Effective 12/20/06
As a publicly funded transportation system, the Riverside Transit Agency (RTA) is required to strictly follow Federal Transit Administration (FTA) laws and regulations regarding charter service.
Federal transit law, 49 USC §5323(d) and FTA Charter Service Regulation, 49 CFR Part 604 prohibits recipients of federal financial assistance from providing charter service except under strictly defined circumstances.
According to the FTA, any service meeting the following criteria is considered charter or special service if it can be provided by able and willing private transportation service companies:
Temporary or permanent custom transportation service provided for a fixed fee, including financial remuneration and/or in-kind trades, or at no cost
Travels on an itinerary and/or schedule different from published existing service to a specific event or destination, which is set by an external individual, organization, group, association, school, corporation, business or government entity
Custom temporary or permanent deviation of or addition to published existing routing or timetables including additional runs, trippers and hours of service, which is set by an external individual, organization, group, association, school, corporation, business or government entity
The following are not considered charter or special service: Additional vehicles to accommodate overflow passengers on existing routes and timetables because of special events or school field trips, vehicles formally participating as entries in parades, vehicles used for emergency evacuation, vehicles used for emergency evacuation drills and seasonal fixed routes open to the general public and published in the RTA Ride Guide.
Therefore, based on federal law and regulations, RTA shall not utilize any vehicles to operate charter or special service.
All questions regarding or requests for charter or special service should be directed to:
Riverside Transit Agency
Attn: Director of Marketing
P.O. Box 59968
Riverside, CA 92517-1968
951-565-5000