BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  AB 1706
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           Date of Hearing:   April 23, 2012

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
                               Bonnie Lowenthal, Chair
                     AB 1706 (Eng) - As Amended:  April 17, 2012
           
          SUBJECT  :  Transit bus axle weight increase

           SUMMARY  :  Suspends axle weight limits of public transit buses 
          until December 31, 2015.  Specifically,  this bill  :  

          1)Makes findings and declarations related to public transit 
            systems' benefits, sustainability issues of the transportation 
            system's pavement, and federal study requirements.  

          2)Declares that the state act immediately to clarify that the 
            public transit vehicles currently operating in California are 
            permitted to continue in transit service without disruption 
            due to the state's outdated transit bus weight limitation, 
            while a study is prepared analyzing the following:  

             a)   The appropriate transit bus axle weight limitations to 
               reflect current federal and state laws affecting vehicle 
               manufacture.  

             b)   The availability of, and the ability of manufacturers to 
               utilize, lighter-weight materials in the manufacture and 
               integration of transit buses.  

             c)   Other alternative strategies to ensure the long-term 
               sustainability of the transportation network, including the 
               Interstate System, state highways, local streets and roads, 
               and public transit systems.  

             d)   A comparison of the costs of maintaining the status quo 
               versus the potential cost to state and local governments of 
               adopting new vehicle axle weight standards for transit 
               buses.  

             e)   The requirement for the use of lighter-weight materials 
               in the manufacture and integration of buses.  

             f)   Alternative strategies for ensuring the sustainability 
               of the transportation network.  









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          1)Repeals, until December 31, 2015, the existing bus gross axle 
            weight limit of 20,500 pounds.  

          2)Establishes, until December 31, 2015, that transit buses are 
            not subject to weight and tire load limits as specified.  

          3)Allows, until December 31, 2015, public transit agency 
            contracts for the procurement of public transit buses issued 
            after January 1, 2013, to purchase buses that do not exceed 
            the gross weight of the heaviest bus of that transit bus fleet 
            as of December 31, 2012.  

          4)Allows, until December 31, 2015, a public agency to 
            incorporate a new fleet class into its inventory under 
            specified conditions.  

          5)Reestablishes, on January 1, 2016, the bus gross axle weight 
            limit of 20,500 pounds.  

          6)Requires the Secretary of the Business, Transportation and 
            Housing Agency (Secretary) to convene a task force to oversee 
            the preparation of a report concerning the maximum axel weight 
            limitations in federal and state statutes and to recommend 
            strategies relative to measuring and enforcing transit vehicle 
            weight limits, designing and manufacturing transit vehicles, 
            and updating and utilizing the most effective and efficient 
            pavement design standards when designing and constructing 
            highways and streets and roads, to ensure the sustainability 
            of California's transportation network of highways, streets, 
            roads and public transit systems.  

          7)Establishes the membership of the task force.  

          8)Establishes parameters of the report as specified.  

          9)Requires the Secretary to submit the report to the appropriate 
            Senate and Assembly Committees of the Legislature that oversee 
            transportation issues by January 1, 2015.  

          10)Appropriates unspecified funds from the Public Transportation 
            Account and the State Highway Account for the development of 
            the report.  

          11)Repeals the report provisions on January 1, 2019.  









                                                                  AB 1706
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           EXISTING LAW  : 

          1)Establishes the size and weight limits for vehicles operating 
            on the state's highways.  For buses, sets the gross weight on 
            any one axle to not exceed 20,500 pounds.  

          2)Under federal law, temporarily suspends the axle weight limit 
            of 20,000 pounds for buses operating over the federal 
            Interstate Highway System.  Prohibits specified states, 
            including California, or any political subdivision of such 
            states, from enforcing a transit vehicle weight limit of less 
            than 24,000 pounds on the Interstate System.  

           FISCAL EFFECT  :  Unknown costs to the Public Transportation 
          Account and the State Highway Account for purposes of the task 
          force study.  

           COMMENTS  :  According to a December 2003 federal Department of 
          Transportation/Federal Transit Administration study on bus axle 
          weight limitations, the report indicated that the buses have 
          been operating in excess of the 20,000 pound federal axle weight 
          limits on the Interstate Highway System for over 20 years.  The 
          report also indicated that "Since 1992, there has been a 
          permissive arrangement whereby states are not required to 
          enforce axle weight limits for intrastate transit buses."  The 
          report further recommended the following approaches used for 
          dealing with overweight transit buses:  

          1)Some states, particularly in the northeast, have higher 
            axle-weight limits that preempt the federal limits due to 
            grandfather rights. In these states, transit buses with a 
            seated load often remain legal.  

          2)A number of years ago, bus operators for the Los Angeles 
            County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) received 
            traffic citations for driving overweight transit buses on 
            Interstate highways.  As a result, MTA bought over 90 
            tandem-axle Neoplan transit buses for freeway operation.  

          3)Federal law currently allows states to exempt intrastate 
            transit buses from the weight limit.  

          The federal study also recognized that other areas currently 
          have higher axle weight limits than California.  The State of 
          Pennsylvania and others have a 22,400 pound axle weight limit.  








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          The bill's sponsor, the California Transit Association (CTA), 
          contends that vehicles have increased in weight due to state and 
          federal mandates, as well as to accommodate for higher passenger 
          loads and passenger amenities.  They cite clean vehicle fleet 
          rules as promulgated by the California Air Resources Board (ARB) 
          as contributing weight factors especially as compressed natural 
          gas (CNG) equipment can add around 4,000 pounds to the weight of 
          a bus.  Further, they cite additional requirements, such as the 
          federal Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), that 
          requires public transit buses to be equipped with ADA-compliant 
          tools, such as wheelchair lifts, ramps, kneelers, tie-downs, and 
          other equipment.  Their contention is that this gear also adds 
          hundreds of pounds of weight to buses, in addition to passengers 
          with wheelchairs, which can add 1,000 pounds of weight for only 
          two passengers in wheelchairs.  They claim that these 
          requirements have caused "transit systems to seek compliance 
          with one law while breaking another as a result."  

