Federal regulations define Charter Service as:
“Transportation using buses or vans, or facilities funded under the Acts of a group of persons who pursuant to a common purpose, under a single contract, at a fixed charge (in accordance with the carrier’s tariff) for the vehicle or service, have acquired the exclusive use of the vehicle or service to travel together under an itinerary either specified in advance or modified after having left the place of origin. This definition includes the incidental use of FTA funded equipment for the exclusive transportation of school students, personnel, and equipment. CFR 604.5.”
As a recipient of Federal Transit Administration (FTA) funds, Basin Transit (Basin Transit) cannot offer charter service if there is a private charter operator in the area that is willing and able to provide the type of charter service that the FTA recipient could provide.
Since the Basin Transit uses Federal funding for its transit operations and to prevent any potential for violating the FTA established rule for the provision of charter service, Basin Transit shall not provide any charter services or irregular or infrequent service where a premium fare is charged unless the charter services are one of the following (as exempted by the FTA):
• Government Officials (80 hours annually)
• Qualified Human Service Organizations (QHSO) (qualified groups serving elderly, disabled, and low income)
• Established agreement with other private operators to provide charter service using FTA funded facilities or equipment.
Should Basin Transit receive any requests for charter services, the request shall be referred to the nearest charter providers or referred to the FTA Charter Website for additional information regarding where to obtain details on private charter services.