Model Bus Transit Safety and Security Program
Program Strategies
U.S. Department
of Transportation
Federal Transit
Administration
In 2000, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) began work on
its Model Transit Bus Safety and Security Program (Bus Safety and
Security Program). Over the next few years, a Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU) was developed and signed by FTA, the American
Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO),
the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), and the
Community Transportation Association of America (CTAA).
In signing the MOU, each partner organization agreed to promote
Bus Safety and Security Program elements, assess the activities and
performance of program implementation, and incorporate all
reasonable actions necessary to ensure the effective implementation
of safety and security programs at bus transit agencies, thereby
maintaining the voluntary nature of the Bus Safety and Security
Program. Since the signing of the MOU, there have been many advances
in bus transit safety and security by AASHTO, APTA, CTAA and the bus
transit agencies, themselves.
FTA recommitted itself to the success of the Bus Safety and
Security Program and has taken steps to ensure increased
coordination with the transit bus industry and a closer working
relationship with its MOU partners. To commemorate the next phase of
the Bus Safety and Security Program, FTA invited its MOU partners to
participate in a Kick-off Meeting, held on July 18, 2006. This
meeting was essential to reestablish our working relationship, to
address the challenges of the past few years, and to identify a way
to move the Bus Safety and Security Program forward. The meeting
provided FTA an opportunity to:
- Acknowledge progress that has been made in
safety and security in the bus transit industry and by the
State Departments of Transportation (DOT’s);
- Listen to MOU partner presentations of bus
transit industry achievements, concerns and suggestions;
- Discuss FTA’s intent for the program; and
- Solicit feedback on future program direction.
A summary of Bus Safety and Security Program objectives and
proposed strategies discussed during that meeting are presented
below.
Overview – The Kick-off Meeting was held to reestablish lines
of communication between the FTA and its partners to the MOU and
discuss Bus Safety and Security Program objectives. The meeting
began with a discussion of the history of the program including
accomplishments made by the MOU partners and other stakeholders.
Examples of these achievements include:
- AASHTO’s ongoing commitment to the Multi-State
Technical Assistance Program and the Standing Committee on
Public Transportation’s (SCOPT) Safety and Security Task
Force;
- Coordination between AASHTO’s SCOPT and the
Florida Department of Transportation’s Transit Bus Safety
Resource Website;
- Promotion of bus transit agency technical
assistance through the National Cooperative Highway Research
Program (NCHRP) and the Transit Cooperative Research Program
(TCRP);
- APTA’s Bus Safety Management Program;
- CTAA’s Training and Safety Review Program; and
- National Rural Transit Assistance Program’s
(NRTAP) Threat, Vulnerability and Emergency Preparedness
Toolbox.
The group next discussed FTA’s recent drafting of the Bus Safety
and Security Program Implementation Guidelines. FTA drafted these
guidelines to support industry implementation of the core and
enhanced bus safety and security elements specified in the MOU.
FTA received many comments on these guidelines from its MOU
partners, State DOT’s, bus transit agency representatives, and other
program stakeholders. The general consensus during the kick-off
meeting was that while the guidelines do contain worthwhile
information, they do not adequately address the needs of smaller
agencies, nor do they lend themselves to easy implementation by bus
transit agency personnel. Therefore, FTA indicated that it wishes to
remove the draft guidelines from circulation.
In addition, FTA described its new approach to developing and
providing technical assistance for the Bus Safety and Security
Program. This approach includes development and distribution of a
CD-ROM containing a compendium of effective practices, and creation
of a website, accessible to all members of the bus community, for
sharing effective practices, managing contact information, and
helping users locate specific materials, checklists, and templates
that they may need to address core and enhanced elements.
FTA next solicited feedback from the MOU partners with regard to
challenges and shortcomings in the Bus Safety and Security Program
over the past few years. The MOU partners identified the following
needs to be addressed by FTA:
- maintain ongoing discussion with Bus Safety and
Security Program stakeholders, including State DOT’s;
- provide clear direction with regard to short,
mid and long-term objectives;
- promote increased program awareness among bus
transit agency top management;
- move technical assistance from “theoretical”
information to “practical” guidance;
- reemphasize the voluntary nature of the program
through recommended technical assistance;
- reduce “information overload” through assistance
in the evaluation and organization of current industry
materials to compile useful practices;
- identify the assessment mechanism to ensure
program implementation while maintaining the voluntary
nature of the program; and
- investigate FTA grant funding provisions to
support the new Bus Safety and Security Program development
efforts.
The following strategies for the Bus Safety and Security Program
were discussed during the meeting:
Establish Working Group – It is the desire of each of the MOU
partners to establish a working group of 15-20 representative
stakeholders in the bus transit community. It is anticipated that
the smaller size of the working group will better facilitate
discussion and consensus on important issues. At a minimum, the
working group will contain at least one representative from each MOU
partner, additional members from MOU partner sub-committees, bus
transit agency representatives and State DOT representatives, as
well as representatives from Federal partners, including the
National Rural Transit Assistance Program (NRTAP) and the
Transportation Security Administration (TSA).
