New York Codes, Rules and Regulations
Title 17 - DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Chapter VI - Transportation Regulations
Subchapter H - State Public Transportation Safety Board
Part 990 - State Public Transportation Safety Board
Section 990.3 - Definitions

(a) Safety Board shall be the board created by section 216 of the Transportation Law.

(b) Chairman shall be the chairman of the Safety Board designated by the Governor as set forth in section 216 of the Transportation Law.

(c) Executive director shall mean the executive director of the Safety Board.

(d) Public transportation system shall mean any commuter rail, light rail, subway, rapid transit or bus public transportation system as defined in section 18-b of the Transportation Law, which receives, either directly or indirectly, any statewide mass transportation operating assistance, except that where operating assistance payments are made to a county or municipality which in turn distributes the funds to a bus carrier or carriers, then the term shall mean all of the bus carriers within such system, but not the county or municipality, regardless of whether they are actually allocated assistance initially received by the county or municipality.

(e) Public transportation service shall mean the bus operator providing revenue service under contract to a county or municipality, exclusive of services provided by subsidiaries used principally to provide school bus services, which receive, either directly or indirectly, statewide mass transportation operating assistance, except that where operating payments are made to a county or municipality which in turn distributes the funds to a carrier or carriers, then the term shall mean the revenue bus services provided by such carriers within such system that are submitted for statewide mass transportation operating assistance regardless of whether they are actually allocated any such assistance received by the county or municipality. Eligible services are those that are available to the public on a regular basis, having predetermined and publicly posted fares and service hours between an origin and destination, one of which is within the boundaries of New York State.

(f) Public transportation facility shall mean any facility used by a public transportation system or public transportation service in connection with the transportation of persons.

(g) Commuter rail shall mean mass transportation services operating rail passenger cars on rail guideways within the State, and providing service in more than one county (for purposes of this Part, the City of New York shall be considered as one county), with a substantial portion of the riders using the service to go to and from work between suburbs and their central city, including the MTA Long Island Railroad, Metro-North Railroad, and New Jersey Transit.

(h) Subway/rapid transit system shall mean the rail system operated by the MTA New York City Transit, including the MTA Staten Island Rapid Transit System.

(i) Light rail shall mean the Metro-Rail system operated by the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority (NFTA).

(j) Bus system shall mean the part of a public transportation system which transports passengers by bus and which receives or whose passenger and service statistics are used as a basis for a public transportation system to receive statewide mass transportation operating assistance.

(k) Bus service shall mean a public transportation service operated by a bus system.

(l) Statewide mass transportation operating assistance program shall mean that program described in section 18-b of the Transportation Law. Public transportation systems and public transportation services that participate in the statewide mass transportation operating assistance program, shall submit a public transportation safety plan as described in sections 17-b and 218 of the Transportation Law, as further described in section 990.12 of this Part.

(m) Public transportation safety plan shall mean the system safety program plan required by sections 17-b and 218 of the Transportation Law, as further described in section 990.12 of this Part.

(n) Accident shall mean an unexpected event causing property damage or injuries or fatalities, or any combination thereof involving public transportation commuter rail, subway rapid transit, light rail and bus systems or bus services.

(o) Bus or rail fatal accident shall mean any bus or rail public transportation accident under the jurisdiction of the Safety Board which causes any person involved in the accident to die within 24 hours after the accident.

(p) Bus or rail injury accident shall mean any bus or rail public transportation accident under the jurisdiction of the Safety Board which causes any person involved in the accident to require either medical treatment by qualified medical personnel at the scene of the accident or to be transported to a hospital and treated at such hospital.

(q) Bus or rail mechanical failure shall mean any failure of bus components or assemblies that renders or could render the public transportation vehicle unsafe for passenger service.

(r) Rail evacuation shall mean a condition requiring passengers to disembark from a train to the roadbed or benchwall and then to the adjacent environment.

(s) Incident report (IR) shall mean an investigative report that determines than an accident does not meet the Safety Board's accident reporting criteria.

(t) No report (NR), abbreviated report (AR) and staff report (SR) shall mean investigative reports which determine that an accident meets the Safety Board's accident criteria, but such reports do not contains recommendations or actions taken by the public transportation system or service.

(u) Board report (BR) shall mean an investigative report that determines that an accident meets the Safety Board's accident criteria and such report contains recommendations by the Safety Board.

(v) Rail highway grade crossing accident shall mean any accident which occurs at the intersection of a roadway and rail track of a public transportation system.

(w) Rail collision shall mean contact between a rail vehicle of any type and another rail or non-rail vehicle, wayside equipment, infrastructure, or material fouling the rail right-of-way that results in a disruption in operations.

(x) Rail derailment shall mean a condition in which the wheels of a rail vehicle lose contact with the track on which such vehicle is supposed to be in contact with.

(y) Rail fixed guideway system mean a subway/rapid transit or light rail system that is subject to the Federal Transit Administration's Rail Fixed Guideway Systems; State Safety Oversight Regulations contained in 49 CFR part 659.