Effective January 9, 2007, the FTA Administrator has determined that the random drug testing rate shall be reduced from 50% to 25% for 2007 due to a "positive rate" lower than 1% for random drug test data from 2003 through 2005. The "positive rate" for drugs means the number of verified positive drug test results plus the number of random test refusals, divided by the total number of random test results. The random drug rates for the three preceding consecutive years are 0.96% for 2003, 0.89% for 2004, and 0.79% for 2005.

In 2006, the FTA retained the random alcohol testing rate of 10% (reduced previously from 25%) based on the "violation rate" is similar to the drug "positive rate" except that it measures the number of confirmation tests with results of 0.04 or greater plus the number of random test refusals divided by the total number of random screening test results.

Because the random alcohol violation rate was again lower than 0.5% for the preceding years, the random alcohol testeing rate will remain at 10% for 2007.

The FTA detailed reports on the drug and alcohol testing data collected from transit employers may be obtained from the Office of Safety and Security, Federal Transit Administration website at
http://transit-safety.volpe.dot.gov/Publications