Charter service notices issued by public transit agencies in Florida, North Carolina, Virginia and Wisconsin appear to have violated Federal Transit Administration rules for such notices.

FTA rules require transit agencies to give private operators a minimum of 30 days to respond to willing-and-able charter service notices.

But agencies in Stuart, Fla.; Winston-Salem, N.C.; Purcellville, Va., and Milwaukee, Wis., issued notices last month that typically gave operators two weeks to respond or, in the case of Stuart, Fla., sent out the notice, which also is required by FTA rules, two weeks after it was published in the classified pages of the local newspaper.

Here are the specifics for the four transit agencies:

Martin County, Fla. Contact: Barbara Timmerman, Acting Director of Transportation, Council on Aging of Martin County, 1835 SE Airport Rd., Stuart, FL 34995. Phone: (772) 320-3043. Date of publication: Sept. 28. Date sent to UMA: Oct. 12. Deadline to respond: Oct. 29, 2007.

Metro Winston-Salem, N.C. Contact: Art Barnes, General Manager, Winston-Salem Transit Authority, 1060 N. Trade St., Winston-Salem, NC 27102. Phone: (336) 727-8131. Date sent: Oct. 15. Deadline to respond: Oct. 30.

Purcellville, Va. and surrounding area. Contact: Mark McGregor, CEO, Virginia Regional Transit, 109 N. Bailey Lane, Purcellville, VA 20132. Phone: (540) 338-1610. Date sent: Oct. 15. Deadline to respond: Oct. 31.

Milwaukee County, Wis. Contact: Jacqueline Janz, Marketing Director, Milwaukee County Transit System, 1942 N. 17th St., Milwaukee, WI 53205. Phone: (414) 937-3250. Date published and sent: Oct. 16. Deadline to respond: 4:30 p.m. Oct. 31.

Private bus companies operating in the areas served by these transit agencies and that did not receive a charter service notice with sufficient time to respond should protest to the transit agency and/or the FTA administrator for the region that covers the agency.