What are “property-carrying” and “passenger-carrying” vehicles?

Under the federal hours-of-service regulations, any commercial motor vehicle (CMV) as defined in 390.5 that is not a “passenger-carrying” vehicle will be considered a “property-carrying” vehicle.

If a driver is operating a CMV “designed or used to transport more than 8 passengers (including the driver) for compensation,” or “designed or used to transport more than 15 passengers, including the driver, and is not used to transport passengers for compensation,” then the driver would be considered to be “passenger-carrying” regardless of whether there were actually any passengers on the vehicle. This would include, for example, new buses being delivered (driven) from manufacturer to dealer. Note that this definition for the passenger vehicles includes the phrase “or used.” If passengers (more than 8 or 15 depending on circumstances) were being carried in the back of a straight truck, that truck would be “passenger-carrying” at that time.