Ms. Freya M. Toledo Feria
Assistant Secretary for Planning
Highway and Transportation Authority
Department of Transportation and Public Works
Post Office Box 42007
San Juan, Puerto Rico 00940-2007

Dear Ms. Toledo:

Thank you for your June 9, 1999, letter, in which you ask several questions on the applicability of the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) drug and alcohol testing regulations, 49 CFR Parts 653 and 654, to transit providers in Puerto Rico. Your questions are:

1.If no FTA operating funds are being used and no FTA capital funds were used to acquire the vehicles, do FTA drug and alcohol regulations apply?

The drug and alcohol testing regulations can apply under the scenario you present in this question. Please see our response to #2 below for a fuller explanation as to why this is the case.

2.If non-FTA acquired vehicles serve a FTA-acquired terminal facility, do FTA drug and alcohol regulations apply?

The dispositive issue is whether an entity receives a Section 5307, 5309, or 5311 grant, not whether a particular vehicle is funded partially or fully by an FTA grant. The rules apply only to those employees of FTA grantees that perform one of the five safety-sensitive functions listed at 49 CFR 653.7 and 654.7

3.If non-FTA acquired vehicles utilize the FTA-acquired terminal facility as a garage during non-service hours, do FTA drug and alcohol regulations apply?
Please refer to my response to #2 above.

4.If non-FTA acquired vehicles utilize the services of a FTA acquired maintenance facility, do FTA drug and alcohol regulations apply?

Please refer to my response to #2 above.

5.If FTA-acquired vehicles are added on to a non-FTA-acquired fleet, do FTA drug and alcohol regulations apply?

Please refer to my response to #2 above.If you have additional questions, please contact Michael Connelly of my staff at (202) 366-4011.

Very truly yours,
(Signed)
Patrick W. Reilly
Chief Counsel