California Code of Regulations
Title 13 - Motor Vehicles
Division 3 - Air Resources Board
Chapter 1 - Motor Vehicle Pollution Control Devices
Article 4.3 - Innovative Clean Transit
Section 2023 - Innovative Clean Transit Regulations Applicability and Scope

Universal Citation: 13 CA Code of Regs 2023

Current through Register 2024 Notice Reg. No. 38, September 20, 2024

(a) Applicability.

(1) Except as provided in sections 2023(a)(2), these Innovative Clean Transit regulations, title 13, article 4.3, California Code of Regulations, apply to a transit agency that owns, operates, leases, rents, or contracts with another entity to operate buses in California.

(2) These regulations do not apply to any of the following:
(A) Vehicles that operate on rails, trolleybuses, or school buses, even if operated by a transit agency;

(B) Caltrans, Caltrain, Amtrak, or any local school district.

(b) Definitions. For the purposes of the regulations in this Article 4.3, the following definitions apply:

(1) "Active Bus" means a bus in a particular fleet at year-end that is available to operate in revenue service, including a spare bus and a bus temporarily out of service for routine maintenance and minor repairs. A bus in storage, an emergency contingency vehicle, a bus removed from the active bus fleet and awaiting sale, or a bus out of service for an extended period of time for major repairs is not considered an active bus.

(2) "Air Basin" has the same meaning as defined in section 39012 of the Health and Safety Code.

(3) "Annual Maximum Service" means the number of buses in revenue service that are operated during the peak season of the year, on the week and day that maximum service is provided, but excludes demand response buses. Annual maximum service excludes the following:
(A) An atypical day, on which the transit agency provides extra service to meet demands for special events such as conventions, parades, or public celebrations, or operates significantly reduced service because of unusually bad weather (e.g., snowstorms, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes) or major public disruptions (e.g., terrorism); or

(B) One-time special events.

(4) "Articulated Bus" is a 54-foot to 60-foot bus with two connected passenger compartments.

(5) "Battery Electric Bus" means a bus that has an all-electric propulsion system and relies only on batteries to store electricity received from an external power source of the vehicle. It has no internal combustion engine in the powertrain for the vehicle.

(6) "Bus" means a rubber-tire vehicle designed to transport passengers by road with gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) greater than 14,000 pounds, but does not include a trolleybus as specified in section 2023(a)(2)(A).

(7) "Bus Purchase" or "Purchase" means the transit agency has identified, committed and encumbered funds and executes one of the following:
(A) A written "Notice to Proceed" executed by a transit agency to a bus manufacturer to begin production of a bus either:
1. Under a previously-entered purchase contract; or

2. To execute a contract option; or,

(B) If no Notice to Proceed is issued, a written purchase agreement between a transit agency and a bus manufacturer that specifies the date when the bus manufacturer is to proceed with the work to manufacture the bus; or

(C) A signed written lease agreement between a transit agency and a bus manufacturer or sales representatives for a new bus to be placed in revenue service for a contract term of five years or more.

(8) "Bus Testing Report" means the complete test report for a bus model required by title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) section 665.13. These bus tests are also commonly called "Altoona Testing".

(9) "Bus Type" means a bus body configuration, including a bus, articulated bus, over-the-road bus, double-decker bus, and cutaway buses.

(10) "CalEnviroScreen" means a mapping tool that is developed by the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) at the request of the California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA) to identify California's most pollution-burdened and vulnerable communities based on geographic, socioeconomic, public health, and environmental hazard criteria. The CalEnviroScreen is available for public use at https://oehha.ca.gov/calenviroscreen.

(11) "CARB" is the same as California Air Resources Board.

(12) "Compressed Natural Gas" or "CNG" has the same meaning as specified in the Low Carbon Fuel Standard Regulation, title 17, California Code of Regulations, section 95481(a)(27).

(13) "Conventional Internal Combustion Engine Bus" means a bus with an internal combustion engine (ICE) propulsion system or a combination of an internal combustion engine with an electric propulsion system commonly referred to as a hybrid powertrain.

(14) "Conversion to a Zero-Emission Bus" means converting a conventional internal combustion engine bus to a zero-emission bus as defined in section 2023(b)(54).

