Bus testing facility

49 U.S.C. § 5318

• Title: 49 — Transportation
• Chapter: 53 — PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION

Text

(a) Facility.—The Secretary shall maintain one facility for testing a new bus model for maintainability, reliability, safety, performance (including braking performance), structural integrity, fuel economy, emissions, and noise.
(b) Operation and Maintenance.—The Secretary shall enter into a contract or cooperative agreement with, or make a grant to, a qualified person or organization to operate and maintain the facility. The contract, cooperative agreement, or grant may provide for the testing of rail cars and other public transportation vehicles at the facility.
(c) Fees.—The person operating and maintaining the facility shall establish and collect fees for the testing of vehicles at the facility. The Secretary must approve the fees.
(d) Availability of Amounts To Pay for Testing.—The Secretary shall enter into a contract or cooperative agreement with, or make a grant to, the operator of the facility under which the Secretary shall pay 80 percent of the cost of testing a vehicle at the facility from amounts available to carry out this section. The entity having the vehicle tested shall pay 20 percent of the cost.
(e) Acquiring New Bus Models.—
(1) In general.—Amounts appropriated or otherwise made available under this chapter may be obligated or expended to acquire a new bus model only if—
(A) a bus of that model has been tested at a facility authorized under subsection (a); and
(B) the bus tested under subparagraph (A) met—
(i) performance standards for maintainability, reliability, performance (including braking performance), structural integrity, fuel economy, emissions, and noise, as established by the Secretary by rule; and
(ii) the minimum safety performance standards established by the Secretary pursuant to section 5329(b).
(2) Bus test "pass/fail" standard.—Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of the Federal Public Transportation Act of 2012, the Secretary shall issue a final rule under subparagraph (B)(i). The final rule issued under paragraph 1 (B)(i) shall include a bus model scoring system that results in a weighted, aggregate score that uses the testing categories under subsection (a) and considers the relative importance of each such testing category. The final rule issued under subparagraph (B)(i) shall establish a "pass/fail" standard that uses the aggregate score described in the preceding sentence. Amounts appropriated or otherwise made available under this chapter may be obligated or expended to acquire a new bus model only if the new bus model has received a passing aggregate test score. The Secretary shall work with the bus testing facility, bus manufacturers, and transit agencies to develop the bus model scoring system under this paragraph. A passing aggregate test score under the rule issued under subparagraph (B)(i) indicates only that amounts appropriated or made available under this chapter may be obligated or expended to acquire a new bus model and shall not be interpreted as a warranty or guarantee that the new bus model will meet a purchaser's specific requirements.
(f) Capital Equipment.—A facility operated and maintained under this section may use funds made available under this section for the acquisition of equipment and capital projects related to testing new bus models.

History

(Pub. L. 103–272, §1(d), July 5, 1994, 108 Stat. 817; Pub. L. 103–429, §6(8), Oct. 31, 1994, 108 Stat. 4378; Pub. L. 105–178, title III, §§3018, 3029(b)(8), June 9, 1998, 112 Stat. 361, 372; Pub. L. 109–59, title III, §§3002(b)(4), 3020, Aug. 10, 2005, 119 Stat. 1545, 1608; Pub. L. 112–141, div. B, §20014, July 6, 2012, 126 Stat. 694; Pub. L. 117–58, div. C, §30008, Nov. 15, 2021, 135 Stat. 903.)

Editorial Notes

In subsection (c), the words "Under the contract entered into under paragraph (2)" are omitted as surplus.
In subsection (d), the words "to the operator of the facility" are omitted as surplus.
In subsection (e), the text of section 317(b)(5) of the Surface Transportation and Relocation Assistance Act of 1987 (Public Law 100–17, 101 Stat. 132) is omitted as obsolete. The words "operating and maintaining the facility" are substituted for "described in paragraph (3)" for clarity.

Pub. L. 103–429
This amends 49:5318(e) to correct an erroneous cross-reference.

Editorial Notes

References in Text
The date of enactment of the Federal Public Transportation Act of 2012, referred to in subsec. (e)(2), is deemed to be Oct. 1, 2012, see section 3(a), (b) of Pub. L. 112–141, set out as Effective and Termination Dates of 2012 Amendment notes under section 101 of Title 23, Highways.

Amendments
2021—Subsec. (f). Pub. L. 117–58 added subsec. (f).
2012—Pub. L. 112–141 added subsec. (e) and struck out former subsec. (e). Prior to amendment, text read as follows: "Amounts appropriated or made available under this chapter may be obligated or expended to acquire a new bus model only if a bus of that model has been tested at the facility maintained by the Secretary under subsection (a)."
2005—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 109–59, §3020(a), amended heading and text of subsec. (a) generally. Prior to amendment, text read as follows: "The Secretary of Transportation shall establish one facility for testing a new bus model for maintainability, reliability, safety, performance (including braking performance), structural integrity, fuel economy, emissions, and noise. The facility shall be established by renovating a facility built with assistance of the United States Government to train rail personnel."
Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 109–59, §3002(b)(4), substituted "public transportation" for "mass transportation".
Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 109–59, §3020(b), substituted "to carry out this section" for "under section 5309(m)(1)(C) of this title".
Subsec. (e). Pub. L. 109–59, §3020(c), amended heading and text of subsec. (e) generally. Prior to amendment, text read as follows: "The Secretary has a bus testing revolving loan fund consisting of amounts authorized for the fund under section 317(b)(5) of the Surface Transportation and Uniform Relocation Assistance Act of 1987. The Secretary shall make available as repayable advances from the fund to the person operating and maintaining the facility amounts to operate and maintain the facility."
1998—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 105–178, §3018(a), substituted "enter into a contract or cooperative agreement with, or make a grant to," for "make a contract with" and inserted "or organization" after "qualified person", ", cooperative agreement, or grant" after "The contract", and "mass transportation" after "and other".
Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 105–178, §§3018(b), 3029(b)(8), substituted "enter into a contract or cooperative agreement with, or make a grant to," for "make a contract with" and "5309(m)(1)(C) of this title" for "5338(j)(5) of this title".
1994—Subsec. (e). Pub. L. 103–429 inserted "Uniform" before "Relocation".

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date of 2012 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 112–141 effective Oct. 1, 2012, see section 3(a) of Pub. L. 112–141, set out as an Effective and Termination Dates of 2012 Amendment note under section 101 of Title 23, Highways.

Effective Date of 1994 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 103–429 effective July 5, 1994, see section 9 of Pub. L. 103–429, set out as a note under section 321 of this title.