PRA-2126-0031.SS.Extension.092612.EW.Use

Department of Transportation

Office of the Chief Information Officer

SUPPORTING STATEMENT

Annual and Quarterly Report of Class I Motor Carriers of Passengers (formerly OMB Control Number 2139-0003)

Introduction: The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) submits to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) its request to extend a currently-approved information collection request (ICR) titled, “Annual and Quarterly Report of Class I Motor Carriers of Passengers,” covered by OMB Control Number 2126-0031. This ICR is due to expire on September 30, 2012. FMCSA also requests approval of a minor modification of its estimate of the total burden hours for this ICR due to changes in the number of annual responses.

Part A. Justification

1. Circumstances that Make the Collection of Information Necessary

In chapter 141 of the ICC Termination Act of 1995 (ICCTA), Pub. L. 104-88, 109 Stat. 803, 893 (Dec. 29, 1995) (See Attachment A), now codified at 49 U.S.C. § 14123 (See Attachment B), Congress transferred the responsibility for collecting the Financial and Operating Statistics (F&OS) data to the Secretary of Transportation (Secretary). The ICCTA requires the Secretary to collect annual financial reports from Class I and Class II motor carriers of passengers. However, the Secretary has exercised his authority under 49 U.S.C. 14123 to only require Class I motor carriers of passengers to file both quarterly and annual reports to ensure that they are in compliance with the F&OS program requirements (See 49 CFR 369.4).

The Secretary transferred the authority to administer the F&OS program to the former Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) on September 30, 1998 (63 FR 52192 at Attachment C). Pursuant to this authority, the BTS, now part of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA), became the responsible DOT modal administration for implementing the F&OS program and requirements set forth in 49 CFR 1420 (See Attachment D). The Secretary later transferred this program to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) on September 29, 2004 (69 FR 51009) (see Attachment E). On August 10, 2006, DOT published a final rule (71 FR 45740) (see Attachment F) that transferred and redesignated certain motor carrier financial and statistical reporting regulations of BTS, that were formerly located at chapter XI, title 49 CFR part 1420, to FMCSA under chapter III of title 49 CFR part 369 (Attachment G).

This ICR supports the Department of Transportation’s strategic goal of safety providing information for monitoring the aggregate relationship between financial conditions and the safety performance of Class I motor carriers of passengers.

2. How, by Whom, and for What purpose is the Information Used

The Form MP-1 annual and quarterly report will be used to collect financial, operating, equipment and employment data from individual motor carriers of passengers. All Class I for-hire motor carriers of passengers with gross annual operating revenues of $5 million or more are required to file both annual and quarterly reports.

The data will be available to users in various forms, e.g., tables, graphs, photocopies, raw data. The data are used by the USDOT, trucking associations, insurance companies, consultants, law firms, academia, trade publications and others to assess industry growth and its impact on the economy, to identify industry changes that may affect national transportation, and to monitor company financial stability. The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) of the U.S. Department of Commerce uses the data to inform the national annual input-output and Gross Domestic Product (GDP)¹ estimates. BEA uses the data to prepare estimates of industry output and provide details on inputs to supplement the information on motor carriers of passengers collected by the U.S. Census Bureau.

3. Extent of Automated Information Collection

Information relative to collection of the data and the necessary forms are available on FMCSA’s website, http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/forms/reporting/mcs_info.htm#fos. The forms can be printed and mailed to FMCSA.

Department of Transportation
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
IT Operations Division
1200 New Jersey Avenue SE
Washington, DC 20590

Electronic submission of Form QFR is not available.

4. Efforts to identify Duplication

These data are not available from any other source.

5. Efforts to Minimize the Burden on Small Business

Financial data are collected only from the largest carriers. Before the program was transferred to FMCSA, the former ICC raised the classification level for Class I motor carriers of passengers from $3 million in annual operating revenue to $5 million. In addition, the classification process adjusts revenues to account for the impact of inflation. Each carrier’s annual operating revenues will be deflated using the Producer Price Index for Finished Goods. The impact of these changes is to reduce the number of carriers subject to the reporting requirements. Six passenger carriers out of approximately 5,500 for-hire passenger carriers are required to submit this financial information on Form

MP-1.

6. Impact of Less Frequent Collection Information

Less frequent data collection would erode DOT’s ability to monitor the condition of the intercity passenger bus industry and conduct special studies. The timeliness and frequency of data collection are critical in evaluating trends and monitoring individual carrier operations. The filing frequencies were chosen after careful analysis that balanced the degree of carrier burden imposed against DOT’s oversight responsibilities for the intercity passenger bus industry.

7. Special Circumstances

There are no special circumstances that could require the collection to be conducted inconsistent with the guidelines set by OMB.

8. Compliance with 5 CFR 1320.8

On April 20, 2012 (77 FR 23793) (See Attachments H), FMCSA published notices in the Federal Register requesting public comments on the proposed renewal of this information collection. FMCSA received one comment in response to the notice that did not address the burden or utility of the ICR (see Attachment I). FMCSA reply to comment received is provided at Attachment J.

FMCSA published a second notice on September 26, 2012 (77 FR 59244) (See Attachment K) with a 30-day comment period that announced this information collection was being submitted to OMB for approval. Reply to comment received is provided at Attachment L.

9. Payments or Gifts to Respondents

There are no payments or gifts to respondents.

10. Assurance of Confidentiality

Currently, all data are made available at the respondent level. Motor carriers may request the agency to keep their reports confidential. The agency’s decision to grant the exemptions is based on whether the motor carriers meet the criteria established under 49 CFR 369.9 titled, “Request for exemptions from public release.”

