On August 12, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) announced a final rule that revises the agency’s regulations governing the lease and interchange of commercial buses, which is estimated to save more than $8 million in regulatory costs, without reducing safety.

FMCSA’s final rule includes the following revisions:

Revises the definition of lease to exclude carriers with FMCSA-issued operating authority that grant the use of their vehicles to each other;
Removes the May 27, 2015, final rule’s marking requirements and reinstates the previous vehicle marking requirements with slight modifications;
Revises the provision allowing a delay in the completion of a lease, for transactions that require a lease, during certain emergencies; and
Removes the requirement that motor carriers chartered for a trip who lease a CMV from another carrier to provide the transportation must notify the tour operator or group of passengers about the lease and the lessor.

There are nearly 8,400 passenger carriers in the United States and more than 547,000 passenger-carrying CMV trips occur annually. FMCSA estimates the adoption of this new rule will create $8.3 million in regulatory cost savings for the U.S. economy.

The final rule is a deregulatory action as defined by President Trump’s Executive Order 13771, “Reducing Regulation and Controlling Regulatory Costs.”

To view the final rule, click here.