Chap. 161.—An ACT providing for the regulation, supervision and con-
trol of persons, firms, corporations and associations owning, controll-
ing, operating or managing motor vehicles used in the business of
transporting persons or property for compensation on the improved
public highways of this State which are, or may hereafter be de-
clared to be, parts of the State highway system or any of the county
highway systems; declaring motor vehicle carriers, as herein defined,
to be common carriers, transportation companies and public service
corporations within the meaning of the law; and prescribing ana im-
posing license fees and providing for the disposition of the revenue
raised by the same. [H B 77]

Approved April 3, 1923.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, as
follows:

(a) The term “corporation,” wherever used in this act,
means a corporation, company, association, or joint stock as-
sociation.

(b) The term “person,” wherever used in this act, means
an individual, a firm or a co-partnership.

(c) The term “commission,” wherever used in this act,
means the State corporation commission of the Commonwealth
of Virginia.

(d) The term “motor vehicle carrier,’’ wherever used in
this act, means every corporation or person, their lessees,
trustees, or receivers, owning, controlling, operating or manag-
ing any motor propelled vehicle not usually operated on or
over rails used in the business of transporting persons or
property for compensation over any improved public highway,
as hereinafter defined, in this State. No motor vehicle weigh-
ing less than three tons, including carrying capacity, carrying
property exclusively is subject to the provisions of this act,

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so long as the loads carried therein contain as much as fifty
per centum of the motor vehicle carrier’s own produce.

(e) For the purposes of this act trailers shall be deemed
to be motor vehicles and subject to the provisions of this act.

(f) The term “improved public highway,” wherever used
in this act, means every improved public highway in this State
which is, or may hereafter be declared to be, a part of the State
highway system or any county highway system.

2. No corporation or person, their lessees, trustees, or re-
ceivers, shall operate any motor propelled vehicle as herein-
before defined for the transportation of persons or property
for compensation on any improved public highway in this State,
except in accordance with the provisions of this act, and every
motor vehicle carrier, as hereinbefore defined, is hereby de-
clared to be a common carrier, a transportation company and
a public service corporation within the meaning of the laws
of this State, and as such subject to control, supervision and
regulation by the commission in the manner provided by law;
but no such motor vehicle carrier shall be deemed to possess
the power of eminent domain, and in the matters of fixing and
regulating rates the procedure shall be as provided by law for
public utility companies. All provisions of the general law
contained in chapter 155 of the Code of Virginia requiring the
separation of white and colored passengers shall so far as rea-
sonably applicable be observed by the common carriers and
their passengers in this act mentioned; provided, however, that
nothing in this act contained shall apply to motor vehicles if
privately employed for a specific purpose, without personal
solicitation by or on behalf of the owner or operator thereof,
and not soliciting or receiving patronage along the route; or
to motor vehicles while used exclusively for transporting per-
sons to or from schools, Sunday schools, churches or religious
services of any kind, or to or from picnics or upon special pre-
arranged excursions, or to United States mail carriers operat-
ing star routes. |

8 No motor vehicle carrier shall hereafter. operate for
the transportation of persons or property for compensation on
any improved public highway without first having obtained
from the commission, under the provisions of this act, a cer-
tificate declaring that the public convenience and necessity re-
quire such operation; but a certificate shall be granted as a
matter of right when it appears to the satisfaction of the com-
mission that such person, firm or corporation was actually op-
erating in good faith, over the route for which such certificate
shall be sought, on the twenty-eighth day of February, nine-
teen hundred and twenty-three. The commission shall have
- power to grant a certificate after hearing when the applicant
requests a certificate to operate in a territory already served
by a certificate-holder under this act, or any other common
carrier, when the public convenience and necessity in such ter-
ritory are not being reasonably served by some other certifi-
cate-holder or other common carrier, provided, that the exist-
ence of a railroad or other motor vehicle carrier in the ter-
ritory sought to be served by such applicant shall not be suffi-
cient cause for a refusal to grant him a certificate, but may
be considered by the commission as constituting good cause
for limiting the number of vehicles which such applicant may
operate on the route mentioned in his application. In all other
cases with or without hearing, the commission may issue said
certificate as prayed for: or for good cause shown may refuse
to issue the same, or may issue it for the partial exercise only
of the privilege sought. The commission may, at any time,
by its order, duly entered after a hearing had upon notice to
the holder of any certificate hereunder, and an opportunity to
such holder to be heard, at which it shall be proved that such
holder has wilfully violated or refused to observe the laws of
this State touching motor vehicle carriers, or any of the terms
of his certificate, or any of the commission’s proper orders,
rules or regulations, suspend, revoke, alter or amend any cer-
tificate issued under the provisions of this act, but the holder
of such certificate shall have the right of appeal to the supreme
court of appeals as in other cases of appeals from the com-
mission, provided, however, that a certificate when once granted
by the commission shall not be thereafter suspended, revoked,
altered or amended for any other cause than hereinabove stated.
4. The commission may, in the granting of said certificate,
require the applicant to procure and file with said commission
liability and property damage insurance, or bond with surety,
on such motor vehicles to be used in the service aforesaid, in
such amount as the commission may determine, insuring or
Indemnifying passengers and the public receiving personal! in-
Jury by reason of one act of negligence, and for damage to
property of any person other than the assured, such policy
or bond to contain such conditions, provisions and limitations
as the commission may prescribe, and shall be kept in full force
and effect, and failure to do so shall be cause for the revocation
of such certificate, provided however that no liability and prop-
erty damage insurance or bond shall be required from the ap-
plicant by the commission, if upon a fair appraisal, the ap-
plicant’s assets over and above its or his liabilities are equal
to, at least, the sum of $10,000.00, and provided further that
when bond, with solvent personal surety is offered, the same
shall be accepted.
_ §. Every motor vehicle carrier now operating or which shall
hereafter operate in this State shall, as soon as such certificate
is issued, and annually on or before each succeeding January
first, as long as such certificate remains in force, present same,
with any changes which have been made therein by the com-
mission, to the secretary of the Commonwealth according to the
method and provisions prescribed by law for owners of all
other motor vehicles to make an application in writing for
registration and license, and state in said application, besides
the other matters by law provided, the following: ,

