PTASP Summary of NPRM Comments and Proposed Changes

Public Transportation
Agency Safety Plans
(PTASP)
Office of Transit Safety and Oversight

February 2024

Agenda
1. Background
2. Summary of Comments
3. Changes
• Safety Risk Reduction Program: Safety Risk Mitigations
• Accountable Executive

• Safety Committee Procedures
• Integrating the Safety Risk Reduction Program into the Safety Management System
• Safety Committee and Cooperation with Frontline Transit Worker Representatives
• Minor Changes to Definitions
• Preamble: Actions to Protect Transit Workers

• Economic Analysis
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Background
• FTA published an NPRM for the PTASP regulation in the Federal Register on April 26, 2023, and
the comment period closed on June 26, 2023
• FTA received 53 comment submissions to the docket with a total of 636 individual
comments on specific topics
• Changes from the proposed rule were made based on Comments and Decisions made with
OST and the White House Infrastructure Implementation Team
• Safety Risk Mitigations related to the Safety Risk Reduction Program
• Accountable Executive implementation of various mitigations
• Safety Committee Procedures
• Safety Risk Reduction Program integrated into SMS and removal of separate section
673.20
• Safety Committee and Cooperation with Frontline Transit Worker Representatives
• FTA Actions to Protect Transit Workers
• Definitions
• Economic Analysis

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Summary of Comments
• Safety Risk Reduction Program: Accountable Executive and Safety Risk Mitigations
• Accountable Executive must implement mitigations recommended by Safety Committee – ATU, TWU, Senators
Schumer, Brown, Van Hollen, Reed, Menendez, Warren
• Accountable Executive considers mitigations recommended by Safety Committee – APTA, CTA, SEPTA

• Safety Committee: Dispute Resolution/Tiebreaking
• Establish dispute resolution process and Prohibit Accountable Executive from breaking ties – ATU, TWU
• Require Accountable Executive to break ties – APTA, California Transit Association, CTA, SEPTA, The Rapid, VTA
• Give Safety Committee flexibility to reach decisions without specifically requiring a vote – San Diego MTS

• Safety Committee: Meeting Notices and Compensation
• Add requirements for notice of compensation, meeting frequency – VTA
• Add compensation requirement – ATU

• Safety Risk Reduction Program: Relationship to Safety Management System (SMS)
• Safety risk reduction program appears incongruent with SMS – ASCE, ATU, ATU Locals, CTA, Kansas City Streetcar,
New Jersey Transit, New Orleans Regional Transit Authority, PennDOT, Pittsburgh Regional Transit, WMATA

• Other Comments
• Clarification of definitions, compliance enforcement, Safety Committee inspection authority and access to data

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Safety Risk Reduction Program: Safety Risk
Mitigations
• To address comments regarding the Safety Committee’s role in recommending safety risk
mitigations as part of the Safety Risk Reduction Program, FTA has added language to clarify the
Safety Committee’s involvement (at §673.25(d)(3)-(4)) and requirements for documenting these
safety risk mitigations in the ASP (at §673.11(d)(7)(iv) and 673.25(d)(5)).

§673.25(d)(3)-(4)
• The Safety Committee identifies and
recommends safety risk mitigations as
part of the safety risk reduction program.
• This must include the consideration of
measures to reduce visibility impairments
on buses and the deployment of assault
mitigations on buses

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§673.11(a)(7)(iv) and 673.25(d)(5)
• Transit agencies are required to include
or incorporate by reference in the ASP
any safety risk mitigations relating to the
safety risk reduction program that are
identified and recommended by the
Safety Committee based on a safety risk
assessment

Accountable Executive
• To address comments regarding the Accountable Executive’s responsibility to ensure the
implementation of safety risk mitigations recommended by the Safety Committee, FTA has clarified
that the Accountable Executive must implement all mitigations documented or incorporated by
reference in the ASP, including all mitigations recommended by the Safety Committee as part of
the Safety Risk Reduction Program.

§673.23(d)(1)
• The Accountable Executive
must implement safety risk
mitigations for the safety
risk reduction program that
are included in the ASP
under§673.11(a)(7)(iv).

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§673.25(d)(6)
• The Accountable Executive must consider all other
safety risk mitigations that are recommended by the
Safety Committee.
• If the Accountable Executive declines to implement a
mitigation, the Accountable Executive must prepare
and present a written statement explaining their
decision to the Safety Committee and Board of
Directors.

Safety Committee Procedures
• § 673.19(c)(2)
o Provides that Safety Committee procedures must address how meeting agendas
and notices will be developed and shared.

• § 673.19(c)(4)
o Safety Committee procedures must include the compensation policy established by the
transit agency for participation in Safety Committee meetings.
o FTA is not requiring transit agencies to compensate members of the Safety Committee; it
is requiring the transit agency to adopt a policy for Safety Committee compensation.

