Bus lifts installed at public transportation maintenance facilities

A bus lift vendor is not required to collect retail sales tax when both of the following activities take place:

• The vendor sells the bus lift to the public transit agency. 
• The vendor installs/attaches the bus lift at the transit facility (bolting it real property, for example).

For tax purposes, a mass transit maintenance facility is treated as a part of the public road system. In this case, the vendor that installs/attaches the bus lift is the consumer of, and must pay retail sales tax or use tax on the value of, the installed bus lift.

If the vendor only sells, but does not install/attach, the bus lift to the transit agency, they are required to collect sales tax on the sale of the bus lift. They are not the consumer in this scenario.