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Freight Transportation Regulation by Thomas Moore Surface freight and the Inters
Freight Transportation Regulation by Thomas Moore Surface freight and the Interstate Commerce Commission Evaluative Studies 1972 98 pages
The federal government has regulated U.S. transportation with varying degrees of stringency since 1887 while state efforts to control rates go back to very early periods. In fact, regulation of transportation in the form of setting legal maximum rates for toll roads probably goes back to colonial days. Systematic national regulation. however, originated with the Act to Regulate Commerce of 1887, which established the Interstate Commerce Commission. From that time to this, regulation of transportation has grown and multiplied in the United States.
Recently, there has been increasing agitation to modify or eliminate much of the regulation. Proponents of a free market in transportation have claimed that such markets will provide major savings to shippers, consumers, and carriers. In their view, innovation would be more rapid, service would improve, and costs would decrease in the absence of regulation. The recent bankruptcy of the Penn-Central Railroad, the poor financial condition of other roads, the weak earnings of major airlines in recent years and the decreasingly competitive position of our merchant marine all make it imperative that a thorough examination of the regulatory structure be carried out.
It may be that much of the weakness of the transportation industries can be attributed to regulation. It has been argued that regulation imposes large costs on carriers, shippers. and consumers and, by encouraging cartel behavior, causes higher expenses, less flexibility and. in the long run, reduced profits for the carriers themselves. On the other hand, advocates of regulation have urged that the regulatory agencies' powers be increased to deal with the obvious weaknesses of the current system. It has been shown that regulation falls with unequal vigor on different modes and that this, in turn, distorts transportation decisions. Advocates of regulation have urged that it be extended to the exempt areas, and that the same controls be applied equally to all areas. In addition, many have claimed that without regulation the transportation industries would be chaotic, competition would be cutthroat, and while prices might plummet temporarily, they would subsequently rise to great heights. The end result would be that the consumer would suffer through poor service, fluctuating rates, price discrimination, and inefficiency.
Given the poor financial position of the transportation industry and the general agreement that regulation, whether too little or too much, has a role to play, major efforts are currently being made to restructure the regulatory framework. Recently, Senator Vance Hartke (D-Ind.) introduced a bill entitled the Surface Transportation Act of 1972 which would have provided equipment subsidies, would have brought under regulation some now exempt commodities, and would have increased regulation of water carriers. This bill was supported and developed by the American Trucking Associations, the Association of American Railroads, and the Water Transport Association. On the other side, the Nixon administration introduced a bill to move toward limited deregulation. This proposal received support from academic economists, shippers, and consumer groups.
This paper will explore the issue in general terms, while not dealing explicitly with either the administration's bill or the Hartke bill. Although many of the arguments are applicable to other sectors of transportation, the discussion will be confined to the regulation of surface freight transportation with the exception of pipeline carriage.
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