Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 156 / Tuesday, August 12, 2008 / Notices 46975 

commercial vehicle.’’ Mr. Hines 

reported that he has driven straight 

trucks for 18 years, accumulating 

216,000 miles, and tractor-trailer 

combinations for 18 years, accumulating 

216,000 miles. He holds a Class A CDL 

from Texas. His driving record for the 

last 3 years shows no crashes and no 

convictions for moving violations in a 

CMV. 

John H. Holmberg 

Mr. Holmberg, 63, has had amblyopia 

in his left eye since childhood. The best 

corrected visual acuity in his right eye 

is 20/20 and in the left, 20/70. 

Following an examination in 2008 his 

optometrist noted, ‘‘I would concur with 

these results and agree that Mr. 

Holmberg has adequate vision to operate 

a commercial vehicle.’’ Mr. Holmberg 

reported that he has driven straight 

trucks for 20 years, accumulating 50,000 

miles. He holds a Class A CDL from 

Wisconsin. His driving record for the 

last 3 years shows no crashes and no 

convictions for moving violations in a 

CMV. 

Gary R. Lomen 

Mr. Lomen, 49, has had amblyopia in 

his left eye since childhood. The best 

corrected visual acuity in his right eye 

is 20/20 and in the left, 20/50. 

Following an examination in 2008, his 

optometrist noted, ‘‘In my opinion, Mr. 

Lomen can operate a commercial 

vehicle safely with his current vision, 

based on years of success with his 

visual condition.’’ Mr. Lomen reported 

that he has driven straight trucks for 16 

years, accumulating 542,400 miles. He 

holds an operator’s license from 

Washington. His driving record for the 

last 3 years shows no crashes and no 

convictions for moving violations in a 

CMV. 

Leonardo Lopez, Jr. 

Mr. Lopez, 36, has complete loss of 

vision in his right eye due to chronic 

retinal detachment. The best corrected 

visual acuity in his left eye is 20/30. 

Following an examination in 2007 his 

ophthalmologist noted, ‘‘I believe that 

Mr. Lopez has sufficient vision to 

perform driving tasks required to 

operate a commercial vehicle.’’ Mr. 

Lopez reported that he has driven 

straight trucks for 9 years, accumulating 

126,000 miles. He holds a Class D 

operator’s license from New Jersey. His 

driving record for the last 3 years shows 

no crashes and no convictions for 

moving violations in a CMV. 

Jeffrey F. Meier 

Mr. Meier, 50, has had a macular scar 

in his left eye due to toxoplasmosis 

since birth. The best corrected visual 

acuity in his right eye is 20/25 and in 

the left, 20/150. Following an 

examination in 2008 his 

ophthalmologist noted, ‘‘My opinion is 

that he has sufficient vision to operate 

a commercial vehicle.’’ Mr. Meier 

reported that he has driven straight 

trucks for 30 years, accumulating 

675,000 miles. He holds a Class D 

operator’s license from Iowa. His 

driving record for the last 3 years shows 

no crashes and no convictions for 

moving violations in a CMV. 

James G. Mitchell 

Mr. Mitchell, 41, has a prosthetic left 

eye due to a traumatic injury that 

occurred in 1993. The visual acuity in 

his left eye is 20/20. Following an 

examination in 2007 his optometrist 

noted, ‘‘I feel Mr. Mitchell is visually 

able to operate a motor vehicle in all 

lighting conditions with a driver’s side 

mirror.’’ Mr. Mitchell reported that he 

has driven tractor-trailer combinations 

for 16 years, accumulating 2.2 million 

miles. He holds a Class D operator’s 

license from Alabama. His driving 

record for the last 3 years shows no 

crashes and no convictions for moving 

violations in a CMV. 

Billy R. Pierce 

Mr. Pierce, 59, has a decreased right 

eye due to a severe infection that 

occurred in 2004. The best corrected 

visual acuity in his right eye is 20/20 

and in the left, 20/400. Following an 

examination in 2008, his optometrist 

noted, ‘‘It is my opinion, that Mr. Pierce 

has the ability and visual ability to 

operate a commercial vehicle.’’ Mr. 

