What's happening
This bill requires all charter buses in New York to use commercial GPS technology designed for commercial motor vehicles.
Why it matters
Aims to reduce accidents involving charter buses. by requiring GPS systems that account for vehicle size, height, and road restrictions—helping drivers avoid low-clearance bridges and other unsuitable routes.
Places legal responsibility on both drivers and bus operators. to ensure that only commercial-grade navigation technology is used, potentially increasing accountability and compliance within the charter bus industry.
Defines “charter bus” and “commercial GPS” clearly. , removing ambiguity about which vehicles and technology are covered, which could improve enforcement and reduce loopholes.
Could increase operational costs for small bus companies. that currently use non-commercial or outdated GPS systems, but may lead to long-term savings by preventing costly accidents and legal liabilities.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Require Bus GPS Systems
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
2 Co-sponsors
History
- Referred to transportation
- Delivered to assembly
- Passed senateVote 60–0
- Ordered to third reading cal.2056
- Committee discharged and committed to rules
- Referred to transportation
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Require GPS on Charter Buses
In Assembly Committee · Transportation · Sponsor Michael DenDekker
Full text
1 pageUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
8207
IN SENATE
April 18, 2018
Introduced by Sen. HANNON -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Transportation
AN ACT to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to requiring charter buses to use commercial global positioning system technology
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. The vehicle and traffic law is amended by adding a new section 509-dd to read as follows:
§ 509-dd. Additional requirements for charter buses. (1) No driver shall operate a charter bus and a motor carrier shall not permit a driver to operate a charter bus without the use of commercial global positioning system (GPS) technology.
(2) For the purposes of this section:
(a) "Charter bus" shall mean a bus transporting passengers for compensation in chartered party.
(b) "Chartered party" shall mean a group of persons who, pursuant to a common purpose and under a single contract and at a fixed charge, have acquired exclusive use of a bus to travel together as a group to a specific destination or for a particular itinerary either agreed upon in advance or modified after having left the place of origin by such group.
(c) "Commercial global positioning system (GPS) technology" shall mean global positioning system (GPS) technology which has been specifically designed to assist in the navigation of commercial motor vehicles which includes, but is not limited to, selection of routes which take into account the minimum clearance of such motor vehicle.
§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD15423-01-8
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to requiring charter buses to use commercial global positioning system technology
Purpose
To ensure that every charter bus has a commercial global positioning system while operating in New York.
Summary of provisions
Section 1 amends the vehicle and traffic law by adding section 509-dd, which requires that every charter bus must have a commercial global positioning system in order to operate in New York. For this purpose, a charter bus will be any bus transporting passengers for compensation in chartered party, where the two groups have a common purpose and under a single contract agree to a specific destination and itinerary. The commercial global positioning system is any system that is specifically designed to assist navigation of commercial vehicles, which included finding routes with minimum clearance of the bus.
Justification
There have been incidents in which charter buses have hit the overpass injuring many of the passengers on board due to the use of an everyday global positioning application rather than one made for commercial use. These everyday applications were created for cars and will suggest park- ways as potential routes even though parkways are not made for commer- cial traffic. Commercial global positioning systems were created for commercial vehicles and will not suggest a route that a commercial vehi- cle could not take. The commercial systems take into consideration the height of the bus, and will suggest only routes in which the overpasses meet the minimum requirement for the bus. This would ensure that all commercial buses would only drive on roads that are safe for a vehicle of that size.
Legislative history
New bill
Fiscal implications
None
Effective date
Immediately.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.