Bus Safety and Accessibility Research Program

What's New

• On November 18, 2024, FTA announced the availability of $10 million in Fiscal Year 2025 competitive grant funding for organizations to research designs and create prototypes that will make buses safer for drivers and riders.
  • FTA will host a webinar on December 3, 2024 at 2:30 PM ET to discuss the requirements of the funding opportunity and how to apply. Register.
• On September 10, 2024, FTA hosted a virtual public roundtable to discuss safety and elements of transit bus design that impact operator visibility. FTA facilitated a discussion among manufacturers, transit agencies, labor unions, and transit industry stakeholders on what efforts are needed to improve bus operator visibility through bus safety design improvements. Industry experts discussed vehicle design and potential safety enhancements.
• The Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) recently published TCRP Research Report 249: Bus Operator Barrier Design Guidelines and Considerations that provides information and guidance for North American public transportation agencies, standards committees, and government and non-government policymaking organizations on designing, procuring, and installing bus operator barriers to prioritize the health and safety of essential operators and the public they serve.
• On June 22, 2023, FTA held a Bus Compartment Redesign and Bus of the Future listening session. The session summary document, recording, FTA, and external partner presentations are available.

Overview

In keeping with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s focus on improving safety in the nation’s transportation systems, FTA’s Bus Safety and Accessibility Program supports the development of standard designs and prototypes that will make existing and new buses safer for operators, riders and vulnerable road users, as well as more accessible for passengers.

FTA’s top priority remains to enhance the safety of America’s public transportation systems. Projects solicited by this funding opportunity must address bus operator health and safety; transit vehicle safety, and accessibility; and provide a foundation for transformative bus systems and designs that enhance safety.

Objectives

Project objectives include focusing on developing driver safety systems and passenger safety systems, including:

1. Researching standard bus designs, innovations, and technologies to make existing and new buses safer for their operator and vulnerable road users, and safer and more accessible for their passengers. 
2. Producing a prototype that is available as a retrofit on existing buses and for installation in new buses.

Eligible Projects

The strategic goal for this program is to make existing and new buses safer for their operators and vulnerable road users, and safer and more accessible for their passengers. The program objectives include research on bus designs, innovations, and technologies, as well as production of a prototype that is available through a retrofit on existing buses and for installation in new buses. The program’s key focus areas are: 

• Driver Safety Systems – Changes made to the transit vehicle and technology upgrades that protect the operator and enhance the safety of those outside of the vehicle including vulnerable road users.
• Passenger Safety Systems – Changes made to the transit vehicle and technology upgrades that protect and increase accessibility of the passengers.

All applicants will also be expected to produce results that follow three major principles. These principles represent the values on which FTA will judge whether objectives have been met. 

• Partnerships
  • Recipients will collaborate across multiple industry sectors including all or some of these priority groups:
    • Transit Vehicle Manufacturers
    • Transit Agencies
    • Transit Labor Unions
    • Disability Organizations
    • Transit riders
    • Domestic and International Research Groups
    • Component Manufacturers 
• Widely Implementable
  • Proposals are encouraged to be innovative but must consider risks to implementation and interoperability to ensure nationwide relevancy and adoption. Proposals should be able to be adopted quickly, on a wide scale.
  • Deliverables should be applicable to current and new 35- and 40-ft or articulated bus models that have passed Altoona testing, comply with all other applicable Federal requirements, and are manufactured by companies eligible to compete for FTA-funded contracts.
• Economic vitality
  • Recipients will support the U.S. industrial base by complying with Buy America. Recognizing Executive Order 14005, “Ensuring the Future Is Made in All of America by All of America’s Workers” (86 FR 7475), proposed projects must support economic vitality at the national and regional level, including advancing domestic industry and promoting domestic development of intellectual property.

Applicants must note how they will incorporate the key focus areas, meet program objectives, and follow program principles. Applications should include performance standards and measures for ensuring the success of each key focus area with a specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound task plan. These measures should show minimum performance specifications and a quality assurance surveillance plan to ensure quality. Applicants must show a detailed understanding of the needs and opportunities of this program.

Eligible Recipients

Lead applicants must be one of the listed entities prescribed below. Additionally, project partners and subrecipients under this program may include, but are not limited to:

• Departments, agencies, and instrumentalities of the federal government, including federal laboratories;
• State and local governmental entities, including multi-jurisdictional partnerships, and organizations such as metropolitan planning organizations;
• Providers of public transportation;
• Private for-profit or not-for-profit organizations incorporated in a jurisdiction of the United States; and
• Institutions of higher education and technical and community colleges.

Statutory References

Public Transportation Innovation (49 U.S.C. § 5312)

Match

The federal share of project costs under this program is limited to 80 percent. Proposers may seek a lower federal contribution. The applicant must provide the non-federal share of the net project cost in cash, or in-kind, and must document in its application the source of the match.

Allocation of Funding

Bus Operator Compartment Program projects are funded under FTA’s Research, Development, Demonstration and Deployment Program (49 U.S.C. § 5312).