[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 133 (Thursday, July 15, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37400-37402]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-15078]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Transit Administration

[FTA Docket No. FTA 2021-0011]


Request for Information on Transit Safety Concerns

AGENCY: Federal Transit Administration, Department of Transportation 
(DOT).

ACTION: Request for information.

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[[Page 37401]]

SUMMARY: The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is responsible for 
administering a Public Transportation Safety Program (Safety Program) 
to improve the safety performance of the Nation's transit systems. FTA 
adopted the principles and methods of Safety Management System (SMS) as 
the foundation of the Safety Program. FTA uses SMS processes and 
activities to proactively identify and address safety risk at the 
industry level. Through this Request for Information (RFI), FTA 
solicits input from the public regarding information and data to 
identify transit safety concerns that FTA should evaluate for potential 
action at the Federal level.

DATES: Comments are requested by August 16, 2021.

ADDRESSES: You may file comments identified by docket number FTA-2021-
0011 by any of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and follow the online instructions for submitting 
comments.
     Mail: Docket Management Facility, U.S. Department of 
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Ave. SE, West Building Ground Floor, 
Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590-0001.
     Hand Delivery or Courier: West Building Ground Floor, Room 
W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Ave. SE, between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. ET, 
Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
     Fax: (202) 493-2251.
    Instructions: For detailed instructions on submitting comments, see 
the Public Participation heading of the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION 
section of this document. Note that all comments received will be 
posted without change to http://www.regulations.gov, including any 
personal information provided.
    Privacy Act: Except as provided below, all comments received into 
the docket will be made public in their entirety. The comments will be 
searchable by the name of the individual submitting the comment (or 
signing the comment, if submitted on behalf of an association, 
business, labor union, etc.). You should not include information in 
your comment that you do not want to be made public. You may review 
DOT's complete Privacy Act Statement in the Federal Register published 
on April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19477-78) or at https://www.transportation.gov/privacy.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ray Biggs, Office of Transit Safety 
and Oversight--Safety Risk Management and Assurance Division, 1200 New 
Jersey Avenue SE, Mail Stop TSO-10, Washington, DC 20590, (202) 366-
7460 or [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Through this RFI, FTA is seeking information 
and data from the public on safety concerns and issues recommended for 
additional assessment and potential action at the Federal level.
    In August 2016, FTA published the Public Transportation Safety 
Program regulation, 49 CFR part 670, which establishes substantive and 
procedural rules for FTA's administration of the program to carry out 
the mandate of 49 U.S.C. 5329 to improve the safety of transit systems. 
In Part 670, FTA adopted the principles and methods of SMS and 
clarified that FTA will follow these principles and methods in its 
development of rules, regulations, policies, guidance, best practices, 
and technical assistance administered under the authority of 49 U.S.C. 
5329.
    In July 2018, FTA furthered the advancement of SMS in the transit 
industry by publishing the Public Transportation Agency Safety Plan 
regulation, 49 CFR part 673 (Part 673). Part 673 requires certain 
transit agencies to adopt SMS principles and methods; develop, certify, 
implement, and update Agency Safety Plans (ASPs); and coordinate ASP 
elements with other FTA programs and rules, as specified in 49 U.S.C. 
5303, 5304, and 5329. In carrying out Part 673 requirements, transit 
agencies identify safety hazards and mitigate safety risks within their 
transit system through the implementation of ASPs and SMS processes and 
activities.
    FTA expanded its safety oversight capabilities by establishing an 
internal SMS approach for identifying transit safety hazards and 
mitigating safety risks. In 2019, FTA implemented its Safety Risk 
Management (SRM) process to proactively address safety concerns 
impacting the transit industry. The SRM process follows a five-step 
continuous improvement approach: (1) Identify safety concerns; (2) 
assess safety risk; (3) develop mitigation; (4) implement mitigation; 
and (5) monitor safety performance. Appropriate mitigations advanced by 
FTA to resolve safety risk may include new proposed safety regulations, 
general or special directives, and safety advisories, as well as a 
range of technical assistance and training activities; enhanced data 
collection; or recommendations for further investigation, evaluation, 
or examination.
    FTA utilizes its SRM process to address safety topics identified in 
FTA's SRM Action Plan. The FTA SRM Action Plan is informed by a review 
of National Transportation Safety Board and Transit Advisory Committee 
for Safety recommendations to FTA, data from the National Transit 
Database, and additional industry sources as appropriate. FTA is 
currently analyzing four safety concerns utilizing its SRM process: 
Inward- and outward-facing audio and image recorders, roadway worker 
protection, signal system safety, and end-of-railcar door messaging.
    FTA is developing the next SRM Action Plan to prioritize safety 
concerns for future SRM analyses. The transit industry's input is 
critically important in identifying and proactively mitigating safety 
concerns impacting the larger transit community. As such, FTA requests 
information from the public on safety concerns that the industry 
believes should be considered for inclusion in FTA's next SRM Action 
Plan.
    Respondents to this RFI may respond to any question and do not need 
to respond to all questions. This RFI offers transit industry 
personnel, researchers, contractors, government entities, transit 
users, and other interested parties the opportunity to inform FTA's 
next SRM Action Plan.

