WASHINGTON A familiar name and a Congressman who has gone to bat for the motorcoach industry will chair the important House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in the next Congress.

Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Pa., will replace Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., as chairman of the committee.

Shuster, a member of Congress since 2001, comes to the post with a family history in transportation and politics. His father, retired Congressman Bud Shuster, chaired the committee from 1995 to 2001.

The transportation and infrastructure committee is the key bus industry-related panel in the House, with oversight over the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

It is the committee that will draft the House version of the next major highway and public transportation bill, due in 2014.

Micas departure was dictated by Republican rules limiting the terms of committee leaders.

Mica had wanted a waiver of the term-limit rule but withdrew his request when the GOP Steering Committee made it clear that the change must be made.

He supported Shusters appointment, telling House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, that "Shuster has both the experience and ability to assume this important position for our conference."

Shuster has moved quickly to set his agenda and name top staffers.

He reportedly has started laying the groundwork for the next highway reauthorization bill.

Shuster appointed Christopher Bertram as committee chief of staff. Bertram is a Hill veteran with experience in transportation, having served as staff director of the Highways and Transit Subcommittee. He currently is chief financial officer at USDOT.

Shuster also named Stephen Martinko, his personal chief of staff, as the committees deputy chief of staff, and that Jennifer Hall would continue to serve as general counsel to the committee.

Another veteran staff member, Jim Tymon, will serve as senior advisor and staff director of the Highways and Transit Subcommittee.

During the past decade, when punitive bus safety legislation was introduced in the U.S. Senate, Shuster introduced less onerous legislation in the House.

In a meeting with reporters after his selection as chairman was made official by the House Republican Conference, Shuster said the "the biggest challenge we face today, the No. 1 challenge," is how do we pay for future federal highway programs.

"I think the most important thing we do is we look at all the options that are out there. I'm not wedded to any one in particular, but I think we need to explore them all," Shuster said, although he did note he was opposed to establishing a national infrastructure bank as a funding source.

Shuster indicated he thinks a vehicle-miles-traveled fee or tax should receive strong consideration.

"I think there's going to be a shorter-term fix for funding in which we are going to look at all the options. Longer term, vehicle miles traveled seems to me to be the only way to be able to stop the decline because we're going to all be driving cars 5, 10 years from now going 40 or 50 miles or more, or not using any gas, or using some other sort of fuel to move the vehicle," Shuster said.

"That's a very, very difficult issue. I've been in rooms talking about vehicle miles traveled where the most conservative member in our committee and the most liberal both said you're not getting big brother to put a transponder on my car. It's a real challenge."

Among Shusters legislative priorities is reauthorizing federal passenger rail legislation, which expires at the end of fiscal 2013.

"I believe there's a need for passenger rail in this country, especially in these highly populated, densely populated corridors," he said. "I think there's somewhere in the middle you can come together on this, and that's where you have to find the reforms, and that's where you have to change the system."