The Federal Transit Administration recently opened a 60 day comment period for a proposed update to the National Public Transportation Safety Plan.
As part of continuing efforts to strengthen safety for both frontline transit workers and riders across the country, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration (FTA) last week proposed an updated version of the National Public Transportation Safety Plan. Reauthorized under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the plan creates a blueprint for transit agencies to adopt stronger safety measures. The draft of the updated safety plan was published on May 30th in the Federal Register for a 60-day comment period, concluding on July 31, 2023. FTA encourages the public to submit comments on the proposed changes.
The National Public Transportation Safety Plan is FTA’s primary guidance document to improve transit safety performance on all federally supported public transportation systems and includes best practices, tools, technical assistance, voluntary standards, and other resources. FTA’s proposed updates align with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s goal to make our transportation systems safer for all people. The proposed updates would replace the original plan published in January 2017.
The National Public Transportation Safety Plan lays out a performance-based approach to reduce injuries and fatalities on transit systems under FTA’s safety jurisdiction. This plan also supports the Department’s long-term goal of reaching zero fatalities on America’s roadways as part of the Department’s National Roadway Safety Strategy by adding safety performance criteria for vehicular collisions and providing voluntary standards for bus transit.
In the updated version of the National Public Transportation Safety Plan, FTA proposes several performance measures, including strategies to reduce the incidents and rates of vehicle collisions, transit worker injuries and fatalities, and transit worker assaults. FTA also proposes new performance measures for Public Transportation Agency Safety Plan (PTASP) risk reduction programs, which will be used by joint labor-management safety committees to set targets and assess the effectiveness of safety mitigation strategies.
FTA also proposes new practices for transit agencies to ensure public and personnel safety during an emergency.
