KANSAS CITY, Mo. (March 27, 2008) — The National School Transportation Association will have to wait until Sioux City Transit in Iowa actually launches planned routes for public school students before complaining the routes are in violation of tripper service laws, the Federal Transportation Administration said.

The NSTA had requested the FTA investigate six planned routes as well as two current routes. NSTA said these appeared to be in violation of 49 USC 5323 and 49 CFR 605, rules which dictate how public transit agencies can offer school transportation services.

The association said the transit agency was purchasing new buses, planned to hire new part-time drivers who were to be trained by the school transportation department and had not listed the routes with other public routes.

In a subsequent interview, NSTA spokeswoman Robin Leeds noted the school district had not put the routes out to bid to a private contract.

An advanced investigation might "spare the district, the students, and their parents the unnecessary inconvenience of redesigning the illegal service," the association said.

However, in a letter to the NSTA last month, FTA’s Region VII office in Kansas City said these claims were either "not ripe for FTA review" or did not provide probable cause to believe the routes were illegal.

Leeds said the NSTA will take another look at the service when it starts next fall and will file an official complaint if they find it violates tripper service rules.

The NSTA recently pursued tripper service violations against Rochester-Genesee Regional Transportation Authority in New York. There a U.S. District Court ruled FTA orders to cease a tripper service were “arbitrary and capricious” because it was inconsistent with the federal regulations. NSTA now has another complaint pending in Dayton, Ohio.

"NSTA has made this a priority," Leeds said. "We want to protect our members' businesses and protect the school bus market."