Feds Schedule Comment Session on Testing

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration will gather public opinion on setting up knowledge testing for new applicants seeking authority to operate as motor carriers, brokers and freight forwarders.

In a Federal Register notice, FMCSA said it will hold the “public listening session” Jan. 13 in Nashville, Tenn., as part of an American Bus Association meeting. The testing was ordered by Congress as part of the MAP-21 multiyear highway-funding bill.

The two listening sessions on the same day also will be broadcast on FMCSA’s website, the agency said in the Dec. 26 notice.

When the regulation becomes final, it will affect new motor carriers hauling general freight and household goods as well as passenger carriers, in addition to new brokers and forwarders.

The tests definitely will cover knowledge of applicable regulations, FMCSA said, but they also might include a section on industry best practices.

The agency listed several topics on which it is particularly eager to receive comments, including whether brokers and forwarders should have to take the test every five years and whether FMCSA should directly test applicants or contract with a private company to administer the tests.