixing 

America’s Surface Transportation Act (‘‘FAST’’) 

(Pub. L. 114–94 (2015)). The FAST Act supersedes 

MAP–21 and was signed into law by the President 

on December 4, 2015. 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Transit Administration 

[Docket No. FTA–2015–0017] 

RIN 2132–ZA04 

National Public Transportation Safety 

Plan 

AGENCY: Federal Transit Administration 

(FTA), DOT. 

ACTION: Notice of availability of 

proposed National Public 

Transportation Safety Plan; request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: The Federal Transit 

Administration (FTA) invites public 

comment on a proposed National Public 

Transportation Safety Plan (National 

Safety Plan). FTA’s proposed National 

Safety Plan is intended to guide the 

national effort in managing the safety 

risks within the Nation’s public 

transportation systems. The direction 

and guidance set forth in the National 

Safety Plan is intended to guide FTA’s 

partners within the transit industry 

towards improving an already excellent 

safety record. 

The proposed National Safety Plan 

has been placed in the docket and 

posted on the FTA Web site. If adopted, 

the National Safety Plan will be the 

primary communication tool for all of 

FTA’s safety programs. 

DATES: Comments must be received on 

or before April 5, 2016. Any comments 

received beyond this deadline will be 

considered to the extent practicable. 

FTA will hold a series of public 

webinars to discuss the contents of the 

proposed National Public 

Transportation Safety Plan and respond 

to clarifying questions. Please check 

FTA’s Web site at http://

www.fta.dot.gov/calendar.html for 

further information regarding the dates 

and times of the webinars. In addition, 

FTA will hold a public listening session 

on March 16, 2016 at 9:30 a.m. during 

the APTA Legislative Conference, which 

is being held at the JW Marriot located 

at 1331 Pennsylvania Ave. NW., 

Washington, DC 20004. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

to DOT docket number FTA–2015–0017 

by any of the following methods: 

Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to 

http://www.regulations.gov and follow 

the online instructions for submitting 

comments. 

U.S. Mail: Docket Management 

Facility, U.S. Department of 

Transportation, 1200 New Jersey 

Avenue SE., West Building, Room W12– 

140, Washington, DC 20590–0001. 

Hand Delivery or Courier: U.S. 

Department of Transportation, 1200 

New Jersey Avenue SE., West Building, 

Ground Floor, Room W12–140, 

Washington, DC 20590, between 9 a.m. 

and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, 

except Federal holidays. 

Fax: 202–493–2251. 

Instructions: You must include the 

agency name (Federal Transit 

Administration) and docket number 

(FTA–2015–0017) for this notice at the 

beginning of your comments. You must 

submit two copies of your comments if 

you submit them by mail. If you wish 

to receive confirmation FTA received 

your comments, you must include a 

self-addressed, stamped postcard. Due 

to security procedures in effect since 

October 2001, mail received through the 

U.S. Postal Service may be subject to 

delays. Parties submitting comments 

may wish to consider using an express 

mail firm to ensure prompt filing of any 

submissions not filed electronically or 

by hand. 

All comments received will be posted, 

without change and including any 

personal information provided, to 

http://www.regulations.gov, where they 

will be available to internet users. You 

may review DOT’s complete Privacy Act 

Statement published in the Federal 

Register on April 11, 2000, at 65 FR 

19477. For access to the docket and to 

read background documents and 

comments received, go to http://

regulations.gov at any time or to the U.S. 

Department of Transportation, 1200 

New Jersey Avenue SE., Docket 

Management Facility, West Building 

Ground Floor, Room W12–140, 

Washington, DC 20590 between 9 a.m. 

and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, 

except Federal holidays. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

program matters, Brian Alberts, Office of 

System Safety, (202) 366–1783 or 

Brian.Alberts@dot.gov. For legal 

matters, Candace Key, Office of Chief 

Counsel, (202) 366–1936 or 

Candace.Key@dot.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant 

to 49 U.S.C. 5329(b), FTA is obliged to 

create and carry out a National Public 

Transportation Safety Plan to improve 

the safety of all public transportation 

systems that receive Federal financial 

assistance under 49 U.S.C. Chapter 53. 

FTA seeks public comment on this first 

proposed National Safety Plan. The 

proposed National Safety Plan is 

available in its entirety on the agency’s 

public Web site at http://

www.fta.dot.gov, and in the docket at 

http://www.regulations.gov. 

Pursuant to 49 U.S.C. 5329(b), a 

National Safety Plan must include, at 

minimum, the following: 

• Safety performance criteria for all 

modes of public transportation; 

• The definition of the term ‘‘state of 

good repair,’’ established under a 

rulemaking to implement a National 

Transit Asset Management System 

pursuant to 49 U.S.C. 5326(b); 

• Minimum safety performance 

standards for public transportation 

vehicles used in revenue operations that 

are not otherwise regulated by any other 

Federal agency, and that, to the extent 

practicable, take into account relevant 

recommendations of the National 

Transportation Safety Board and other 

industry best practices and standards; 

• Minimum safety standards to 

ensure the safe operation of public 

transportation systems that are not 

related to vehicle performance 

standards; 1 and 

• A safety certification training 

program. 

