Final Regulatory Assessment Final Revised Accessibility Guidelines for Buses, Over-the-Road Buses, and Vans (36 CFR Part 1192, Subpart B) UNITED STATES ACCESS BOARD WASHINGTON, DC United States Access Board 1331 F Street, NW – Suite 1000 Washington, DC 20004-111 www.access-board.gov Nov. 9, 2016 (This page intentionally blank.) TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Executive Summary .......................................................................................................................1 2. Introduction ....................................................................................................................................3 3. Background ....................................................................................................................................5 3.1. Existing Regulatory Requirements for Buses, Vans, and OTRBs .........................................5 3.2. Announcements on Fixed Route Buses – History of Compliance Issues ..............................6 3.3. Growing Use of Intelligent Transportation Systems by Transit Agencies ............................7 3.4. Final Rule – New or Revised Accessibility Requirements with Cost Impacts ......................9 4. Overview of Cost Methodology ...................................................................................................11 4.1. Automated Stop Announcement Systems – Large Transit Agencies ..................................11 4.2. Other Accessibility Requirements - Over-the-Road Buses .................................................13 4.3. Small Business Analysis ......................................................................................................14 5. Cost Model: Discussion of Significant Estimated Elements .......................................................17 5.1. Vehicles ................................................................................................................................17 5.1.1. Transit Agencies and Vehicles Used in Fixed-Route Bus Modes ...................................17 5.1.2. OTRBs .............................................................................................................................19 5.2. Automated Announcement Systems ....................................................................................21 5.2.1. Initial Costs – Onboard Equipment and Backend Systems .............................................21 5.2.2. Training and Other Labor Costs ......................................................................................24 5.2.3. Operations & Maintenance ..............................................................................................26 5.2.4. Mid-Life Software Upgrade .............................................................................................26 5.3. Over-the-Road Buses – New Requirements for Onboard Accessibility Features ...............27 5.3.1. Unit Costs ........................................................................................................................27 5.3.2. Likelihoods for Incurring Compliance Costs ...................................................................28 5.3.3. Operation & Maintenance ................................................................................................30 6. Benefits: A Qualitative & Quantitative Perspective ....................................................................30 6.1. General Discussion ..............................................................................................................31 6.2. Threshold Analyses – Automated Announcement Systems ................................................35 7. Costs: Results & Discussion ........................................................................................................38 7.1. Summary of Results .............................................................................................................38 7.1.1. Annualized Costs of New Requirements .........................................................................38 7.1.2. Annualized Costs for Automated Announcement Systems under Primary Scenario by Transit Agency Category (Tiers I, II & III) .....................................................................40 7.1.3. Annual Costs for New OTRB Accessibility Requirements .............................................41 7.2. Additional Cost Studies: Stress Tests for Selected Assumptions ........................................42 7.2.1. Unit Costs for Automated Announcement Systems ........................................................43 7.2.2. Number of Large Transit Agencies Likely to Incur Costs under Automated Announcement Systems Requirement .............................................................................44 7.2.3. Percentage of OTRBs Operating in Fixed Route Service ................................................44 7.2.4. Likelihoods of Changes that Incur OTRB Compliance Costs .........................................45 8. Alternative Regulatory Approaches: Large Transit Agencies and the VOMS 100 Threshold ....47 9. Small Business Analysis ..............................................................................................................54 APPENDICES Appendix A: Large Transit Agencies Over VOMS 100 Threshold for Fixed-Route Bus Modes (2014 NTD Data) .......................................................................................................................................... A-1 Appendix B – Unit Costs: Automated Announcement Systems .........................................................B-1 Appendix B-1: Initial (One-Time) Costs for Onboard Bus Equipment ..............................................B-1 Appendix B-2: Initial (One-Time) Costs for Backend System ...........................................................B-3 Appendix B-3: Training Cost Assumptions/Labor Costs ....................................................................B-7 Appendix B-4: Annual Costs – Operation & Maintenance .................................................................B-9 Appendix B-5: Mid-life Software Upgrade Costs ............................................................................B-10 Appendix C – Unit Costs: New Accessibility Requirements for OTRBs ...........................................C-1 Appendix D – OTRB Accessibility Requirements: Likelihood of Incurring Costs ........................... D-1 Appendix E-1: Annual Costs for Automated Announcement Systems under Primary Scenario by Transit Agency Category (Tiers I, II & III) ......................................................................................... E-1 Appendix E-2: Annual Costs for Automated Announcement Systems under Low Scenario by Transit Agency Category (Tiers I, II & III) ..................................................................................................... E-4 Appendix E-3: Annual Costs for Automated Announcement Systems under High Scenario by Transit Agency Category (Tiers I, II & III) ..................................................................................................... E-7 Appendix F-1: Annual Costs for Over-the-Road Buses (OTRBs) under Primary Scenario ............... F-1 Appendix F-2: Annual Costs for Over-the-Road Buses (OTRBs) under Low Scenario .................... F-2 Appendix F-3: Annual Costs for Over-the-Road Buses (OTRBs) under High Scenario .................... F-3 Appendix G: Small Business Data ..................................................................................................... G-1 Appendix H: Federal Statistics on Prevalence of Certain Categories of Functional Disabilities, U.S. Non-Institutionalized Population ....................................................................................................... H-1 Appendix I: Data Sources and Methodology for Threshold Analyses of Automated Announcement Systems ................................................................................................................................................. I-1 Appendix J: Key Characteristics of Transit Agencies Reporting Bus Modes of Service (2014 NTD Annual Data) ........................................................................................................................................ J-1 LIST OF TABLES Table 1 – Total Number and Percentages of Small Businesses in Four OTRB-Related NAICS Codes ........................................................................................................................................15 Table 2 – Assumed Characteristics of Large Transit Agencies Subject to Automated Announcement Requirement, by Category (Tiers I, I & III) .................................................................18 Table 3 – Assumed Characteristics of “New” Large Transit Agencies that Cross VOMS 100 Threshold during Regulatory Timeframe ..............................................................................................19 Table 4 - Estimated Size of Total OTRB Fleet in the United States, 2015 ...........................................20 Table 5 - Estimated Hourly Wages for Vehicle Operators and Mechanics ..........................................24 Table 6 - Estimated Annual Wages for IT/GIS Specialist and IT Project Manager .............................25 Table 7 - Estimated Mid-Life Software Upgrade Costs (Onboard Equipment & Backend Systems) ................................................................................................................................................26 Table 8 – Per Vehicle Unit