Notice of Request To Renew Approval of Information Collection; Collection:
OMB No. 2139-0003 (Financial and Operating Statistics for Motor Carriers of Passengers)
Federal Register Notice
March 14, 2003
Volume 68, Number 50
AGENCY: Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), U.S. DOT.
ACTION: Notice and request for comments.
OMB Control Numbers: 2139-0003 (Form MP-1, Quarterly and Annual Reports).
SUMMARY: This notice announces that
the information collection request (ICR)
to renew approval for the information
collection, the Annual and Quarterly
Reports for Class I Motor Carriers of
Passengers (Form MP-1) has been sent
to the Office of Management and Budget
(OMB) for review and approval. This
information collection is necessary to
ensure that motor carriers comply with
financial and operating statistics
requirements as prescribed in the BTS
regulations (49 CFR 1420). The Federal
Register notice allowing for a 60-day
comment period on this information
collection was published on November
15, 2002 (67 FR 69300). This notice is
required under the Paperwork
Reduction Act (PRA).
DATES: Comments must be submitted to
OMB on or before April 14, 2003.
ADDRESSES: Send comments to the
Office of Information and Regulatory
Affairs, Office of Management and
Budget, New Executive Office Building,
NW., Room 10202, Washington, DC
20502, ATTN: Desk Officer for the
Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
Comments should identify the docket
number, BTS-2002-13790, and be
submitted in duplicate. OMB requests
comments by April 14, 2003 to process
the information collection request
expeditiously.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Paula R. Robinson, Compliance Program
Manager, Office of Motor Carrier
Information, K-13, Bureau of
Transportation Statistics, 400 Seventh
Street, SW., Washington, DC 20590-
0001; (202) 366-2984; fax: (202) 366-
3364; e-mail: paula.robinson@bts.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Electronic Access
An electronic copy of this document
may be downloaded by using a
computer, modem, and suitable
communications software from the
Government Printing Office´s Electronic
Bulletin Board Services at (202) 512-
1661. Internet users may reach the
Office of the Federal Register´s Home
Page at: http://www.nara.gov/fedreg and
the Government Printing Office´s
database at: http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara.
You can also view and download
this document by going to the Web page
of the Department´s Docket Management
System (http://dms.dot.gov/). On that
page, click on "search." On the next
page, type the last five digits of the
docket number shown in the heading of
this document. Then click on "search."
The public should be aware that
anyone may search the electronic form
of all comments received in the
Department´s Docket Management
System by using the name of the
individual submitting the comment (or
signing the comment, if submitted on
behalf of an association, business, labor
union, etc.). You may review DOT´s
complete Privacy Act Statement in the
Federal Register published on April 11,
2000 (Volume 65, Number 70; Pages
19477-78) or you may visit
http://dms.dot.gov.
Background
The Quarterly and Annual Report of
Motor Carriers of Passengers (Form MP-
1) is a mandated reporting requirement
for any for-hire Class I motor carriers of
passengers that have annual operating
reviews that are $5,000,000 dollars or
more. Motor carriers required to comply
with the BTS regulations are classified
on the basis of their annual gross carrier
operating revenues (including interstate
and intrastate). Under the financial and
operating statistics (F&OS) program, the
BTS collects balance sheet and income
statement data along with information
on tonnage, mileage, employees,
transportation equipment, and other
related data. These regulations were
formerly administered by Interstate
Commerce Commission (ICC), the
Interstate Commerce Act, 49 U.S.C.
11145, 49 U.S.C. 11343(d)(1) and the
Bus Regulatory Act of 1982 and later
transferred to the Secretary of
Transportation under 49 U.S.C. 14123
and BTS´ implementing regulations (49
CFR part 1420).
Comment to the Docket
The BTS published in the Federal
Register the required notice offering a
60-day comment period on November
15, 2002 (67 FR 69300). The agency
received one comment to the docket
from the Central Analysis Bureau, Inc.,
(CAB). The CAB is a private
organization within the insurance
industry that provides services to motor
carriers of passengers and property.
