Interpretation ID: nht79-4.9

DATE: 07/17/79

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; Frank Berndt; NHTSA

TO: Daniel K. Akaka; House of Representatives

TITLE: FMVSR INTERPRETATION

TEXT: This responds to your June 21, 1979, telephone request asking how automobile dealers can determine when they must sell school buses as opposed to regular vans.

The key factors in making this determination are the purpose for which the vehicle will be used and the passenger carrying capacity of the vehicle. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) issued the school bus safety standards in response to the Motor Vehicle and Schoolbus Safety Amendments of 1974 (Pub. L. 93-492). In defining "schoolbus", Congress drew upon NHTSA's definition of "bus", i.e., any motor vehicle, including a van, designed to carry more than 10 persons. Congress stated that the term "schoolbus" means "a passenger motor vehicle which is designed to carry more than 10 passengers . . . and which the Secretary determines is likely to be significantly used for the purpose of transporting . . . students to or from school or events related to such schools." The NHTSA concluded from this mandate that any vehicle that is a bus and will be used on a regular and recurring basis to transport school children must comply with school bus safety standards. To effect this conclusion, the agency issued a definition of "schoolbus" which is "a bus that is sold or introduced in interstate commerce, for purposes that include carrying students to or from school or related events . . . ."

The effect of the 1974 amendments and the agency's definition is to require any new bus that is sold to transport school children on a regular basis to comply with the safety standards. Compliance is required whether a bus is used regularly to transport students 100 percent of the time or whether it regularly transport students only 10 percent of the time while otherwise transporting adults.