APTA/Others Send Letter to FTA Requesting Buy America Waiver Extension
8/15/2024
APTA joined other associations in signing a letter to FTA Acting Administrator Veronica Vanterpool requesting an extension of the current “Partial Buy America Waiver for Minivans and Vans” (Docket No. FTA-2022-0013). Collectively, the associations represent more than 90 public agencies around the nation which provide critical commuter vanpool services every day to working men and women who depend on these services.
The current Buy America waiver, which extended previously approved waivers, expires Oct. 25, 2024. Since the waiver was granted, there has been no change in the marketplace and the market remains without a readily available Buy America-eligible vehicle in the minivan class (which includes eligible SUVs), nor is there an expectation that such vehicles will be available in the market in the near future.
FTA 2022-0013 is an extension of previous waivers. The letter noted that when the last waiver (FTA-2016-0025) expired in 2019, there was nearly a three-year gap between when that waiver expired and the new waiver (FTA-2022-0013) was granted. The lapse of a waiver, the letter noted, “had a significant impact on public transit agencies’ ability to create and expand vanpool services that are critical to providing job access in both urban and rural areas during and in response to COVID.”
“We write to you in hopes of avoiding a similar lapse in the existing waiver. The current waiver is predicated on a lack of available qualified vehicles, and nothing has changed in the marketplace that would change this status. On behalf of the undersigned and the agencies we work with and represent, we request that the Federal Transit Administration extend the existing waiver for no less than four years or until such time as a readily available vehicle is on the market.”