Mr. David Feinberg
Assistant General Manager
City of Arcadia
240 West Huntington Drive
Arcadia, California 91066-6021

RE: Definition of large operator under 49 CFR Parts 653 and 654

Dear Mr. Feinberg:

Thank you for your recent letter asking about an issue in connection with the Federal Transit Administration's (FTA) drug and alcohol testing regulations.

Background

Those rules require a recipient of funds under section 3, 9, or 18 of the Federal Transit Act, as amended, or under section 103(e)(4) of title 23 of the U.S. Code (the interstate transfer program), to implement a program requiring safety-sensitive employees to be tested for five controlled substances and for the misuse of alcohol. The regulations were published in the Federal Register on February 15, 1994, at 59 FR 7531 et seq. (49 CFR Parts 653 and 654.)

Issue

The FTA's drug and alcohol rules have different implementation periods for large and small transit operators. A large operator, which is defined as a "recipient or subrecipient primarily operating in an area of 200,000 or more in population," must comply with the rules beginning on January 1, 1995, a year before small operators are to begin compliance. You state that Arcadia Dial-A-Ride is a public dial-a-ride system that exclusively serves the City of Arcadia, which has a population of 49,254, but which is within the greater Los Angeles urbanized area. You therefore ask whether Arcadia Dial-A-Ride is considered a large or small operator for purposes of the FTA's drug and alcohol testing regulations. (We assume that Arcadia Dial-A-Ride is a recipient of FTA funds identified above that mandate compliance with the rules, but note that the rules do not apply to an entity that receives only FTA section 16 funds for the special transportation needs of the elderly and disabled.)

Ruling

The definition of large operator under the rules was derived from our section 9 formula program, which treats urbanized areas differently on the basis of population. Urbanized areas of 200,000 or greater in population are considered large urbanized areas, while those less than 200,000 but greater than 50,000 in population are considered small urbanized areas. Any city or entity within an urbanized area is considered a part of that urbanized area for section 9 purposes, and is thus eligible to receive section 9 funds apportioned to the area. In short, because Arcadia is part of an urbanized area of greater than 200,000 in population, it is considered a large operator under the FTA regulations on drug and alcohol testing and therefore must meet the January 1, 1995, implementation dates of the rules.

Sincerely,
(Signed)
Gregory B. McBride
Acting Chief Counsel