11. Justification for Collection of Sensitive Information

The forms do not include any questions of a sensitive nature.

12. Estimate of Burden Hours for Information Requested

Class I motor carriers of passengers are required to file Form MP-1. Class I carriers are those with more than $5 million in operating revenue. Revenue is adjusted to account for inflation since the $5 million threshold was implemented in 1994. Currently, 2 carriers are required to submit this report. The data for completing reports are available from carrier records. FMCSA estimates that the 2 carriers will each spend 1.5 hours completing 5 reports, 4 quarterly reports and 1 annual report, each year.

Form/Title	Number of Respondents Per Year	Number of Annual & Quarterly Responses Per Year	Frequency of Responses	Estimated Time per Response	Total Annual Burden Hours
Form MP-1/ Class I Motor Carriers of Passengers (Annual & Quarterly Report)	2	10 (1 Annual and 4 Quarterly per respondent)	Annual & Quarterly	18 minutes	3 hours

Estimated Annual Number of Respondents: 2

Estimated Total Annual Number of Responses: 10 responses [2 carrier respondents x 5 reports (4 quarterly + 1 annual report) completed annually = 10].

Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 3 hours [10 responses x 18 minutes per response/60 = 3].

FMCSA expects completion and submission of Form MP-1 to be performed by a business and financial operations expert designated by the business entity. The median salary of a business and financial operations expert in the interurban and rural transportation industry is $26.41 per hour (BLS, May 2010).² Two adjustments are made to this hourly compensation estimate. First, employee benefits are estimated at 50.0 percent of the employee wage.³ Second, employee wage and benefits are increased by 27 percent to include relevant firm overhead.⁴ Applying the estimated 50.0 percent factor for employee benefits and 27 percent for overhead results in $50.31 in hourly compensation for the business and financial operations expert ($50.31 = $26.41 × (1 + 0.50) × (1 + 0.27)). The total annual salary cost burden associated with the filings is $151 ($50.31 × 3 hours = $150.93, rounded to the nearest dollar).

13. Estimate of Total Annual Cost to Respondents

Approximately 10 MP-1 forms (5 forms x 2 respondents) filed annually are expected to be mailed to FMCSA. FMCSA estimates a flat cost of $1.00 for an envelope and postage. The total cost of envelopes and postage for motor carriers mailing Form MP-1 to the FMCSA would be $10 ($1.00 for each of the 10 forms).

Estimated Annual Cost to Respondents: $10.

14. The Estimated Total Annual Cost to the Federal Government

The estimated total annual cost to the Federal Government is $22 for Form MP-1. This figure includes salary cost based on hours, overhead, printing and payment to contractors.

Estimate of Annual Cost to Federal Government: $22.00.

15. Explanation of Program Changes or Adjustments

The program adjustment decrease of 6 estimated annual burden hours [9 currently approved hours – 3 proposed hours = 6] is due to the number of respondents decreasing from 6 to 2. In addition, wages used to assess the cost of employee time devoted to entering data in Form MP-1 have been updated from $25.67 to $26.41 per hour.

16. Publication of Results of Data Collection

FMCSA is required by Federal law to make the data collection information publicly available. There are no plans at this time for the agency to publish analytical reports.

17. Approval for not Displaying the Expiration Data of OMB Approval

The FMCSA is not seeking approval to not display the expiration date of the OMB approval number on the Form MP-1.

18. Exceptions to Certification Statement

No exceptions.

Attachments

1. Chapter 141 of the ICC Termination Act of 1995 (ICCTA) Pub L. 104-88, 109 Stat. 803, 893 (Dec. 29, 1995).

2. Title 49 U.S.C. § 14123.

3. DOT Secretary’s transfer of the authority to administer the F&OS program to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) on September 30, 1998 (63 FR 52192).

4. Title 49 CFR part 1420.

5. DOT Secretary’s transfer of the responsibility for the F&OS program from BTS to FMCSA on September 29, 2004 (69 FR 51009).

6. Motor Carrier Transportation; Redesignation of Regulations from the Research and Innovative Technology Administration, Final Rule (71 FR 45740), August 10, 2006.

7. Title 49 CFR part 369.

8. Federal Register notices requesting 60-day public comment period (77 FR 23793), April 20, 2012.

9. Comment received in response to 60-day Federal Register notice

10. FMCSA reply the comment received.

11. Federal Register notice requesting 30-day public comment period (77 FR 59244), September 26, 2012.

12. Reply to comment received in response to 30-day Federal Register notice.

Form MP-1

1 The gross domestic product is the market value of all officially recognized final goods and services produced within a country in a given period.

2 Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Occupational Employment Survey,” May 2010. http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics4_485200.htm (accessed December 15, 2011). North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) 485200, Interurban and Rural Bus Transportation Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) 13-2000, Business and Financial Operations Occupations.

3 FMCSA estimates this 50 percent employee benefit rate by using the private industry average wage ($16.03 per hour) and benefit information ($8.01 per hour) for production, transportation, and moving material workers. Benefits thus amount to 50.0 percent of wages (0.500 = $8.01 / $16.03). From “Employer Costs for Employee Compensation—September 2010.” Accessed on August 23, 2011 at http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/ecec.pdf.

4 Berwick, Farooq. Truck Costing Model for Transportation Managers,” Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute, North Dakota State University (2003). Accessed on August 23, 2011 at http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/24000/24200/24223/24223.pdf.

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