The Program

The Bus Testing Program of the Federal Transit Administration was established in response to the requirements of the Surface Transportation and Uniform Relocation Assistance Act (STURAA) of 1987. Under the program, testing is required on all new model buses before they can be purchased with federal funds. The testing mandated by STURAA and the vehicle categories included were expanded by the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) in 1991. A history of the implementation and changes to the bus testing law are highlighted in the Milestones and Schedule table.

Testing is performed by the Vehicle Systems and Safety Program staff at the Altoona Bus Research and Testing Center (ABRTC) in Altoona, Pennsylvania. The Center currently handles up to eight buses at one time. As of December 2005, testing had been completed on 288 buses and testing was in progress on 8 other vehicles. Over the course of testing thus far, Center staff identified more than 7183 malfunctions, resulting in many design changes. Additional test facilities are located at the Bus Research and Testing Facility of the Pennsylvania Transportation Institute, at Penn State University.