The proposed National Safety Plan 

addresses each of the aforementioned 

statutory requirements. In addition, the 

proposed National Safety Plan would 

serve as FTA’s primary tool for 

communicating with the transit industry 

about the industry’s safety performance. 

The proposed National Safety Plan is 

organized into the following four 

chapters: 

Chapter I Introduction and 

Background: Chapter I explains the 

purpose for the Plan and introduces the 

state of safety performance in the public 

transportation industry. 

Chapter II Safety Management 

Systems: Chapter II provides a 

framework for applying SMS to transit 

agencies of any size or mode of public 

transportation. 

Chapter III Safety Performance 

Management for Public Transportation: 

Chapter III lays out FTA’s strategic 

approach to safety performance. This 

chapter sets forth FTA’s safety vision 

and mission, establishes safety 

performance criteria for all modes of 

public transportation, and presents 

performance measures designed to 

improve safety performance in day-today operations. This chapter also 

describes how FTA will collect and 

disseminate safety performance data, 

and based on that data, set national 

goals for improving the transit 

industry’s safety performance. 

Chapter IV Managing Risk to 

Improve Public Transportation Safety 

Performance: Chapter IV provides 

information about the actions FTA has 

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Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 24 / Friday, February 5, 2016 / Notices 6373 

taken to address safety risks within the 

public transportation industry, 

information on tools that transit 

providers can use to implement SMS in 

their agencies, information about other 

sources of technical assistance, and the 

public transportation safety certification 

training program. 

FTA expects to update the National 

Safety Plan, from time to time, in 

response to trends in risk management 

in the transit industry, emerging 

technologies, best practices, findings 

from research, and other industry 

developments. FTA will establish all 

future editions of the National Safety 

Plan through public notice-andcomment. 

FTA plans to base each edition of the 

National Safety Plan on the principles 

and methods of Safety Management 

Systems (SMS): A formal, top-down, 

organization-wide approach to 

managing safety risks and ensuring the 

effectiveness of a public transportation 

agency’s safety risk mitigations. In his 

Dear Colleague letter dated May 13, 

2013, the former Federal Transit 

Administrator, Peter Rogoff, described 

SMS as a flexible, performance-based 

regimen that will help a safe industry 

become even safer by fostering sound 

safety policy and culture at every transit 

system, whatever its size or mode of 

operation. See, http://www.fta.dot.gov/

newsroom/12910_15391.html. 

In this issue of the Federal Register, 

FTA also is publishing a notice of 

proposed rulemaking (NPRM) for Public 

Transportation Agency Safety Plans. 

The NPRM would require operators of 

public transportation systems that 

receive Federal financial assistance 

under 49 U.S.C. chapter 53 to develop 

and implement Public Transportation 

Agency Safety Plans based on the Safety 

Management System approach. FTA 

seeks public comments on all aspects of 

the proposed rule, including 

information related to its benefits and 

costs, as well as alternative approaches 

that may be more cost-effective in 

satisfying the statutory requirements. 

Readers should please note that two 

key elements of the National Safety 

Plan—the definition of state of good 

repair, and the Public Transportation 

Safety Certification Training Program— 

are the subjects of rulemakings already 

underway. On October 3, 2013, FTA 

issued an Advance Notice of Proposed 

Rulemaking for transit asset 

management and several safety 

programs, at 78 FR 61251–72, which 

offered a number of alternative 

approaches for defining the term state of 

good repair. On February 27, 2015, FTA 

announced interim provisions for the 

Public Transportation Safety 

Certification Program, at 80 FR 10619– 

26. The interim provisions became 

effective in May. FTA published an 

NPRM for safety certification training on 

December 3, 2015. 80 FR 75639. The 

public comment period for the training 

certification NPRM closed on February 

1, 2016, and FTA is now reviewing the 

comments. On September 30, 2015, FTA 

published a notice of proposed 

rulemaking for transit asset 

management. 80 FR 58912. FTA will 

publish a final rule for transit asset 

management in the coming months. 

FTA has addressed ANPRM comments 

received on the National Safety Plan in 

a separate document that we have 

posted in the docket. 

Two other key elements of the 

National Safety Plan—the minimum 

safety performance standards for public 

transportation vehicles used in revenue 

operations and minimum operational 

standards—may eventually be the 

subject of rulemaking. For the time 

being, however, FTA is proposing to 

establish voluntary vehicle performance 

standards and voluntary operational 

standards in this first iteration of the 

National Safety Plan. FTA seeks specific 

comment on the following questions 

related to the proposed standard: 

1. Has your agency adopted any of the 

proposed voluntary standards? 

2. What is the cost to your agency of 

implementing the proposed voluntary 

standards? 

3. What other standards has your agency 

adopted? 

4. In what other areas should FTA establish 

standards? 

Other elements of the National Safety 

Plan, including, specifically, the safety 

advisories, directives, and reports that 

FTA will issue, from time to time, need 

not be the subject of notice-andcomment, but the agency will include 

them in the National Safety Plan for the 

purpose of communicating with the 

transit industry and the public on 

matters of general interest in improving 

the safety of public transportation. After 

reviewing and responding to the 

comments received on this proposed 

National Public Transportation Safety 

Plan, FTA will issue a final National 

Safety Plan. 

Therese W. McMillan, 

Acting Federal Transit Administrator. 

[FR Doc. 2016–02010 Filed 2–4–16; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE P 

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