State ex rel. Alton Transportation Co. v. Public Service Commission

49 S.W.2d 619, 329 Mo. 1139
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedApril 2, 1932
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 49 S.W.2d 619 (State ex rel. Alton Transportation Co. v. Public Service Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State ex rel. Alton Transportation Co. v. Public Service Commission, 49 S.W.2d 619, 329 Mo. 1139 (Mo. 1932).

Opinion

FERGUSON, C.

Appeal by the Public Service Commission from a judgment of the Circuit Court of Cole County setting aside an order of the commission on the ground that same is “unreasonable and unlawful.” On the 11th day of January, 1928, The Alton Transportation Company, a subsidiary of the Chicago & Alton Railroad Company, all the stock of the transportation company, except qualifying shares, being owned by the Receivers of the Railroad Company, [1142]*1142filed an application with the Public Service Commission for a certificate of public convenience and necessity authorizing it to operate as a motor carrier between Mexico and Jefferson City, Missouri, upon Missouri-U. S. Highway No. 54. The Chicago & Alton Railroad Company owns and operates a line of railroad, approximately fifty miles in length, running south from Mexico, Missouri, through Auxvasse, McCredie, Fulton, Carrington, Guthrie, New Bloomfield, Hibernia, North Jefferson and Cedar City terminating at South Cedar City on the north side of the Missouri River opposite Jefferson City. Missouri-U. S. Highway No. 54 very closely parallels this line of railroad from Mexico to Jefferson City and Mexico, Auxvasse, McCredie, Fulton, New Bloomfield, Hibernia and Jefferson City are served by the highway. Applicant sought a certificate permitting it to operate a line of motor busses over this highway, as a common carrier, between Mexico and Jefferson City and all intermediate points. A hearing upon the application was had before the Commission on March 30, 1928, at which the granting of a certificate was opposed by the Greyhound -Lines, Inc., a duly certified motor carrier corporation then operating a bus line over Highway No. 54 between Fulton and Jefferson City and serving the intermediate points. In 1927 Joseph A. Randazzo and Anna Randazzo applied for and the Commission granted them a certificate of public convenience and necessity to operate a motor bus line upon highway 54 between Fulton and Jefferson City and intermediate points. Pursuant to that authority the Randazzos began the operation of such line. Thereafter they sold the business to the Greyhound Lines, Inc., and on December 31, 1927, and before the filing of the application herein, the Randazzo certificate was transferred, with the consent and approval of the Commission, to the Greyhound Lines, Inc. No motor bus service whatsoever was in operation between Mexico and Fulton. The evidence on behalf of applicant was that the Chicago & Alton Railroad Company’s line was the only railroad directly and immediately serving Fulton and the towns on Highway No. 54 between Mexico and Jefferson City,- that it had been operating that line of railroad for more than forty years, affording that territory adequate transportation facilities by rail, had large investments in railroad property in the counties of Audrain and Callaway which this line traverses and had contributed to the progress and up-building of that section of the State; that the passenger business of the railroad company had decreased and its revenue from that source been greatly reduced in recent years due to increasing travel by private automobile and motor bus lines; that it was then operating two gasoline-motored passenger trains daily, each way, over its railroad between Mexico and South Cedar City where passengers were transferred by motor busses, operated by the Missouri Power & Light Company, of Jefferson City, under an arrangement with the railroad company, [1143]*1143to Jefferson City and that it was operating an additional motor train, each way, daily between Mexico and Fulton, making three trains each way daily between Mexico and Fulton; that the operation of the proposed through line of motor busses between Mexico and Jefferson City supplementing their train service on the Mexico-Jefferson City line and connecting at Mexico with their main line trains going to Chicago, St. Louis and Kansas City would afford additional, convenient and needed through transportation facilities between Mexico and Jefferson City. The evidence offered by the protestant, Greyhound Lines, Inc., was that it operated three, well equipped, twenty-nine passenger seating capacity parlor motor busses, each way, between Fulton and Jefferson City daily; that it had purchased the franchise and business from the Randazzos of date of December 31, 1927, with the consent and approval of the Commission, and had thereupon placed a better type of motor blisses in use on this line than had been theretofore operated; that a motor bus of the type used by it on this line cost $12,000; that since it had owned and operated this line, being January, February, and twenty days in March, 1928, next preceding the date of the hearing, its busses had carried an average of six passengers per trip; that the minimum cost of operation was twenty-five cents per mile and that for the period from January 1, to March 20, 1928, the receipts had averaged slightly more than twenty-one cents per mile; that its business ran upon regular schedules which were maintained and that its service adequately and sufficiently met the needs and convenience of the public desiring to travel by motor bus between Fulton and Jefferson City and intermediate points and there is no testimony to the contrary. All the evidence touching the operation of protestant bus line shows that it maintained ample, satisfactory and convenient motor carrier service sufficient to meet all requirements and demands of the territory served and that it was equipped to carry a much larger volume of passenger business than was carried. Protestant made a showing that it was able and willing to provide any additional facilities which, in the opinion of the Commission, public convenience and necessity might require upon the route covered by its certificate.

'On December 19, 1929, the Commission made its report finding as follows:

“In view of all the testimony in this case, the Commission finds that there is a public convenience and necessity for the proposed motor carrier service with the exception that there is no showing of a necessity for additional motor carrier service between Jefferson City and Fulton. It appears, therefore, that a certificate of convenience and necessity authorizing the applicant to operate as a motor carrier between Mexico and Jefferson City, over the proposed route, but without authority to transport passengers from Fulton to Jef[1144]*1144ferson City, from Jefferson City to Fulton, or from any point between said cities to another point between them, should be granted the applicant. The Commission cannot find there is a necessity for an additional motor carrier between Fulton and Jefferson City in view of the showing that there is now an authorized motor carrier between said cities who is able and willing to furnish any additional service that may be needed, but we do find, in view of all the evidence, that there is no necessity for additional motor service between said cities.”

The order issued by the Commission was in conformity with this finding. Pursuant to Section 5234, Revised Statutes 1929, applicant obtained a writ of review from the Circuit Court of Cole County. That court, upon a review of the proceedings had before the Commission, set aside the order of the Commission as being “unreasonable and unlawful” and remanded the cause, from which judgment the Commission appealed.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State Ex Rel. Ringo v. Public Service Commission
132 S.W.2d 1080 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1939)
State Ex Rel. Interstate Transit Lines v. Public Service Commission
132 S.W.2d 1082 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1939)
State Ex Rel. Pitcairn v. Public Service Commission
110 S.W.2d 367 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1937)
Furstenberg v. Omaha & Council Bluffs Street Railway Co.
272 N.W. 756 (Nebraska Supreme Court, 1937)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
49 S.W.2d 619, 329 Mo. 1139, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-alton-transportation-co-v-public-service-commission-mo-1932.