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Interpretation ID: 23607.drn



    Sean A. Cox, Manager
    Xpress Rent-a-Car
    2021 E. Platte Avenue
    Colorado Springs, CO 80909


    Dear Mr. Cox:

    This responds to your September 6, 2001, letter requesting information about a "Federal law pertaining to the transportation of school age children." As explained below, Federal law restricts the types of new buses that you as a dealer, may lease or rent for school transportation purposes. However, it does not specify how school age children must be transported. Your state law (Colorado) regulates how school age children are to be transported.

    The questions you raise have been addressed for the most part in the enclosed interpretation letter of May 9, 2001, to Collins Bus Corporation. In that letter, we explain dealers' responsibilities in selling new buses to day care centers that will be using the vehicles to transport children to or from schools.

    The letter to Collins discusses prohibitions on sales of new buses that do not meet the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA's) school bus standards. In addition, a dealer renting or leasing a new bus that will be "used significantly" to transport "preprimary, primary, and secondary" students to or from school or related events must be sure to rent or lease a new bus that is certified as meeting NHTSA's school bus standards. You ask whether a child care provider could lease or rent a vehicle on a short term basis to replace one of their existing vehicles that may be unavailable due to mechanical reasons. In our opinion, generally a short term lease or rental in this circumstance would be permitted, to meet this atypical situation. A lease or rental of a new nonconforming bus for regular transportation would not be permitted, however, since that bus would be used significantly to transport students.

    We are not authorized to regulate the lease or rental of used buses to transport students. If the buses in your fleet were not new, Federal law does not regulate their lease or rental as vehicles used to transport school children.

    Before you make decisions about leasing or renting used vehicles to day care centers, however, please consider our letter to Collins Bus. As explained in that letter, on June 8, 1999, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issued a special investigative report on nonconforming buses (copy of abstract attached). The NTSB issued the report after investigating in 1998 and 1999 four crashes in which 9 people were killed and 36 injured when riding in nonconforming buses. NTSB defined "nonconforming bus" as a "bus that does not meet the FMVSSs specific to school buses." Most of the victims, including eight of the fatalities, were children.

    In the abstract of its report, the NTSB issued several Safety Recommendations, including the following that was directed to child care providers such as the National Association of Child Care Professionals, the National Child Care Association, and Young Mens' and Young Women's Christian Associations:

        Inform your members about the circumstances of the accidents discussed in this special investigation report and urge that they use school buses or buses having equivalent occupant protection to school buses to transport children.

    It is our opinion, and that of the NTSB, that school buses are one of the safest forms of transportation in this country. We therefore strongly recommend that all buses that are used to transport school children be certified as meeting NHTSA's school bus safety standards. In addition, NHTSA notes that using 15-person vans that do not meet NHTSA's school bus standards to transport students could result in liability in the event of a crash.

    For your information, I am enclosing NHTSA's publication: "School Bus Safety: Safe Passage for America's Children." This brochure explains the safety enhancements of a school bus that makes school buses safer than 15-person vans. Please be advised that there are small school buses (under 10,000 pound gross vehicle weight rating) available that seat 15 or fewer children. Because it would not be cost effective to do so, we do not recommend retrofitting 15-person vans to meet school bus standards. I am also enclosing NHTSA's February 1999 "Guideline for the Safe Transportation of Pre-school Age Children in School Buses." This guideline establishes NHTSA's recommendations for how pre-school age children should be transported in school buses.

    If you have any further questions about NHTSA's programs please feel free to contact Dorothy Nakama at this address, or at (202) 366-2992. Information about NTSB's nonconforming bus report is available from the NTSB's Public Affairs Office, at (202) 314-6100.



    Sincerely,

    John Womack
    Acting Chief Counsel

    Enclosures
    ref:VSA#571.3
    d.11/16/01