The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) created this Roadmap to help Rail Transit Agencies (RTA) transition their safety plans from the requirements for System Safety Program Plan (SSPP) under 49 CFR Part 659 (Part 659), to the requirements for Public Transportation Agency Safety Plan (PTASP) under 49 CFR Part 673 (Part 673). FTA developed this Roadmap to provide guidance only; it is not a substitute for FTA’s regulation.

FTA published 49 CFR Part 673 on July 19, 2018, with an effective date of July 19, 2019. Each RTA must certify to FTA that it has established a comprehensive PTASP meeting 49 CFR Part 673 requirements by July 20, 2020. The State Safety Oversight Agency (SSOA) also must review and approve the PTASP for each RTA within its jurisdiction, as specified in 49 CFR Part 674, FTA’s new State Safety Oversight (SSO) rule.

The PTASP, based on the Safety Management Systems (SMS) approach, builds on current RTA safety practices and activities detailed in the SSPP. While Part 673 requires new processes and activities, as discussed in the preamble to FTA’s final rule, many elements of an existing SSPP can be used to build the new PTASP sections.

This Roadmap highlights similarities and differences between Part 659 and Part 673 requirements to support RTAs in incorporating relevant SSPP elements into the PTASP. It also draws on the SSPP-PTASP Crosswalk Matrix that FTA released accompanying the notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) for Part 673. As highlighted in this matrix, the substantive elements of the SSPP required under Part 659 carry over into the SMS portions of the PTASP required under Part 673.

The PTASP requirements, except for the emergency preparedness and response plan requirement, apply to all public transportation operations except for modesregulated by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) or the United States Coast Guard (USCG). Each RTA will need to determine how to structure its PTASP to address, or create separate sections for, each public transportation mode.