In their comments, CAB supports the
agency´s need for the data collection
and the agency´s combined use of the
form both as a quarterly and annual
report for passenger carriers, however, it
recommends that the agency revise its
existing MP-1 Form and initiate efforts
to prescribe a new MP-1 Form that
complies with governing statutes. CAB
believes that the current MP-1 Form
does not meet statutory requirements, in
that it lacks sufficient details in the
balance sheet and income statement
information. CAB further states that in
order to permit a proper evaluation of a
passenger carrier´s ability to operate
with sufficient capital that the agency
must require more detailed information.
They suggest a new form, which would
include more meaningful financial and
safety information. Secondly, CAB
suggests that if the quarterly report were
supplemental to an improved annual
report for passenger carriers, the form
would have greater utility.
The CAB believes that proper motor
carrier financial reporting continues to
be a crucial safety issue because "almost
every safety study, such as the General
Accounting Office´s April 1991 report,
"Freight Trucking: Promising Approach
for Predicting Carriers´ Safety Risks" has
found that financially weak motor
carriers have more accidents. The CAB
believes that a financially weak motor
carrier will sometimes cut back on
safety engineering services, including
maintenance, employee hiring
standards, and other safety related
aspects.
CAB also recommends that the agency
conduct a survey of all passenger
carriers to determine their qualifying
revenues. Currently, motor carriers of
passengers with annual operating
revenues of $5 million dollars or more
are required to file the Form MP-1.
Under the CAB proposal, the reporting
threshold would be lowered to $3
million dollars in annual operating
revenues.
BTS Response
BTS reviewed the CAB comment. It
should be noted that the comment
contained multiple proposals that
would require the agency to conduct a
rulemaking. The BTS is deferring
rulemaking action, at this time, because
the benefits of increasing the reporting
requirements do not appear to outweigh
the costs of the increased regulatory
burden. The agency will consider CAB´s
proposal in any future rulemaking to
revise the agency´s reporting
requirements.
The agency will consider CAB´s
proposal for the agency to survey
passenger carriers about their qualifying
revenues as a long-term action. The
agency believes that it is not practical at
this time to conduct a survey because it
does not have the resources and/or
necessary approval from OMB.
In the meantime, the agency will
continue to work with motor carriers of
passengers and others within the bus
and transportation community to collect
F&OS data and to conduct and facilitate
useful analysis. Although no additional
comments were received to the docket,
specifically from the regulated
community, the agency believes that the
present regulations are not burdensome.
Therefore, BTS without any additional
data or information bus carriers or other
affected parties as to the extent of the
burden, will not proceed with the CAB´s
recommendation at this time. BTS will
continue to work with CAB and others
in the future on ways to reduce the
burden on the motor carrier industry
and improve the reporting process.
Information Collected for a Non-Statistical Purpose
Respondents are hereby notified by
this notice that BTS uses the
information it collects under this OMB
approval for non-statistical purposes
including, but not limited to,
publication of both Respondent´s
identity and its data. There may be
reports of this information to agencies
outside BTS for review, analysis, and
other possible non-statistical uses.
The Data Collection
The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
(44 U.S.C. Chapter 35; as amended) and
5 CFR part 1320 require each Federal
agency to obtain an OMB approval to
continue an information collection
activity for which the agency received
prior approval. BTS is seeking OMB´
approval for the following BTS
information collection activity.
Title: Class I Quarterly and Annual
Reports of Motor Carriers of Passengers.
OMB Control Number: 2139-0003.
Form Number: BTS Form MP-1.
Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection.
Respondents: Class I Motor Carriers of Passengers.
Number of Respondents: 26.
Estimated Time Per Response: 1.5 hours.
Expiration Date: February 28, 2003.
Frequency: Quarterly and Annually.
Total Annual Burden: 195 hours.
Abstract: This report provides
financial and operating data. The
Department of Transportation uses this
information to assess the health of the
industry and identify industry changes
that may affect national transportation
policy. The data also show company
financial stability and traffic.
For additional information regarding
this data collection, interested parties
may review the supporting statements
the agency submitted to OMB.
Issued on: March 10, 2003 in Washington, DC.
Russell B. Capelle, Jr.,
Assistant BTS Director for Motor Carrier
Information, Department of Transportation.
[FR Doc. 03-6185 Filed 3-13-03; 8:45 am]
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