(1) In case of passenger vehicles, the seating capacity for
passengers of said motor vehicle, the route on which said motor
vehicle is to be used, whether reserve or substitute cars are
maintained by the applicant to be used only in emergencies, and
if so, the number of such reserve and substitute cars and a
complete description of each, and when in use same to be desig-
nated by a special marker to be furnished by the secretary of
the Commonwealth, the length of route in miles on improved
public highways in this State, the weight of the vehicle when
empty and the schedule under which it shall operate during the
ensuing’ year, and for all such motor vehicles, except reserve
or substitute vehicles, the following annual fees shall be paid
to the secretary of the Commonwealth for licenses issued by
him; and no additional license fee or license tax shall be charged
the motor vehicle carrier by the State; nor shall any city or
town impose a license fee or license tax on such motor vehicle
carrier for the use of streets or roads maintained by such city
or town, greater than the State license fee or license tax com-
puted upon a mileage basis, that is to say, computed upon the
proportion that the route over such streets or roads within
the corporate limits of such city or town bears in length to
the entire route of such motor vehicle carrier:

Class “A.” Motor vehicles weighing less than three thou-
sand pounds shall each be charged and pay one-fiftieth of a cent
per passenger seat multiplied by the total number of miles that
said application shall show will be traveled by such motor
vehicle over the improved public highways of this State by such
motor vehicles during the year for which said license is issued.

Class “B.” Motor vehicles weighing over three thousand
pounds and less than seven thousand pounds, if equipped with
solid tires, or eight thousand five hundred pounds if equipped
with pneumatic tires, shall each be charged and pay one-fortieth
of a cent per each passenger seat, multiplied by the total number
of miles that said application shall show will be traveled over
the improved public highways of this State by such motor
vehicles during the year for which said license is issued:

Class “C.” Motor vehicles weighing over seven thousand
pounds, if equipped with solid tires, or over eight thousand five
hundred pounds, if equipped with pneumatic tires, shall each
be charged and pay one-twentieth of a cent per each passenger
seat, multiplied by the total number of miles that said application
shall show will be traveled over the improved public highways
of this State by such motor vehicles during the year for which
said license is issued. :

(2) In ‘case of property carrying vehicles, the applicant
Shall state in said application, besides the other matters by law
provided, the carrying capacity as given by manufacturer of
such motor vehicles, the route on which said motor vehicle is to
be used, whether reserve or substitute cars are maintained by
the applicant to be used only in emergencies, and if so, the
number of such reserve and substitute cars and a complete
description of each, and when in use same to be designated by
a special marker to be furnished by the secretary of the Com-
monwealth, the length of the route in miles on improved public
highways in this State, the weight of the vehicle when empty,
and the schedule under which it shall operate during the en-
Suing year, and for all such motor vehicles, except reserve or
Substitute vehicles, the following annual fees shall be paid to
the secretary of the Commonwealth for license issued by him,
and no other additional license fee or license tax shall be charged
the motor vehicle carrier by the State; nor shall any city or town
impose a license fee or license tax on such motor vehicle carrier
for the use of streets or roads maintained by such city or town,
greater than the State license fee or license tax computed upon
a mileage basis, that is to say, computed upon the proportion
that the route over such streets or roads within the corporate
limits of such city or town bears in length to the entire route
of such motor vehicle carrier.

