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LaHood: Oversight will make public transit safer
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Thursday that new federal authority to regulate public transportation systems will make commuting in the United States safer.
Congress included an expansion of the Federal Transit Authority's (FTA) power to regulate transit agencies in the recently approved $105 billion surface transportation bill. The change gives the federal government power, for the first time, to do more than tie safety requirements to future funding.
LaHood said Thursday that public transportation passengers would see a difference.
"You see, for the first time, the new two-year transportation bill passed by Congress, MAP-21, gives the FTA the authority to require basic, common-sense safety standards across our nation’s transit systems," he wrote in a blog post on the Department of Transportation's website.
"Before MAP-21, transit riders depended on a patchwork of local and state safety rules that changed from one system to another," LaHood continued. "Because of this, safety standards vary widely. But to maintain a safe and efficient network of transit systems, we need to make sure the highest safety standards are in place — across the nation."
A crash on the Washington, D.C. Metrorail system that year that killed nine people and increased the attention paid to the issue in Congress. LaHood said Thursday the FTA oversight would help ensure accidents on public transportation are rare.
"Public transit is one of the safest ways to travel, and the FTA's new safety oversight authority will help ensure an even safer commute for the passengers who use our subways, streetcars, buses and light rail systems to go about their daily lives," he said.
