Mark Schremmer
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s soft launch of its new registration system, Motus, is underway.
However, no action is required from motor carriers at this time. Instead, the initial phase – which FMCSA said went live on Monday, Dec. 8 – is limited to transportation service providers, BOC-3 filers and financial responsibility filers. Instructions for those supporting companies can be found here.
“(Those entities) now have limited access to the system to create their user and business profiles,” FMCSA wrote in an email. “This will allow them to prepare to support registrants when the system opens for all users in 2026.”
Starting next year, FMCSA plans to open the new system to all users, including motor carriers.
The agency said it will provide additional instructions about how to access and use the system as the new year approaches.
FMCSA said the goal of Motus is to “streamline processes, enhance fraud prevention and provide a more intuitive, user-friendly experience for supporting companies, motor carriers, brokers and other registrants.”
When Motus launches for all users, it will not include the introduction of safety registration, the elimination of docket numbers or changes to the BOC-3 form filing process, according to the FMCSA website. Rather, those potential changes are under consideration and will be open for public comment in a notice of proposed rulemaking. According to the latest regulatory agenda, FMCSA is projected to unveil that proposal in March 2026.
What about the broker financial responsibility rule?
If you recall, the compliance date for FMCSA’s broker financial responsibility rule was set for early 2025. However, the agency said its new registration wasn’t ready to support the rule, which suspends a broker’s authority if the available financial security falls below $75,000.
That led FMCSA to delay the compliance date until Jan. 16, 2026. FMCSA’s announcement that it is making progress on the new registration system should increase the chances that the rule will take effect on schedule.
