Document ID: FMCSA-2008-0038-0001
Agency: fmcsa
Document Type: Rule
Title: Agency Information Collection Activities; New Information Collection: Survey of Over-the-Road Bus Companies About Accessible Transportation for Individuals With Disabilities
Posted Date: 2008-04-22T04:00Z

[Federal Register: April 22, 2008 (Volume 73, Number 78)]
[Notices]               
[Page 21685-21686]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr22ap08-96]                         

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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

[Docket No. FMCSA-2008-0038]

 
Agency Information Collection Activities; New Information 
Collection: Survey of Over-the-Road Bus Companies About Accessible 
Transportation for Individuals With Disabilities

AGENCY: Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The FMCSA invites comments about our intention to request the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to approve a new Information 
Collection Request (ICR). The new ICR is associated with a review of 
the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) implementing 
regulations for over-the-road bus companies, contained in 49 CFR part 
37 subpart H. The regulatory review is required by section 37.215. The 
collected information would assist DOT with the decision to modify or 
retain the requirements contained in the ADA regulations. This notice 
is required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before June 23, 2008.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments bearing the Department of 
Transportation (DOT) Docket Management System (DMS) Docket Number FMCSA 
Docket Number FMCSA-2008-0038 using any of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://
www.regulations.gov. Follow the on-line instructions for submitting 
comments.
     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: West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590-0001 between 9 a.m. 
and 5 p.m., e.t., Monday through Friday, except Federal Holidays.
     Fax: 1-202-493-2251.
    Each submission must include the Agency name and the docket number 
for this Notice. Note that DOT posts all comments received without 
change to http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal 
information included in a comment. Please see the Privacy Act heading 
below:

[[Page 21686]]

    Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or 
comments, go to http://www.regulations.gov at any time or Room W12-140 
on the ground level of the West Building, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., 
Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, 
except Federal holidays. The DMS is available 24 hours each day, 365 
days each year. If you want acknowledgement that we received your 
comments, please include a self-addressed, stamped envelope or post 
card or print the acknowledgement page that appears after submitting 
on-line.
    Privacy Act: Anyone may search the electronic form of all comments 
received into any of our dockets by the name of the individual 
submitting the comment (or of the person signing the comment, if 
submitted on behalf of an association, business, labor union, etc.). 
You may review the DOT's complete Privacy Act Statement in the Federal 
Register on April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19477-78; Apr. 11, 2000). This 
information is also available at http://Docketinfo.dot.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Peter Chandler, Federal Motor 
Carrier Safety Administration, Office of Enforcement and Compliance, 
Commercial Passenger Carrier Safety Division, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, 
SE., Washington, DC 20590. Telephone: (202) 366-5763, or e-mail 
peter.chandler@dot.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Background: On September 28, 1998, DOT issued final regulations, in 
response to the ADA, which required operators of over-the-road buses to 
provide service accessible (OTRBs) to persons with disabilities and to 
ensure that all new OTRBs were accessible to such persons, including 
those who use wheelchairs. DOT is required by 49 CFR 37.215 to review 
the various requirements within the ADA regulations for OTRB companies. 
As part of this review, DOT is required to consider certain factors, 
including the percentage of accessible ORTBs in the fleets of OTRB 
companies, the success of such companies at meeting the requests of 
passengers with disabilities for accessible OTRBs in a timely manner, 
ridership of OTRBs by passengers with disabilities, volume of 
complaints by passengers with disabilities, and the cost and service 
impacts of these requirements. After the review, DOT is required to 
decide whether it is appropriate to revise the ADA regulations for OTRB 
companies (i.e. whether certain provisions of the ADA regulations 
should be removed, modified, or made more stringent). DOT has a 
currently approved information collection under control number 2100-
0019 to provide the Agency with data for use in its review of the ADA-
related requirements and to monitor compliance by OTRB companies. Such 
data are reported to FMCSA. For the section 37.215 review, FMCSA is 
providing data and analytical support to the DOT's Office of the 
Secretary. Additional data collection from OTRB companies is necessary 
in order for DOT to conduct an effective review and make an informed 
regulatory policy decision. Specifically, data about bus fleet 
accessibility, fulfillment of accessible bus requests, and ridership 
and volume of complaints by passengers with disabilities, are needed 
from OTRB companies. FMCSA would send letters to approximately 3,800 
registered OTRB companies that will be requested to complete and submit 
an enclosed form.
    Title: Survey of Over-the-Road Bus Companies about Accessible 
Transportation for Individuals with Disabilities.
    Type of Information Collection Request: New information collection.
    Respondents: Private entities that operate OTRBs, are primarily in 
the business of transporting people, and whose operations affect 
commerce.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 3,800.
    Estimated Time per Response: The estimated average burden per 
response is 15 minutes.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden: 950 hours [3,800 responses x 15 
minutes/60 minutes per response = 950 hours].
    Frequency of Response: This proposed information collection is 
planned to be conducted only once in a year. FMCSA may request the 
information be reported a second time 12 months after the initial 
request for a second 12-month period of data. A decision to request the 
information for a second time will be based upon the number of 
responses and the content of such responses to the initial request.
    Public Comments Invited: Interested parties are invited to send 
comments regarding any aspect of this information collection, including 
but not limited to: (1) Whether the proposed collection is necessary 
for the performance of DOT's functions; (2) the accuracy of the 
estimated burden; (3) ways to enhance the quality, usefulness, and 
clarity of the collected information; and (4) ways to minimize the 
collection burden without reducing the quality of the collected 
information. Comments submitted in response to this notice will be 
summarized and/or included in the request for OMB's clearance for this 
information collection.

    Issued on: April 14, 2008.
Michael S. Griffith,
Acting Associate Administrator, Research and Information Technology.
[FR Doc. E8-8670 Filed 4-21-08; 8:45 am]

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