Sponsors (12)
The bill increases driver and passenger safety by requiring full-height barriers on federally funded buses and standardizes procurement, but raises upfront costs, can create accessibility and implementation risks, allows uneven waivers, and leaves rural transit unprotected.
Transit bus drivers (transportation workers) would gain stronger physical protection from assaults and thrown projectiles because drivers would be enclosed by full-height barriers.
Bus riders and the riding public could experience fewer driver assaults, reduced service disruptions, and improved overall safety on transit vehicles as a result of fewer onboard incidents.
State and local recipients and manufacturers would have clearer, standardized procurement requirements for federally funded buses because the bill sets barrier requirements.
Local and state transit agencies (and ultimately taxpayers) would face higher upfront capital costs to design, acquire, or retrofit buses with full-height barriers, increasing budget pressures.
Passengers (including people with disabilities) and drivers could face safety and accessibility trade-offs if full-height barriers are not well-integrated, complicating boarding, emergency egress, HVAC, or ADA-related operations.
Allowing agencies to waive the barrier requirement via labor-organization certification could produce uneven application and delays in protections across agencies if labor declines to waive.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires full‑height operator barriers on new federally funded fixed‑route buses (≥30 ft, ≥10‑year life), effective two years after enactment, unless waived by the workforce labor organization.
Requires that recipients who buy new federally funded fixed‑route buses at least 30 feet long (with a useful life of at least 10 years) equip the operator workstation with a full‑height floor‑to‑ceiling barrier that fully encloses the driver area while preserving exterior sight lines and preventing unwanted entry of people, fluids, and objects. The requirement takes effect two years after enactment, but a recipient can avoid it for a particular bus purchase if the labor organization representing the plurality of the frontline workforce (or the contractor’s workforce labor organization) certifies it has agreed to waive the barrier for that purchase.
Introduced December 11, 2025 by Shomari C. Figures · Last progress December 11, 2025