Skip to content

Passenger · Inspecting a Passenger Vehicle

A driver is checking the inside of a bus before driving. What does that interior check cover?

1.Handholds and railings, floor covering, emergency exit handles, signaling devices including any restroom buzzer, and aisles and stairwells kept clearCorrect answer
2.Only the driver's own area of the bus, since the rest of the entire passenger compartment is considered the carrier's separate maintenance responsibility
3.Only loose items a rider could trip over or slip on, since fixed fittings are assumed to already be covered by the periodic inspection
4.Only the seats themselves and the fare collection equipment mounted near the front of the bus, since those are what riders handle directly

Explanation

The interior check covers the rider-safety fittings as well as the floor: handholds and railings, floor covering, emergency exit handles, passenger signaling devices including a restroom emergency buzzer where the bus has one, and aisles and stairwells clear of obstructions. The list runs this wide because a bus left unattended between shifts can be damaged, and every item on it is something a rider reaches for while the bus is moving or while trying to leave it in a hurry. 49 CFR 383.111(a)(17)(iii) names what safety-related parts to look for when inspecting a vehicle as a required knowledge area, but its examples are general vehicle systems such as bad tires and braking, steering, and suspension defects rather than bus interior fittings, so the specific list here is attributed to the manual. The wrong options all shrink the check by handing part of it to someone else or deferring it to a later inspection, which leaves precisely the rider-facing items unverified on the run that is about to start.

Source: 49 CFR 383.111(a)(17)(iii)

Drill Inspecting a Passenger Vehicle questions