Public transit agencies that receive federal transit funding do not get to design their own drug and alcohol testing program from scratch. The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) sets the rules in 49 CFR Part 655, and those rules work alongside the procedural requirements in 49 CFR Part 40 that apply across every mode the Department of Transportation regulates. Together they tell a transit employer who must be tested, when, for what, how often, and what records have to be kept. This guide walks through the parts of the FTA rule that trip up transit agencies, contractors, and human resources staff most often.
Who Is a Covered Employer
Part 655 applies to recipients and subrecipients of federal financial assistance under 49 U.S.C. 5307 (urbanized area formula grants), 5309 (capital investment grants), or 5311 (rural area formula grants), and to any contractor of those recipients. In plain terms, if an agency accepts one of those three funding streams to run bus, rail, or paratransit service, its anti drug and alcohol program has to meet the FTA standard, and so does any contractor performing safety sensitive work on the agency's behalf.
Two carve outs matter. A recipient operating a railroad regulated by the Federal Railroad Administration follows the FRA's own testing rule under 49 CFR Part 219 for its railroad operations, and follows Part 655 only for any non railroad operations it also runs. A recipient operating a ferryboat regulated by the United States Coast Guard that satisfies Coast Guard testing rules is treated as being in concurrent compliance with Part 655, except for the random testing rate provision and the consequences and administrative subparts, which still apply.
Who Counts as a Covered Employee
A covered employee is anyone, including an applicant or a transferee, who performs or will perform a safety sensitive function for an entity subject to Part 655. The regulation's definitions section lists safety sensitive function as any of the following, when done by an employee of a recipient, subrecipient, operator, or contractor:
- Operating a revenue service vehicle, including when it is not currently in revenue service
- Operating a nonrevenue vehicle when the position requires a commercial driver's license
- Controlling the dispatch or movement of a revenue service vehicle
- Maintaining a revenue service vehicle or the equipment used in revenue service, with a narrow exception for certain small agencies that contract out maintenance
- Carrying a firearm for security purposes
Volunteers can be covered employees too, if the position requires a commercial driver's license or if the volunteer receives payment beyond reimbursement of actual expenses. Someone is considered to be "performing" a safety sensitive function any time they are actually doing the work, ready to do it, or immediately available to do it, not only while physically driving or dispatching.
The Five Required Testing Circumstances
An employer's anti drug and alcohol program has to test in five circumstances for drugs, and in four of those five for alcohol (pre employment alcohol testing is optional under the rule, though many agencies choose to run it anyway).
| Testing circumstance | Drug testing | Alcohol testing | When it applies |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pre employment | Required, verified negative needed before duty | Optional, employer's choice | Before first performing a safety sensitive function, on transfer into one, or after 90 or more consecutive days out of a safety sensitive role and out of the random pool |
| Random | Required | Required | Unannounced, spread through the year, at a minimum annual rate set by FTA |
| Reasonable suspicion | Required | Required | Based on specific, contemporaneous, observable signs documented by a trained supervisor or official |
| Post accident | Required, with narrow exceptions | Required, with narrow exceptions | As soon as practicable after a qualifying accident, drug test within 32 hours and alcohol test within 8 hours |
| Return to duty and follow up | Required | Required | After a verified positive, a refusal, or a confirmed alcohol violation, before returning to safety sensitive duty and on a follow up schedule set by the substance abuse professional |
Every one of these tests has to be conducted under the procedures in 49 CFR Part 40, which governs collection, laboratory analysis, medical review officer verification, and the substance abuse professional evaluation and return to duty process that follows any positive result or refusal.
What Gets Tested
FTA drug testing screens for five drug classes: marijuana, cocaine, opioids, amphetamines, and phencyclidine. For alcohol, an employee with a confirmed breath or evidential breath test result of 0.04 or greater is prohibited from performing, or continuing to perform, a safety sensitive function, and has to be removed from duty and referred for evaluation. A result of 0.02 or greater but under 0.04 does not trigger the same consequence process, but the employee still cannot perform safety sensitive work until the reading drops below 0.02 or until the start of the next scheduled duty period, whichever is sooner. Alcohol use is also prohibited on duty and within four hours before performing a safety sensitive function.
Random Testing Rates
The random testing rate is not fixed. FTA reviews it every year based on industry wide verified positive rates reported through the drug and alcohol Management Information System, and publishes the new rate in the Federal Register each year, effective the following January 1. The baseline rate in the regulation is 50 percent of covered employees annually for drugs and 10 percent for alcohol. FTA can lower the drug rate to 25 percent if the industry's reported positive rate stays under 1.0 percent for two consecutive years, and has to raise it back to 50 percent if the rate climbs to 1.0 percent or higher.
| Metric | Rate can drop when | Rate returns to baseline when |
|---|---|---|
| Random drug testing | Industry positive rate under 1.0 percent for two consecutive years, may drop from 50 percent to 25 percent | Industry positive rate reaches 1.0 percent or higher in a single year, rises back to 50 percent |
| Random alcohol testing | Industry violation rate under 0.5 percent for two consecutive years, may drop toward 10 percent | Industry violation rate reaches 0.5 percent or higher, rises to 25 percent, and to 50 percent at 1.0 percent or higher |
For calendar year 2026, FTA's published notice kept the minimum random drug testing rate at 50 percent of covered employees and the random alcohol testing rate at 10 percent, citing an industry verified positive rate for prohibited drugs above 1 percent in each of the two preceding years. Employers should check the annual Federal Register notice rather than assume last year's rate still applies, since the agency reviews and can adjust it annually.