Pierce reported that he has driven 

straight trucks for 43 years, 

accumulating 1.3 million miles, and 

tractor-trailer combinations for 29 years, 

accumulating 435,000 miles. He holds a 

Class D operator’s license from 

Alabama. His driving record for the last 

3 years shows no crashes and no 

convictions for moving violations in a 

CMV. 

James A. Rapp 

Mr. Rapp, 46, has had loss of vision 

in his left eye due to childhood 

glaucoma. The visual acuity in his right 

eye is 20/20 and in the left, count-finger 

vision. Following an examination in 

2008, his ophthalmologist noted, ‘‘In my 

opinion, he has sufficient vision to 

perform the driving tasks required to 

operate a commercial vehicle.’’ Mr. 

Rapp reported that he has driven 

straight trucks for 18 years, 

accumulating 374,400 miles. He holds a 

Class D operator’s license from Ohio. 

His driving record for the last 3 years 

shows one crash, which he was cited 

for, and no other convictions for moving 

violations in a CMV. 

Thomas P. Shank 

Mr. Shank, 41, has had exotropia in 

his right eye since birth. The best 

corrected visual acuity in his right eye 

is count-finger vision and in the left, 20/ 

16. Following an examination in 2008, 

his optometrist noted, ‘‘In my medical 

opinion, Mr. Shank has sufficient vision 

to perform the driving tasks required to 

operate a commercial vehicle at any 

time of day or night.’’ Mr. Shank 

reported that he has driven straight 

trucks for 5 years, accumulating 250,000 

miles, and tractor-trailer combinations 

for 19 years, accumulating 1.7 million 

miles. He holds a Class A CDL from 

New York. His driving record for the 

last 3 years shows no crashes and two 

convictions for moving violations in a 

CMV; unsafe lane changes, and 

speeding in a CMV. He exceeded the 

speed limit by 9 mph. 

Request for Comments 

In accordance with 49 U.S.C. 31136(e) 

and 31315, FMCSA requests public 

comment from all interested persons on 

the exemption petitions described in 

this notice. The Agency will consider all 

comments received before the close of 

business September 11, 2008. 

Comments will be available for 

examination in the docket at the 

location listed under the ADDRESSES

section of this notice. The Agency will 

file comments received after the 

comment closing date in the public 

docket, and will consider them to the 

extent practicable. In addition to late 

comments, FMCSA will also continue to 

file, in the public docket, relevant 

information that becomes available after 

the comment closing date. Interested 

persons should monitor the public 

docket for new material. 

Issued on: August 7, 2008, 

Larry W. Minor, 

Associate Administrator for Policy and 

Program Development. 

[FR Doc. E8–18613 Filed 8–11–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–EX–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Transit Administration 

[Docket No: FTA–2008–0009] 

National Transit Database: Policy on 

Reporting of Coordinated Human 

Services Transportation Data 

AGENCY: Federal Transit Administration 

(FTA), DOT. 


sroberts on PROD1PC70 with NOTICES
46976 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 156 / Tuesday, August 12, 2008 / Notices 

ACTION: Notice of Proposed New Policy 

on Reporting of Coordinated Human 

Services Transportation Data to the 

National Transit Database. 

SUMMARY: This notice provides 

interested parties with the opportunity 

to comment on changes to the Federal 

Transit Administration’s (FTA) National 

Transit Database (NTD) policy on the 

reporting of coordinated human services 

transportation data. For many years, it 

has been FTA’s policy to require transit 

agencies reporting demand response 

service to the NTD to exclude service 

data for certain sponsored trips from 

their reports. These trips were typically 

arranged and paid for by a third party 

for a specific group of clients (such as 

participants in programs like Medicaid, 

Head Start, sheltered workshops, or 

assisted living centers), and were often 

not open to the general public at large. 

