Another transit agency ordered to halt school bus routes
The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) directs a Michigan agency to halt several routes that were introduced in 2010 to transport about 300 students. The ruling comes a month after the FTA issued a similar order to a South Dakota transit agency.
The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has ordered another transit agency to stop bus routes that were tailored to take students to and from school.
According to the Record-Eagle, the FTA directed the Bay Area Transportation Authority in Traverse City, Mich., to halt several routes that were introduced in 2010 to transport about 300 students.
The Record-Eagle reports that the National School Transportation Association (NSTA) filed a complaint with the FTA in April 2011, arguing that the routes were created solely to bus students to and from school — a violation of federal regulations. In a ruling last week, the FTA agreed.
Federal law prohibits transit agencies from using FTA-funded equipment and facilities for exclusive school bus service.
A month earlier, on Feb. 5, the FTA ordered Lake Andes, S.D., agency Yankton Transit to cease and desist from operating exclusive school bus routes. That order was also in response to a complaint filed by NSTA in 2011.
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