Information for Organizations Owning a Bus or Other Passenger Vehicle

If your organization owns its own vehicle and transports employees or members, your organization may be a regulated passenger carrier. If so, your organization must follow all applicable passenger carrier regulations and laws. This is true whether yours is a faith-based, educational, non-profit organization, or a business that isn’t focused on passenger transportation.  

Some of the regulations that may apply include:

• If your vehicle is designed to transport 16 or more passengers (including the driver), your driver must hold a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) with a passenger endorsement.
• Your organization must have a drug and alcohol testing program for its CDL drivers.
• Your interstate drivers are subject to driver qualification regulations.
• Your drivers may not exceed the hours of service regulations for passenger carriers.
• Your buses or other vehicles must be systematically inspected, repaired, and maintained to be in safe operating condition.

FMCSA provides a variety of information and resources to help you understand whether Federal regulations apply to your organization and its drivers. For more information, please see the brochure here.