Data for these trips were thus excluded 

from the calculation of the 

apportionment of Urbanized Area 

Formula Grants. In light of FTA’s 

policies and guidance on Coordinated 

Human Services Transportation, FTA is 

proposing to clarify this policy for the 

2008 NTD Report Year to specify that 

transit agencies are to report data for all 

of their demand response service as 

public transportation, except for those 

services that are defined as charter 

service under FTA’s recently revised 

charter rule (49 CFR Part 604, 73 FR 

2326, January 14, 2008). FTA also 

proposes to require transit agencies in 

urbanized areas to separately report 

their ‘‘regular unlinked passenger trips’’

and their ‘‘sponsored demand response 

unlinked passenger trips’’ for demand 

response service. FTA invites the public 

to comment on this proposed policy 

change. 

DATES: Comments must be received on 

or before September 11, 2008. FTA will 

consider comments filed after this date 

to the extent practicable. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

[identified by DOT Docket ID Number 

FTA–2008–0009] at the Federal 

eRulemaking Portal at: http:// 

www.regulations.gov. Follow the online 

instructions for submitting comments. 

Fax: 202–493–2251. 

Mail: Docket Management Facility: 

U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 

New Jersey Avenue, SE., West Building 

Ground Floor, Room W12–140, 

Washington, DC 20590–0001. 

Hand Delivery or Courier: U.S. 

Department of Transportation, 1200 

New Jersey Ave., SE., West Building 

Ground Floor, Room W12–140, 

Washington, DC 20590–0001 between 9 

a.m. and 5 p.m. ET, Monday through 

Friday, except Federal holidays. 

Instructions: When submitting 

comments, you must use docket number 

FTA–2008–0009. This will ensure that 

your comment is placed in the correct 

docket. If you submit comments by 

mail, you should submit two copies and 

include the above docket number. 

Note that all comments received will 

be posted, without change, to 

Note that all comments received will 

be posted, without change, to http:// 

www.regulations.gov including any 

personal identifying information. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

program issues, John D. Giorgis, Office 

of Budget and Policy, (202) 366–5430 

(telephone); (202) 366–7989 (fax); or 

john.giorgis@dot.gov (e-mail). For legal 

issues, Richard Wong, Office of the 

Chief Counsel, (202) 366–0675 

(telephone); (202) 366–3809 (fax); or 

richard.wong@dot.gov (e-mail). 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background 

The National Transit Database (NTD) 

is the Federal Transit Administration’s 

(FTA’s) primary database for statistics 

on the transit industry. Congress 

established the NTD to ‘‘help meet the 

needs of * * * the public for 

information on which to base public 

transportation service planning. * * *’’

(49 U.S.C. 5335). Currently, over 650 

transit providers in urbanized areas 

report to the NTD through an Internetbased reporting system. Each year, 

performance data from these 

submissions are used to apportion over 

$5 billion of FTA funds under the 

Urbanized Area Formula Grants and the 

Fixed Guideway Modernization Grants 

Programs. These data are also used in 

the annual National Transit Summaries 

and Trends report, the biennial 

Conditions and Performance Report to 

Congress, and in meeting FTA’s 

obligations under the Government 

Performance and Results Act. 

II. Proposed Policy Change 

For many years, it has been FTA’s 

policy to require transit providers 

reporting demand response service to 

the NTD to exclude certain trips that 

were sponsored by a third party from 

their reports. A ‘‘trip sponsor’’ refers to 

a third party that reimbursed the transit 

provider in whole or in part for the trip, 

and in many cases, handled all or part 

of the trip arrangements. These trips 

were typically arranged and paid for by 

some third party for a specific group of 

clients (such as participants in programs 

like Medicaid, Head Start, sheltered 

workshops, or assisted living centers), 

and were often not open to the general 

public at large. Data for these trips were 

thus excluded from the calculation of 

the apportionment of Urbanized Area 

Formula Grants. 

FTA proposes to clarify this policy in 

light of FTA’s policy and guidance on 

Coordinated Human Services 

Transportation, and in light of PTA’s 

recently revised charter rule (49 CFR 

Part 604, 73 FR 2326, January 14, 2008). 