Questions to the Public

    FTA seeks to gather information and discover valid and reliable 
aggregate data to support the identification and evaluation of safety 
concerns at the Federal level. The following list of questions and 
topic areas are intended to guide respondents in this effort:

Safety Concerns

    (1) What transit safety concerns should FTA consider analyzing 
through its SRM process for small transit providers? Large transit 
providers? Rail, bus, and multimodal transit providers? Briefly 
describe why each identified safety concern should be considered, 
including any data-based evidence that may be available.
    (2) Are there any new or emerging safety concerns that may not yet 
appear in industry data (either through near-misses or not meeting 
reporting thresholds, for example) that should be analyzed by FTA to 
proactively mitigate future impacts?

Sources of Information and Data

    (3) Are there additional sources of information and data, beyond 
those detailed in this request, that may help inform FTA's 
identification of high-priority safety concerns for the SRM process and 
potential action at the Federal level?
    (4) Are there additional sources of information and data, beyond 
those

[[Page 37402]]

detailed in this request, that FTA should consider in supporting the 
assessment and mitigation of identified transit safety risks?
    (5) Should data sources outside of those maintained by transit 
agencies and FTA, such as geographic or demographic data, be considered 
to support the identification of safety concerns and assessment and 
mitigation of safety risk? If so, which data sources, and why?

Examples

    (6) What are examples of safety concerns evaluated by a transit 
agency that can be shared with FTA?
    (7) What are examples of high-impact data that support the 
identification of safety concerns and hazards and the corresponding 
safety risk assessment and mitigation that can be shared with FTA?
    (8) Is there anything else FTA should know regarding the 
identification of safety concerns for the SRM process?
    Please clearly indicate which question(s) you address in your 
response and any evidence to support assertions, where practicable.

Public Participation

How do I prepare and submit comments?

    To ensure that your comments are filed correctly, please include 
the docket number provided [FTA-2021-0011] in your comments.
    Please submit one copy of your comments, including any attachments, 
to the docket following the instructions given above under ADDRESSES. 
Please note, if you are submitting comments electronically as a PDF 
(Adobe) file, these documents must be scanned using an Optical 
Character Recognition process, thus allowing the Agency to search and 
copy certain portions of submissions.

Will FTA consider late comments?

    FTA will consider all comments received before the close of 
business on the comment closing date indicated above under DATES. To 
the extent practicable, the Agency will also consider comments received 
after that date.

How can comments submitted by other people be read?

    Comments received may be read at the Docket Management Facility, 
U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Ave. SE, West 
Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590-0001. The 
hours of the docket are indicated above in the same location. Comments 
may also be located on the internet, identified by the docket number at 
the heading of this notice, at http://www.regulations.gov.
    Please note, this RFI will serve as a planning document. The RFI 
should not be construed as policy, a solicitation for applications, or 
an obligation on the part of the Government.

Nuria I. Fernandez,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2021-15078 Filed 7-14-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-57-P