49 U.S.C. § 5318 — Bus testing facility

(a) Facility. The Secretary must maintain one facility to test a new bus model for maintainability, reliability, safety, performance including braking, structural integrity, fuel economy, emissions, and noise. (b) Operation and maintenance. The Secretary must use a contract, cooperative agreement, or grant with a qualified person or organization to operate and maintain the facility. The arrangement may also allow testing rail cars and other public-transportation vehicles there. (c) Fees. The operator must set and collect testing fees, subject to the Secretary’s approval. (d) Payment. The Secretary must arrange to pay 80 percent of a vehicle’s testing cost from funds available under this section. The entity having the vehicle tested must pay the other 20 percent. (e)(1) Federal funds may be used to acquire a new bus model only if a bus of that model was tested at a facility authorized under (a), and the tested bus met the Secretary’s standards for maintainability, reliability, performance including braking, structural integrity, fuel economy, emissions, and noise, and the minimum safety standards under section 5329(b). (2) Within two years after enactment of the Federal Public Transportation Act of 2012, the Secretary must issue the final rule establishing the standards in (1)(B)(i). The rule must include a scoring system producing a weighted total score from the testing categories in (a), considering their relative importance, and must establish a “pass/fail” standard using that score. Federal funds may be used to acquire a new model only if it receives a passing total score. The Secretary must work with the facility, bus manufacturers, and transit agencies to develop the system. A passing score only allows Federal funds to be used for acquisition; it is not a warranty or guarantee that the bus meets a purchaser’s specific needs. (f) Capital equipment. A facility operated under this section may use section funds to acquire equipment and capital projects related to testing new bus models.