§ 1 — Declaration of need and intent

Section 1. It is hereby declared that intercity bus transportation services offer economic and environmental advantages with respect to energy conservation and efficiency, air and noise pollution, public safety and costs per passenger mile of movement to the extent that the preservation, development, promotion and maintenance of such services is a public purpose and in the public interest; that essential intercity or intrastate bus transportation services for the movement of passengers are threatened by a crisis within the commonwealth's intercity bus carriers industry brought about a rapid inflation of the cost of intercity bus equipment and severe fluctuations in the interest rates of our national financial market, hence, these economic conditions have severely retarded the ability of intercity carriers to purchase new vehicular equipment in order to maintain modern fleets attractive to the general public and accrue adequate returns of investment, consequently limiting said carriers from expanding these critical transportation services to the travelling public; these needs cannot be met without constructive action by the commonwealth; and that is the intent of the general court to provide for such actions through an act which authorizes a public agency to ensure intercity bus carriers with the necessary capital equipment to improve and further develop these essential public transportation services within the commonwealth.