(15) "Criteria Pollutants" or "Criteria Air Pollutants" are air pollutants for which air quality criteria have been issued by the Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency under title 42 of the, U.S.C. section 7408.

(16) "Curb Weight" has the same meaning as defined in title 49 of Code of Federal Regulations, section 571.3.

(17) "Cutaway Bus" means a vehicle in which a bus body designed to transport passengers is mounted on the chassis of a van or light- or medium-duty truck chassis, and that has a GVWR greater than 14,000 pounds but not more than 26,000 pounds. The original van or light- or medium- duty truck chassis may be reinforced or extended. A cutaway bus may accommodate some standing passengers.

(18) "Date In-Service" means the date a purchased bus is brought into revenue service.

(19) "Demand Response" has the same meaning as defined in title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations, section 604.3(g).

(20) "Diesel" has the same meaning as defined in title 13, California Code of Regulations, sections 2281 and 2282.

(21) "Double-Decker" means a high-capacity bus that has two levels of seating, one over the other, connected by one or more stairways. Total bus height is usually 13 to 14.5 feet, and typical passenger seating capacity ranges from 40 to 80 people.

(22) "Emergency" has the same meaning as defined in title 49 of U.S.C., section 5324(a)(2).

(23) "Emergency Contingency Vehicle" is a revenue vehicle removed from an active bus fleet for local emergencies after this revenue vehicle has reached the end of its normal minimum useful life.

(24) "Engine Family Name" or "EFN" is an identifier, which is unique to an engine of a specific model year, build, and manufacturer, and can be found on the emission control label located on the engine.

(25) "Executive Officer" means the Executive Officer of the California Air Resources Board (CARB) or his/her designee.

(26) "FTA" is the Federal Transit Administration.

(27) "Fuel Cell Electric Bus" or "FCEB" means an electric bus that uses both a hydrogen fuel cell stack and a battery for propulsion. The fuel cell stack generates electricity on board to charge the battery that powers the on board motor. It has no internal combustion engine in the powertrain. A fuel cell electric bus relies on its hydrogen tank and fuel cell stack on board for its energy supply.

(28) "Gradeability" means a vehicle's ability to climb slopes.

(29) "Gross Vehicle Weight Rating" or "GVWR" has the same meaning as defined in California Vehicle Code, section 350, subdivision (a).

(30) "Large Transit Agency" means either:
(A) A transit agency that operates either in the South Coast or the San Joaquin Valley Air Basin and operates more than 65 buses in annual maximum service; or

(B) A transit agency that does not operate in the South Coast or San Joaquin Valley Air Basin and has at least 100 buses in annual maximum service in an urbanized area with a population of at least 200,000 as last published by the Bureau of Census before December 31, 2017.

(31) "Low-NOx Engine" has the same meaning as defined in title 13 of the California Code of Regulations, section 2208(c)(18).

(32) "Manufacture Year" means the year of original manufacture of the vehicle. It is not necessarily the same as the model year.

(33) "Metropolitan Planning Organization" or "MPO" has the same meaning as defined in 49 U.S.C. section 5303(b)(2).

(34) "Minimum Useful Life" means the minimum years of service or accumulations of miles at which a transit agency is allowed to retire its federally funded bus without penalty under the terms of federal funding requirements.

(35) "New Bus" means a bus, the equitable or legal title to which has never been transferred to a first entity who in good faith purchases the bus for purposes other than resale.

(36) "New Entrant" means a transit agency that is newly established or is created through a merger of two or more transit agencies on or after December 31, 2017.

(37) "Notice to Proceed" means a written direction to a bus manufacturer to commence production of a bus as provided in a contract.

(38) "NOx" means oxides of nitrogen.

(39) "NOx Exempt Areas" means the following counties and air basins: Alpine, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, Colusa, Del Norte, Eastern Kern (portion of Kern County within the Eastern Kern Air Pollution Control District), Glenn, Humboldt, Inyo, Lake, Lassen, Mariposa, Mendocino, Modoc, Mono, Monterey, Nevada, Northern Sonoma (as defined in title 17, California Code of Regulations, section 60100(e)), Plumas, San Benito, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou, Northern Sutter (portion of Sutter County that is north of the line that extends from the south east corner of Colusa County to the southwest corner of Yuba County), the portion of El Dorado that is within the Lake Tahoe Air Basin (as defined in title 17, California Code of Regulations, section 60113), the portion of Placer that is East of Highway 89 or within the Lake Tahoe Air Basin, Trinity, Tehama, Tuolumne, and Yuba.