• § 673.19(c)(6) & (8)
o Safety Committee procedures must document the Safety Committee’s decision-making
processes. The Safety Committee may use the dispute resolution or arbitration process
from the transit agency’s Collective Bargaining Agreement, or a different process that the
Safety Committee develops and agrees upon, but the Accountable Executive may not be
designated to resolve any disputes within the Safety Committee.

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Integrating the Safety Risk Reduction Program
into the Safety Management System
• To address comments regarding the Safety Risk Reduction Program and its relationship to a
Safety Management System, FTA has eliminated the proposed § 673.20 and moved the
Safety Risk Reduction Program requirements to relevant sections of the rule.

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§673.11

§673.25

§673.27

General Requirements

Safety Risk Management

Safety Assurance

• General program
elements
• Setting safety
performance targets

• Carrying out the safety
risk reduction program
using SMS processes
• Safety risk reduction
program requirements
associated with Safety
Risk Management

• Safety performance
monitoring and
measurement
• Continuous
improvement
• Safety set-aside

Safety Committee and Cooperation with
Frontline Transit Worker Representatives
• FTA strengthened the focus of the provisions on cooperation with frontline transit workers by
grouping requirements for Safety Committees and Cooperation with Frontline Transit Worker
Representatives into a single Subpart C

Subpart C

Safety
Committees

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Frontline Transit
Worker
Representatives

Safety Committee
and Cooperation
with Frontline
Transit Worker
Representatives

Minor Changes to Definitions at § 673.5
Injury

Performance Target

Safety Performance
Target

[Definition added]

[Definition removed and
combined with Safety
Performance Target for
clarity]

[Definition clarified]

Injury means any harm to
persons as a result of an
event that requires
immediate medical
attention away from the
scene.

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Safety performance target
means a quantifiable level
of performance or
condition, expressed as a
value for the measure,
related to safety
management activities, to
be achieved within a
specified time period.

Preamble: Actions to Protect
Transit Workers
• FTA added a section to the preamble based on a request from discussions
with the White House Infrastructure Implementation Team
• 2019 Federal Register Notice: Using SMS to address
operator assault risk
• 2020 launch of Bus Operator Compartment Redesign
Program
• 2021 launch of the Enhanced Transit Safety and Crime
Prevention Initiative

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• 2022 publication of a Notice of Funding Opportunity for the
Transit Worker and Rider Safety Best Practices Research
Project
• 2022-2023 update of NTD requirements to capture
additional assault data

• 2021 launch of Assault Awareness and Prevention training
courses

• 2023 Federal Register Notice seeking comment on a
proposed General Directive: Required Actions Regarding
Assaults on Transit Workers

• 2022 issuance of Dear Colleague letter on Bipartisan
Infrastructure Law requirements to strengthen frontline
worker involvement in safety

• 2023 publication of Advance Notice of Proposed
Rulemaking on Transit Worker Hours of Service and Fatigue
Risk Management

• 2022 issuance of Special Directives: Required
Actions Regarding Transit Worker Assault to 9 agencies
accounting for 79% of worker assaults

• Planned NPRMs on Transit Worker and Public Safety and
Rail Transit Roadway Worker Protection

Economic Analysis
• FTA updated the analysis to clarify self-executing provisions and use a with-statute baseline.
• FTA updated the discount rate to 2%, following updates to Circular A-4.
• FTA adjusted labor hour estimates in response to comments.
Summary of economic effects, 2024-2033 ($2021, discounted to 2023)

Total

Annualized (2%)

Unquantified

-

$584,925

$58,855

Continuous improvement processes

$5,881,933

$584,699

Total costs

$6,466,858

$644,554

Unquantified

-

Benefits
Costs

De-escalation training

Net benefits
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Questions
Jeremy Furrer

Heather Ueyama

jeremy.furrer@dot.gov
Office of Transit Safety and Oversight

heather.ueyama@dot.gov
Office of Chief Counsel

Stewart Mader

Emily Jessup

stewart.mader@dot.gov
Office of Transit Safety and Oversight

emily.jessup@dot.gov
Office of Chief Counsel

FTA Mission, Vision, Values
Mission

Vision

Improve America’s Communities
through Public Transportation

A Better Quality of Life for All Built
on Public Transportation Excellence

Values

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Service

Provide reliable, transparent, responsive, and anticipatory services to meet stakeholder needs

Integrity

Commitment to the highest professional and ethical standards

Innovation

Foster new ideas, concepts, and solutions for improved outcomes

Sustainability

Optimize decisions, resources, and systems to make long-term positive
impacts on the environment, infrastructure, and safety

Equity

Remove barriers for systemically underserved communities to access all aspects
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