Selection has to use a scientifically valid method that gives every covered employee an equal chance each time selections are made, and testing dates have to be spread unpredictably across the year and across all shifts when safety sensitive work happens. An employer using a consortium or third party administrator to run its random pool remains responsible for confirming only covered employees are in that pool and that the rate applied matches its own requirement.
Contractors, Consortiums, and Multiple DOT Agencies
Contractors that perform safety sensitive service for a recipient are covered employers in their own right, and the recipient has an oversight responsibility to confirm any subrecipient or contractor receiving those federal funds directly is running a compliant program. Where a transit agency also has employees subject to another DOT agency's testing rule, such as a driver who splits time under FMCSA rules, the employee is tested at the rate set by whichever DOT agency regulates more than half of that person's duties, and the employer has to be able to show which program covers which employee if asked during an audit. A recipient operating a commuter railroad has a similar split, following the FRA's own testing regulation for its railroad operations and Part 655 for any non railroad service it also runs.
MIS Reporting and Recordkeeping
Each recipient has to prepare an annual summary of its testing program results and, when FTA requests it, submit that Management Information System report by March 15 covering the prior calendar year. The MIS report follows the form and instructions tied to 49 CFR Part 40, and a company official, typically the designated employer representative, has to certify its accuracy even when a third party administrator prepares it on the employer's behalf. Recordkeeping obligations under the rule include five years for verified positive results, refusals, and copies of MIS reports, two years for collection process and training records, and one year for negative results.
Consequences and Certification
An employee with a verified positive drug result, a confirmed alcohol result of 0.04 or greater, or a documented refusal has to be removed from safety sensitive duty immediately and cannot return until completing the evaluation, referral, and return to duty testing process under 49 CFR Part 40. On the employer side, recipients have to certify compliance with Part 655 annually to their FTA regional office. Failing to establish a compliant program can make a recipient ineligible for federal transit funding, and FTA may bar a noncompliant recipient from further federal financial assistance in an amount it considers appropriate. A recipient that oversees subrecipients or contractors can also suspend one of them from receiving federal transit funds for noncompliance, and false certifications carry potential criminal exposure under federal false statements law.
Transit agencies building or auditing a compliant program still need the collection supplies to back it up, from drug test cups for random and post accident collections to properly documented chain of custody materials for every safety sensitive employee in the pool.
Frequently asked questions
Which transit employees are covered by FTA drug and alcohol testing rules?
Anyone who performs a safety sensitive function for a recipient, subrecipient, operator, or contractor covered by 49 CFR Part 655 is a covered employee. That includes vehicle operators, dispatchers who control the movement of revenue service vehicles, certain maintenance staff, and armed security personnel. Applicants and transferees into those roles are covered too, and some volunteers may be as well depending on licensing and pay.
What is the current FTA random testing rate?
FTA reviews the rate every year and publishes it in the Federal Register. The minimum annual rate for calendar year 2026 remained 50 percent of covered employees for random drug testing and 10 percent for random alcohol testing. Because the rate can change based on industry data, employers should confirm the current year's published rate rather than relying on a prior year's figure.
What drugs does FTA testing screen for?
The required panel covers marijuana, cocaine, opioids, amphetamines, and phencyclidine. Testing procedures, cutoff levels, and confirmation steps follow 49 CFR Part 40, which applies across DOT regulated modes alongside each agency's own rule.
Do contractors have to follow the same rules as the transit agency?
Yes. A contractor providing safety sensitive service for a recipient or subrecipient is itself an employer under Part 655 and has to run a compliant anti drug and alcohol program. The recipient still holds oversight responsibility to confirm that a subrecipient or contractor receiving covered federal funds directly is meeting the requirement.
What happens if a transit agency does not comply with 49 CFR Part 655?
A recipient that fails to establish a compliant program can lose eligibility for federal financial assistance under the relevant funding sections, and FTA may bar continued funding in an amount it considers appropriate. Recipients also certify compliance annually, and a false certification can carry separate criminal exposure. This is general information and agencies facing a compliance question should raise it with FTA or their own counsel rather than relying on a blog post.
How does FTA testing differ from FMCSA or FRA testing?
All of these programs share the same procedural backbone in 49 CFR Part 40, but each DOT agency sets its own applicability rules, safety sensitive definitions, and random testing rates for the mode it regulates. A transit agency that also runs commercial motor vehicles or rail operations may need to track more than one program at once, and an employee split across duties is generally tested under whichever agency regulates the majority of that person's work.
This article is general information for transit employers and is not legal advice. Testing programs should be reviewed against the current text of 49 CFR Parts 655 and 40 and, where questions come up, with qualified counsel or FTA's Office of Transit Safety and Oversight.
