Section 11523 of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), enacted as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Public Law 117-58 (November 15, 2021), amended 23 United States Code (U.S.C.) 129 to add reporting requirements to the equal access provisions for over the road buses (OTRBs). Division assistance is needed to provide this information to affected facilities for compliance with the statutory requirement.

Background information regarding equal access for OTRBs can be found at the Federal Register (FR) Notice (82 FR 19784) published on April 28, 2017, entitled Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act: Equal Access for Over-the-Road Buses Guidance. Additional information is also available in a subsequent FR Notice (83 FR 7839) outlining guidance regarding the treatment of OTRBs under the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act published on February 22, 2018.

REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

Section 11523 of the BIL amends 23 U.S.C. 129(a) to add reporting requirements to the equal access provisions for OTRBs. Specifically, not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of the BIL¹, a public authority that operates a toll facility shall report to the Secretary any rates, terms, or conditions for access to the toll facility by public transportation vehicles (PTVs) that differ from the rates, terms, or conditions applicable to OTRBs.

Further, a public authority that operates a toll facility shall report to the Secretary any change to the rates, terms, or conditions for access to the toll facility by PTVs that differ from the rates, terms, or conditions applicable to OTRBs by not later than 30 days after the date on which the change takes effect.

FACILITIES AFFECTED

The toll facilities that must report any discrepancies between PTVs and OTRBs are those constructed under 23 U.S.C. 129, including tolled high occupancy vehicle (HOV) facilities under 23 U.S.C. 166 that are subject to 23 U.S.C. 129. In order to identify which toll facilities are subject to this reporting requirement, there are two resources available to division offices. In the Regulations.gov public docket for the April 28, 2017 FR Notice, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) published a list of covered facilities subject to the 23 U.S.C. 129(a) OTRB requirements (FHWA-2017-0006). The Section 129 Covered Facilities List-OTRB is also available on the FHWA Center for Innovative Finance Support public Website, and includes updates to the Federal Register Notice list as of July 2020. In February 2021, the Office of Operations published the National Inventory of Specialty Lanes and Highways (refer to Table 9: High-Occupancy Toll (HOT) Facilities by State). Please be advised that Section 129 toll facilities constructed after July 2020 and HOT facilities constructed after February 2021 may not be listed in either resource but are still subject to this reporting requirement. Questions regarding toll facilities subject to the reporting requirement may be directed to the point of contact below.

ACTION

Each division office with Federal-aid toll facilities constructed under 23 U.S.C. 129 or tolled HOV facilities under 23 U.S.C. 166 that are subject to 23 U.S.C. 129 must provide this information to the respective public authorities affected.² All discrepancies between PTVs and OTRBs rates, terms, or conditions on a toll facility constructed under 23 U.S.C. 129 or tolled HOV facilities under 23 U.S.C. 166 that are subject to 23 U.S.C. 129 must be reported by the public authority via email to OTRB@dot.gov within 15 days of this letter to be in compliance.

POINT OF CONTACT

If you have any questions regarding equal access provisions for OTRBs, please contact Cynthia Essenmacher, Office of Operations, at (202) 780-6178.

Except for the statutes and regulations cited, the contents of this document do not have the force and effect of law and are not meant to bind the States or the public in any way. This document is intended only to provide information regarding existing requirements under the law or agency policies.