          Additionally, CTA indicates that buses today carry more 
          passengers than they did in years past. Buses are designed to 
          accommodate more standing passengers, and thus more passengers 
          overall.  Also, average passenger weights in the United States 
          are also increasing.  

          Responding to the need to increase the federal and state public 
          transit bus axle weight limits, local road and state highway 
          officials indicate that an increase in the axle weight 
          allowances of the buses will result in pavement stress, 
          resulting in higher reconstruction costs for local arterials 
          than state highways.  Although they are sensitive to the needs 
          and dilemma of the public transit agencies in deploying vehicles 
          that are not within current axle weight limitations, they are 
          not responsive to the suggestion by the CTA to allow transit 
          agencies to continue purchases at the weight limit of the 
          heaviest bus in an agency's fleet.  

          After several meetings, even as affected entities were unable to 
          reach consensus, the author and sponsor have fashioned this bill 
          that seeks to provide an interim solution and also furthers the 
          discussions that:  

          1)Suspends the current state weight limits on existing on-road 
            buses.  









                                                                  AB 1706
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          2)Convenes a task force to study the overweight bus issue and 
            make recommendations on measuring and enforcing transit 
            vehicle weight limits; designing and manufacturing lighter 
            weight transit vehicles; and updating pavement design 
            standards for streets, roads, and highways.  

          3)Authorizes public transit agencies to purchase vehicles 
            limited by the heaviest vehicle within their current fleet as 
            of December 31, 2012.  

          4)Restores the gross axle weight limit back to 20,000 pounds on 
            January 1, 2016.  

           A critical look at the task force study and its funding sources  : 
           A key component of this bill is the formation of a task force 
          to develop a report on the recommended maximum bus axle weight 
          and other compliance and enforcement strategies as specified.  
          This task force report could build upon the federal Department 
          of Transportation study developed in December 2003.  That study 
          examined issues relevant to overweight buses at that time and 
          those same issues are still relevant today.  Accordingly, 
          although this bill allows the task force two years for report 
          development, it is questionable if that extended length of time 
          is necessary.  

          Further, the bill provides an unspecified amount of funding from 
          the Public Transportation Account to partially fund the task 
          force report.  The allocation of funds would appear to divert 
          necessary operating funds for local and regional public transit 
          systems.  Lastly, the bill would provide an unspecified amount 
          of State Highway Account funds from truck weight fee revenues.  
          Currently, those funds are transferred to the State's General 
          Fund for purposes of transportation debt bond service.  

           Notice of concerns  :  Writing to express concerns with this bill, 
          the League of California Cities (League) and the California 
          State Association of Counties (CSAC) indicate that the new 
          interim weight standards to the heaviest bus in the transit 
          agency fleet is problematic making enforcement nearly impossible 
          and "In some ways, this would reward those transit agencies that 
          have disregarded current law the most by allowing them to 
          continue to purchase buses that far exceed the legal weight."  

          The two groups also suggest amendments to require all state 
          rulemaking bodies to consider the following factors for any 








                                                                  AB 1706
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          proposed rule:  

             1)   The weight added to a vehicle;

             2)   The effect any added vehicle weight would have on 
               pavement wear; and,

             3)   The resulting costs to state and local governments.  

          The author's office is willing to discuss further these 
          suggestions but defers a commitment to accept them at this time. 
           

           Suggested amendments  :  

          1)After January 1, 2013, the bill allows transit agencies to 
            continue the purchase of overweight buses limited to the 
            heaviest bus within a transit agency's fleet.  This would lead 
            to transit districts operating buses with various weights 
            throughout the state.  Also, this would exacerbate the current 
            overweight bus situation, potentially leading to undue 
            pavement stress to the local roads and state highways.  This 
            amendment mollifies the significant concern as expressed from 
            the League and CSAC as indicated in the above.  

                Delete the provision that allows public transit districts, 
                after January 1, 2013, to purchase buses weighing up to 
                the heaviest bus in that entity's fleet and to replace the 
                purchase allowance with an axle weight limit that is 
                referenced in the 2003 federal Department of 
                Transportation study of 22,400 pounds.  

          2)Corrects inadvertent drafting errors in Section 1 (c), 
            relative to the findings and declarations as pertaining to the 
            disproportional damage by increased frequency of transit bus 
            use on streets, roads, and highways as well as other 
            unspecified sections of the bill.  

               Replace (c) with the following:  (c) However, as public 
               transit ridership has increased, concerns arise about the 
               long-term sustainability of the transportation network 
               built to support cars, trucks and buses; namely, that the 
               increased frequency of transit bus use disproportionately 
               damages city streets, county roads and the state's highway 
               and interstate systems, due to the pavement wear impact of 








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               heavy transit vehicles relative to other types of vehicles. 
               In fact:  

           REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION  :  

           Support 
           
          California Transit Association (sponsor)  
          City of Culver City 
          Long Beach Transit
          Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority (support work 
          with author)  
          Monterey-Salinas Transit  
          Paratransit, Inc.
          Santa Barbara Metropolitan Transit District  
          Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority
          Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District

           Notice of Concern

           California State Association of Counties
          League of California Cities

           Opposition 
           
          None on file
           

          Analysis Prepared by  :   Ed Imai / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093