Class “X.”” Motor vehicles weighing three tons or less, in-
cluding the carrying capacity, shall each be charged and pay
one-fifth of a cent per each ton mile, multiplied by the total
number of miles that said application shall show will be traveled
by such motor vehicle over the improved public highways of
this State during the year for which said license is issued.

Class “Y.”’ Motor vehicles weighing over three tons and not
over seven tons, if equipped with solid tires, or over three tons
and not over ten tons, if equipped with pneumatic tires, includ-
ing carrying capacity, shall each be charged and pay two-fifths
of a cent per each ton mile, multiplied by the total number of
miles that said application shall show will be traveled by such
motor vehicle over the improved public highways of this State
during the year for which said license is issued.

Class ‘‘Z.” Motor vehicles weighing over seven tons, and
not over ten tons, if equipped with solid tires, including carry-
ing capacity, shall each be charged and pay three-fifths of a
cent per each ton mile, multiplied by the total number of miles
that said application shall show will be traveled by such motor
vehicle over the improved public highways of this State during
the year for which said license is issued. Motor vehicles weigh-
ing over ten tons, including carrying capacity, shall not be
licensed.

6. It shall be thé duty of the secretary of the Common-
weigh, upon the presentation of a certificate from the commis-
sion, authorizing the motor vehicle carrier to operate on a cer-
tain route or schedule to furnish the motor vehicle carrier with
a distinguishing plate or marker, which, in addition to the other
matters otherwise by law provided to be placed thereon, shall
bear the letter stating the class under which such vehicles shall
operate, such as, A. number , B. number , and
C. number , or X. number , Y. number ,
and Z. number No such motor vehicle carrier shall
change said route or schedule of his motor vehicle during any
year for which a license has been issued, without a permit, in
writing, from the commission, a copy of which shall be sent to
the secretary of the Commonwealth before said route is changed,
whereupon a proper readjustment of charges shall be made
upon the basis aforesaid. But nothing in this act shall be con-
strued to prevent. a motor vehicle carrier from making oc-
easional departures from his regular route, or from replacing
in an emergency such vehicles by a substitute vehicle in order
to maintain an approved schedule, or in an emergency from
operating, temporarily, reserve vehicles on its routes for the
public accommodation. The license fees charged under this act
shall be on the basis of the entire year, but may be issued on or
after the first day of July in any year for the remainder of the
year, expiring on the thirty-first day of December, in which
event one-half of the yearly fee shall be paid. No portion of
the license fee paid as aforesaid will be refunded for any part
of the year during which said license is not used.

7. It shall be the duty of the secretary of the Common-
wealth to keep a separate account of all moneys collected under
this act, and any and all moneys so collected shall be accounted
for by him and paid into the State treasury monthly. Each
of the payments aforesaid shall be accompanied by a statement
showing the amount collected for the use of roads comprising
the State highway system and the amount collected for the use
of roads comprising the county highway system of each county,
the amount in each case to be computed upon a mileage basis.
The amount so remitted which was collected for the use of the
State highway system shall be placed to the credit of, and shall
supplement, the then current appropriation made for the main-
tenance of the roads comprising that system; and the amount
so remitted which was collected for the use of the county high-
way systems shall be semi-annually distributed among, and paid
to, the counties shown by said statements to be entitled thereto,
said payments to be made on warrants of the auditor of public
accounts to the county treasurers and appropriated by the re-

Spective boards of supervisors, or other local road authorities,
‘for the maintenance of the roads over which said motor vehicles
shall operate.

8. Every officer, agent or employee of any corporation, and
every other person who violates or fails to comply with, or who
procures, aids or abets in the violation of any provisions of this
act, or who fails to Obey, observe or comply with any lawful
order, decision, rule or regulation, direction, demand or require-
ment of the commission or any part or provision thereof, shall
be guilty of a misdemeanor and punishable by a fine of not
exceeding five hundred dollars to be imposed by the circuit
court of the county or the corporation court of the city where
the offense is charged to have been committed.

9. Neither this act nor any provision thereof shall apply
or be construed to apply to interstate or foreign commerce, ex-
cept insofar as the same may be permitted under the provisions
of the Constitution of the United States and the acts of congress,
nor to farmers and dairymen when hauling dairy and farm
products along with similar products of their own, nor to any
person, firm or corporation operating any bus line for the trans-
portation of passengers or property wholly in any city or town
of the State over the streets maintained by such city or town.

10. If any section, sub-section, sentence, clause or phrase of
this act is for any reason held to be unconstitutional, such de-
cision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portion of
this act.

11. All acts or parts of acts inconsistent herewith, are
hereby repealed to the extent of said inconsistency, but nothing
herein shall be construed to relieve any motor vehicle carrier as
herein defined from any regulation otherwise imposed by law
or lawful authority.