Lease and Interchange of Vehicles; Motor Carriers of Passengers

FMCSA extends by one year the compliance date of the regulations established in the final rule on lease and interchange of passenger-carrying commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) published on May 27, 2015, and effective on July 27, 2015. The new compliance date is January 1, 2019. The Agency received numerous petitions for reconsideration of the final rule and extended the original January 1, 2017, compliance date to January 1, 2018, to provide time to address the issues raised by the petitioners. As a result of a public meeting with representatives of the passenger carrier industry in October 2016 and further analysis of the petitions for reconsideration, the Agency is extending the compliance date by an additional twelve months to allow time to revise the regulations, while ensuring that carriers have ample time to adjust to the requirements of the revisions. This decision is explained in more detail in a notice of intent published elsewhere in this issue of the Federal Register.