FTA proposes in this notice that transit 

providers reporting to the NTD for the 

2008 NTD Report Year, should report all 

of their demand response services to 

individuals as public transportation 

services, regardless of whether the trip 

was sponsored in whole or in part by a 

third party. Trips that meet the 

definition of charter service at 49 CFR 

604.3(c) must be reported on a quarterly 

basis on the charter registration Web 

site, as required by the charter rule, and 

data for these trips should not be 

reported as revenue service to the NTD. 

A key component of FTA’s charter 

rule is the concept of ‘‘exclusivity.’’

Charter service is defined, in part, as 

‘‘transportation provided * * *, at the 

request of a third party for the exclusive 

use of a bus or van at a negotiated 

price,’’ with the caveat that ‘‘charter 

service * * * does not include demand 

response service to individuals.’’ Transit 

providers reporting to the NTD may 

distinguish their demand response 

services, particularly their sponsored 

demand response service, from charter 

service a number of ways: (1) Charter 

service is exclusive, whereas demand 

response service is shared-ride. If the 

transit provider may mix passengers 

from a trip sponsor with other demand 

response passengers on the same trip, 

then the trip is on shared-ride service, 

and service data for that trip should be 

reported to the NTD as public 

transportation. (2) Charter service is 

service to a group, whereas demand 

response service is service to 

individuals. Service to individuals can 

be identified by a vehicle trip that 

includes multiple origins, multiple 

destinations, or both, even when the 

clients have exclusive use of the 

vehicle. Some demand response 

sponsored trips carried out as part of a 

Coordinated Human Services 

Transportation Plan, such as trips for 

Head Start, assisted living centers, or 

sheltered workshops, may be provided 

on an exclusive basis, but are provided 

to service multiple origins to a single 

destination, a single origin to multiple 

destinations, or even multiple origins to 

multiple destinations. Transit providers 

should report service data for these trips 

to the NTD as public transportation. (3) 

Charter service is for a specific event or 


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Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 156 / Tuesday, August 12, 2008 / Notices 46977 

function, whereas demand response 

service is regular and continuing. Some 

demand response sponsored trips 

carried out as part of a Coordinated 

Human Services Transportation Plan 

may be exclusive, and may be for a 

group from a single origin to a single 

destination, but may occur on a 

frequently reoccurring basis, such as 

daily, weekly, biweekly, or monthly. 

Transit providers should report service 

data for these trips to the NTD as public 

transportation. Demand response 

service that is exclusive, from a single 

origin to a single destination, and that 

reoccurs on a less-frequent basis that 

once per month should be considered to 

be charter service. Transit providers 

should report these services to the 

charter registration Web site. 

Transit providers reporting to the 

NTD must specifically exclude from 

their reports on revenue service any 

service that meets the definition of 

‘‘charter service’’ under the charter rule, 

and thus, must be reported to the 

charter registration Web site. This 

exclusion includes charter service 

legally provided to a Qualified Human 

Services Organization (QHSO), as 

provided for by the charter rule. 

To implement this policy, FTA 

proposes to require transit providers 

reporting to the NTD to report their 

regular unlinked passenger trips and 

their sponsored unlinked passenger 

trips separately for demand response 

service. Reporters would not have to 

make this distinction for any other 

modes of service. Regular unlinked 

passenger trips would refer to those 

demand response trips that are arranged 

and paid for by individuals, even when 

those individuals pay the fare with userside subsidies, such as coupons or 

passes provided a QHSO. Regular 

unlinked passenger trips would include 

all demand response trips provided 

pursuant to the requirements of the 

Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. 

Sponsored unlinked passenger trips 

would include all trips where the transit 

provider is directly reimbursed in whole 

or in part by some third party that has 

helped arrange for the trips. This 

distinction would make reporting of 

these services for urbanized area transit 

agencies consistent with the reporting of 

these services for transit agencies in 

rural areas. Since this proposal is being 

announced late in the 2008 Report Year, 

FTA will grant a waiver from reporting 

separately regular and sponsored 

unlinked passenger trips for the 2008 

Report Year to any NTD Reporter that 

requests such a waiver. 

Issued in Washington, DC, this 1st day of 

August 2008. 

James S. Simpson, 

Administrator. 

[FR Doc. E8–18388 Filed 8–11–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–57–M 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Surface Transportation Board 

60-Day Notice and Request for 

Comments 

AGENCY: Surface Transportation Board, 

DOT. 

