Department of Transportation: state highways: part-time transit lane pilot program.

Existing law vests the Department of Transportation with full possession and control of the state highway system and associated real property. Existing law generally requires vehicles to be driven upon the right 12 of a roadway, defined to include only that portion of a highway improved, designed, or ordinarily used for vehicular travel. Existing law generally prohibits the driver of a vehicle from overtaking and passing another vehicle by driving off the paved or main-traveled portion of the roadway. Existing law authorizes the Monterey-Salinas Transit District and the Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District to conduct a transit bus-only program using the shoulders of certain state highways as transit bus-only traffic corridors, subject to approval by the Department of Transportation and the Department of the California Highway Patrol. Existing law requires that the highway segments to be used for the program are to be jointly determined by the districts, the department, and the Department of the California Highway Patrol, as provided. This bill would require the Department of Transportation to establish a pilot program to authorize a transit operator or operators, in partnership with an eligible transportation agency, to operate part-time transit lanes, defined as designated highway shoulders that support the operation of transit vehicles during specified times. The bill would require the department by January 1, 2024, to develop guidelines for the safe operation of part-time transit lanes, as provided, a training program for transit operators to operate transit buses on the shoulders of highways within the state, and a program to identify transit buses authorized to be used or operated in part-time transit lanes within the state. The bill would require the eligible transportation agency to be responsible for all costs attributable to the project. Two years after commencing a project, the bill would require an operator or operators, in conjunction with the eligible transportation agency, to submit a report to the Legislature that includes certain information about the project.