Title 54National Park Service and Related ProgramsRelease 119-73

§101521 Transportation service and facility programs

Title 54 › Subtitle Subtitle I— - National Park System › Chapter CHAPTER 1015— - TRANSPORTATION › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER III— - PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION PROGRAMS FOR SYSTEM UNITS › § 101521

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

Allows the Secretary to make transportation plans and run projects to help people get to and travel inside System units. The Secretary can hire public or private companies, run services directly if no suitable providers exist, buy or lease vehicles and equipment, and when needed acquire land or water or interests in them outside a unit’s boundary by lease, purchase, donation, exchange, or transfer. Any acquired property becomes part of the System unit. State-owned land can only be gotten by donation. Acquisitions must follow any legal limits and funding rules. The Secretary must run public information programs and encourage travel options other than private cars. Services can be done by the Secretary or contractors without following certain certificate rules, but the Secretary or contractor must consult the state or local authority and the contractor must follow that authority’s rules unless the Secretary says they conflict. This authority does not expand the exemption in 49 U.S.C. 13506(a)(9).

Full Legal Text

Title 54, §101521

National Park Service and Related Programs — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)The Secretary may formulate transportation plans and implement transportation projects where feasible pursuant to those plans for System units.
(b)(1)To carry out subsection (a), the Secretary may—
(A)contract with public or private agencies or carriers to provide transportation services, capital equipment, or facilities to improve access to System units;
(B)operate those services directly in the absence of suitable and adequate agencies or carriers;
(C)acquire, by purchase, lease, or agreement, capital equipment for those services; and
(D)where necessary to carry out this subchapter, acquire, by lease, purchase, donation, exchange, or transfer, land, water, or an interest in land or water that is situated outside the boundary of a System unit.
(2)(A)The acquired property shall be administered as part of the System unit.
(B)Any land or interests in land owned by a State or any of its political subdivisions may be acquired only by donation.
(C)Any land acquisition shall be subject to any statutory limitations on methods of acquisition and appropriations as may be specifically applicable to the area.
(c)The Secretary shall establish information programs to inform the public of available System unit access opportunities and to promote the use of transportation modes other than personal motor vehicles for access to and travel within the System units.
(d)Transportation facilities and services provided pursuant to this subchapter may be undertaken by the Secretary directly or by contract without regard to any requirement of Federal, State, or local law respecting determinations of public convenience and necessity or other similar matters. The Secretary or contractor shall consult with the appropriate State or local public service commission or other body having authority to issue certificates of convenience and necessity. A contractor shall be subject to applicable requirements of that body unless the Secretary determines that the requirements would not be consistent with the purposes and provisions of this subchapter.
(e)No grant of authority in this subchapter shall be deemed to expand the exemption of section 13506(a)(9) of title 49.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Historical and Revision Notes

Revised SectionSource (U.S. Code)Source (Statutes at Large) 10152116 U.S.C. 2302.Pub. L. 95–344, title III, § 302, Aug. 15, 1978, 92 Stat. 478; Pub. L. 103–437, § 6(d)(18), Nov. 2, 1994, 108 Stat. 4584; Pub. L. 104–333, div. I, title VIII, § 814(d)(1)(A), Nov. 12, 1996, 110 Stat. 4195. The text of 16 U.S.C. 2302(d) is omitted as superseded by 16 U.S.C. 5981, restated as section 101531 of the new title. In subsection (d), the words “shall not be considered as concession facilities or services within the meaning of the Act of October 9, 1965 (79 Stat. 969)” are omitted as obsolete because that Act was repealed by section 415(a) of the National Parks Omnibus Management Act of 1998 (Public Law 105–391, 112 Stat. 3515). In subsection (e), the words “section 13506(a)(9)” are substituted for “section 10526(a)(9)” because of the general amendment of subtitle IV of title 49 by the ICC Termination Act of 1995 (Public Law 104–88, 109 Stat. 802), in which provisions comparable to section 10526(a)(9) were enacted as section 13506(a)(9) (109 Stat. 862). The words “section 10526(a)(9)” previously had been substituted for “section 203(b)(4) of the Interstate Commerce Act (49 U.S.C. 303(b)(4))” because of section 3(b) of the Act of October 17, 1978 (Public Law 95–473, 92 Stat, 1466), the 1st section of which enacted subtitle IV of title 49.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Congressional Statement of Purpose Pub. L. 95–344, title III, § 301(b), Aug. 15, 1978, 92 Stat. 478, provided that “The purpose of this title [see Tables for classification] is to make the National Park System more accessible in a manner consistent with the preservation of parks and the conservation of energy by encouraging the use of transportation modes other than personal motor vehicles for access to and within units of the National Park System with minimum disruption to nearby communities through authorization of a pilot transportation program.”

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

54 U.S.C. § 101521

Title 54National Park Service and Related Programs

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73