ACTION: 60-day notice and request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: As part of its continuing effort 

to reduce paperwork burdens, and as 

required by the Paperwork Reduction 

Act of 1995, 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq. 

(PRA), the Surface Transportation Board 

(Board) gives notice of its intent to 

request from the Office of Management 

and Budget (OMB) approval without 

change of the seven existing collections 

described below. 

Comments are requested concerning 

each collection as to (1) Whether the 

particular collection of information is 

necessary for the proper performance of 

the functions of the Board, including 

whether the collection has practical 

utility; (2) the accuracy of the Board’s 

burden estimates; (3) ways to enhance 

the quality, utility, and clarity of the 

information collected; and (4) ways to 

minimize the burden of the collection of 

information on the respondents, 

including the use of automated 

collection techniques or other forms of 

information technology, when 

appropriate. Submitted comments will 

be included and/or summarized in the 

Board’s request for OMB approval. 

DATES: Written comments are due on 

October 14, 2008. 

ADDRESSES: Direct all comments to 

Marilyn Levitt, Surface Transportation 

Board, Suite 1260, 395 E Street, SW., 

Washington, DC 20423–0001, or to 

levittm@stb.dot.gov. Comments should 

be identified as ‘‘Paperwork Reduction 

Act Comments, and should refer to the 

title and control number of the specific 

collection(s) commented upon. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

additional information or copies of the 

information collection(s) contact Scott 

Decker at (202) 245–0330 or 

deckers@stb.dot.gov. [Federal 

Information Relay Service (FIRS) for the 

hearing impaired: (800) 877–8339.] 

Subjects: In this notice the Board is 

requesting comments on the following 

information collections: 

Collection Number 1 

Title: Class I Railroad Annual Report 

OMB Control Number: 2140–0009. 

Form Number: R1. 

Type of Review: Extension without 

change. 

Respondents: Class I railroads. 

Number of Respondents: Fewer than 

10. 

Estimated Time per Response: As long 

as 800 hours, based on information 

provided by the railroad industry during 

the 1990’s. This estimate includes time 

spent reviewing instructions; searching 

existing data sources; gathering and 

maintaining the data needed; 

completing and reviewing the collection 

of information; and converting the data 

from the carrier’s individual accounting 

system to the Board’s Uniform System 

of Accounts (USOA), which ensures that 

the information will be presented in a 

consistent format across all reporting 

railroads, see 49 U.S.C. 11141–43, 

11161–64, 49 CFR 1200–1201. It is 

likely that the estimated time to produce 

this report is overstated, given the 

advances made in computerized data 

collection and processing systems. 

Frequency of Response: Annual. 

Total Annual Hour Burden: Up to 

5,600 hours annually. 

Total Annual ‘‘Non-Hour Burden’’

Cost: No ‘‘non-hour cost’’ burdens 

associated with this collection have 

been identified. 

Needs and Uses: Annual reports are 

required to be filed by Class I railroads 

under 49 U.S.C. 11145. The reports 

show operating expenses and operating 

statistics of the carriers. Operating 

expenses include costs for right-of-way 

and structures, equipment, train and 

yard operations, and general and 

administrative expenses. Operating 

statistics include such items as carmiles, revenue-ton-miles, and gross tonmiles. The reports are used by the 

Board, other Federal agencies, and 

industry groups to monitor and assess 

railroad industry growth, financial 

stability, traffic, and operations, and to 

identify industry changes that may 

affect national transportation policy. 

Information from this report is also 

entered into the Board’s Uniform Rail 

Costing System (URCS), which is a cost 

measurement methodology. URCS, 

which was developed by the Board 

pursuant to 49 U.S.C. 11161, is used as 

a tool in rail rate proceedings, in 

accordance with 49 U.S.C. 10707(d), to 

calculate the variable costs associated 

with providing a particular service. The 

Board also uses this information to more 

effectively carry out other of its 

regulatory responsibilities, including: 

Acting on railroad requests for authority 


sroberts on PROD1PC70 with NOTICES