Summary
The US rules for accessible buses, rail cars and other transit vehicles, which require public address systems for stop and station announcements and, in an advisory appendix, describe listening systems including induction loops.
Key findings
- Section 38.35: buses over 22 feet long used in multiple-stop, fixed-route service must have a public address system so the driver, or recorded or digitised speech, can announce stops and give other passenger information. Rapid rail, light rail, commuter rail and intercity rail cars must likewise have public address systems (sections 38.61, 38.87, 38.103 and 38.121).
- The required text names no assistive listening system for vehicles. Each rail section adds that "Alternative systems or devices which provide equivalent access are also permitted"; the bus section does not.
- The advisory appendix (part V) encourages services, signs or devices that give the same or equivalent information to people with hearing loss, naming visual displays and listening systems, and notes that visual displays serve deaf people while listening systems "aid only those with a partial loss of hearing".
- The appendix says a listening system for transit vehicles, where the listeners are not known in advance, may differ from one provided to a particular individual; that "At the present time, magnetic induction loops are the most feasible type of listening system for people who use hearing aids equipped with 'T-coils'"; and that radio-frequency systems "can be extremely effective and inexpensive" but need a special receiver for hearing aid users.
- It warns that some listening systems may be subject to interference from other equipment, which careful engineering design can control.
- Does not mention Bluetooth or Auracast. Separately, 49 CFR 37.167 requires stop announcements on fixed routes at transfer points, major intersections, destination points and on request.
- The official 1 October 2025 CFR edition, sections 38.35, 38.61, 38.87, 38.103 and 38.121, and Appendix part V, supports the bus and rail public-address requirements, the rail allowance for equivalent alternatives, and the advisory discussion of loops and radio receivers. This edition was read because the archived eCFR page held only a contents list and current full-text requests were blocked.
Limits
The appendix is advisory and was written with the 1991 rule; its views on loops and radio systems predate digital and Bluetooth systems. The earlier record described an eCFR reading on 9 October 2026, but the archived page contains only a contents list. This audit verified the claims in the official 1 October 2025 CFR edition linked from that page; subsequent amendments were not independently checked. The record date is that of the original 1991 rule (56 FR 45756). The rules for stations and other transportation facilities are separate (DOT's ADA Standards for Transportation Facilities).
Read the original
www.ecfr.gov/current/title-49/part-38
Cited in
- What works for announcements and ticket counters on buses, trains, stations and airports?Partly answered
Cite this source
US Department of Transportation. 49 CFR Part 38: Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessibility specifications for transportation vehicles. eCFR. 6 September 1991. https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-49/part-38 (accessed 13 October 2026).
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