(40) "Orange County Bus Cycle" means a chassis dynamometer test developed by West Virginia University based on real bus operating data from the Orange County Transportation Authority. The test is based on Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) International Recommended Practice for Measuring Fuel Economy and Emissions of Hybrid-Electric and Conventional Heavy-Duty Vehicles J2711_200209 (September 20, 2002), available at: https://www.sae.org/standards/content/j2711_200209/, which is incorporated by reference.

(41) "Over-The-Road Bus" means a bus characterized by an elevated passenger deck located over a baggage compartment. They are customarily used for long-distance bus services or connecting outlying areas with central cities with limited stops. Over-The-Road buses are also commonly called Coaches or Motor Coaches.

(42) "Regional Transportation Planning Organization" has the same meaning as defined in 49 U.S.C. section 5303(b)(5).

(43) "Renewable Diesel" or "Renewable Hydrocarbon Diesel" has the same meaning as defined in title 17, California Code of Regulations, section 95481(a)(123).

(44) "Renewable Natural Gas" or "Biomethane" or "RNG" has the same meaning as defined in title 17, California Code of Regulations, section 95481(a)(20).

(45) "Repower" means to replace an older engine with a newer model engine that has reduced emissions.

(46) "Revenue Service" means the status of a bus being available to the general public for the purpose of carrying passengers.

(47) "Revenue Vehicle" means a bus that is available to operate in revenue service carrying passengers.

(48) "School Bus" has the same meaning as defined in California Vehicle Code, section 545.

(49) "Small Transit Agency" means a transit agency that is not a large transit agency.

(50) "Spare Bus" means a revenue vehicle that is maintained by the transit agency to preserve scheduled service operations during periods of:
(A) routine and unplanned maintenance; or

(B) unexpected vehicle breakdowns or accidents.

(51) "Transit Agency" has the same meaning as defined in title 13, California Code of Regulations, section 2020(b). A transit agency does not mean a correctional facility, airport, college or university, national park, tour bus service providers, or an entity that provide shuttle services solely for patrons of its organization.

(52) "Trolleybus" means a rubber-tired, electrically powered passenger vehicle operated on city streets drawing power from overhead wires using trolley poles.

(53) "Urbanized Area" has the same meaning as defined in 23 U.S.C. section 101(a)(34).

(54) "Zero-Emission Bus" or "ZEB" means a bus with zero tailpipe emissions and is either a battery electric bus or a fuel cell electric bus.

(55) "Zero-Emission Passenger Miles" means the number of miles traveled by passengers determined by multiplying the number of passengers who board zero-emission vehicles, other than buses with a GVWR greater than 14,000 pounds, by the length of their trips.

1. Renumbering and amendment of portions of former section 1956.2 to new section 2023 filed 1-31-2006; operative 1-31-2006 pursuant to Government Code section 11343.4 (Register 2006, No. 5).
2. New article 4.3 (sections 2023-2023.11) and repealer and new section filed 8-13-2019; operative 10-1-2019 (Register 2019, No. 33).

Note: Authority cited: Sections 38501, 38510, 38560, 39002, 39003, 39500, 39600, 39601, 39667, 40000, 43000.5, 43013, 43018, 43100, 43101, 43102, 43104, 43105, 43106, 43701(b), 43801 and 43806, Health and Safety Code. Reference: Sections 38501, 38510, 38560, 39002, 39003, 39017, 39027, 39500, 39600, 39601, 39650, 39655, 39667, 40000, 43000.5, 43013, 43018, 43101, 43104, 43105, 43701(b), 43801 and 43806, Health and Safety Code; Sections 233, 350, 545 and 28114, Vehicle Code; section 5303, title 49, United States Code; and Code of Federal Regulations, title 49, section 665.13.

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