FTA is proposing quarterly teleconference calls with the working
group, supplemented by in-person meetings; however, this is subject
to change based on received comments and recommendations from the
MOU partners. Email communication would also be used to share
information and practices. The working group will provide the forum
through which FTA can sustain ongoing communication with Bus Safety
and Security Program stakeholders and ensure the usefulness of
technical assistance deliverables.
FTA is extremely sensitive to the fact that State DOT’s are
taking actions to improve the safety and security standing of their
grant recipients. As such, through the MOU partners – specifically
AASHTO, FTA would like to ensure that it has a liaison with each
State DOT for the Bus Safety and Security Program.
Additionally, there have been many questions regarding the role
of TSA in the Bus Program. While FTA cannot speak for TSA, it has
assured the MOU partners that as of the date of this letter, TSA
wishes to participate in the review of technical assistance
materials and be provided an opportunity for input. This is in
keeping with the Annex to the DHS/FTA “Memorandum of Understanding
on Roles and Responsibilities Concerning Public Transportation
Security.”
Resource CD-ROM – Compendium of Practices – FTA presented its
intent to develop and distribute a resource CD-ROM to all bus
transit agencies and State DOT’s in an effort to capture “effective”
practices that are currently available to bus agencies. The MOU
partners agreed with the idea to distill information and concurred
with the need to distribute to a wide-scale audience, but cautioned
FTA with regard to “information overload” concerns and the delivery
mechanism to be used. FTA welcomed MOU partner suggestions and has
modified its original approach to 1) solicit effective practices
from the bus industry through the MOU partners, 2) ensure working
group review of the CD-ROM user interface and organization, as well
as content, and 3) develop a process to ensure updating and access
to new practices as the Bus Safety and Security Program evolves.
Through the process of developing the CD-ROM and coordinating
with the working group, FTA will also conduct a “gap analysis” to
identify areas where effective practices have not yet been
developed, or where differences in the size and service
characteristics of bus agencies limit the applicability of available
practices. Based on results from the gap analysis and comments on
existing materials, FTA, in coordination with the working group,
will begin to develop practical technical assistance for subsequent
distribution.
Web-based Information Sharing – To address the MOU partner
concerns with regard to the need for ongoing assessment and updating
of technical assistance materials, as well as a mechanism to promote
more effective dissemination of technical assistance materials, FTA
will develop a web-based Content Management System (CMS). The CMS
will provide an easy to navigate tool for bus transit agencies to
download and utilize practical technical assistance materials
developed for the program. The CMS will also provide contact
information and message boards to further enhance information
sharing. Finally, the CMS will provide FTA, in coordination with the
working group, an opportunity to provide updated program materials
on a regular basis.
Voluntary Assessments – FTA understands the desire to keep
the Bus Safety and Security Program voluntary. FTA is charged with
reporting to Congress on how well the program is being implemented
and measures of the program’s success. As such, FTA, in coordination
with the working group, will solicit bus transit agencies for
participation in a voluntary assessment program. The purpose of each
onsite assessment is twofold: 1) evaluate the bus transit agency’s
implementation of bus program safety and security elements as they
relate to the agency’s operations and 2) provide onsite technical
assistance and collect additional effective practices. The MOU
partners recommended that FTA report back to the working group on
assessment activities to ensure that results from the initial pilot
program can be evaluated and effective practices can be shared
through the CMS. FTA anticipates conducting 10 pilot assessments
over the next 15 months.
Current Activities
In keeping with program objectives and recommendations from FTA’s
MOU partners, the activities listed below are being undertaken to
address Bus Safety and Security Program strategies:
- Working group membership recommendations are underway;
MOU partners have been asked to provide their
recommendations to FTA.
- FTA is currently constructing a contact database to
support outreach and the development of agency profiles that
will support the categorization of future technical
assistance.
- MOU partners are collaborating to develop a request to
Bus Safety and Security Program stakeholders for practical
bus transit safety and security materials to support the
compendium of practices for the resource CD-ROM.
- FTA’s Bus Safety and Security Program team is
developing a functional breakdown of bus operations to
support the identification of areas for which practical
templates and checklists can be developed and reviewed by
the working group for eventual distribution and feedback
from the bus transit industry.
Contact Information
If you have any questions regarding the above information, please
do not hesitate to contact any of the following individuals:
Ms. Carole Ferguson, Program Manager
FTA’s Office of Safety and Security
(202) 366-0219
carole.ferguson@dot.gov
Ms. Rachel Beyerle
AASHTO
(202) 624-3625
rbeyerle@aashto.org
Mr. Greg Hull
APTA
(202) 496-4815
ghull@apta.com
Mr. Chris Zeilinger
CTAA
(202) 250-4108
zeilinger@ctaa.org
