§14302 Pooling and division of transportation or earnings

Summary

Carriers that move people or goods under federal rules must get approval from the Board before they join together to share traffic, services, or any part of their earnings. The Board may allow passenger carriers (or passenger motor and rail carriers) to pool or split traffic if the carriers agree and the Board finds it will give better service or save money and will not unfairly limit competition. Motor carriers of property must file their agreement with the Board at least 50 days before it starts. The Board will check whether the deal is a major transportation matter or likely to hurt competition. If neither is true, the Board will approve it without a hearing before it starts. If either is true, the Board will hold a hearing, pause the agreement until it decides, and then may approve the deal (with rules, conditions, and fair payment) if it finds the benefits and no undue restraint on competition. Agreements between household-goods carriers and their agents are presumed to be okay if they match practices approved by the old Interstate Commerce Commission before January 1, 1996, and the Board must speed up the paperwork for those cases. The Board can set conditions, start cases on its own, and carriers in approved or exempted arrangements do not need other federal, state, or local approvals and are exempt from antitrust and other laws as needed. Agreements already in effect on January 1, 1996 remain until the Board changes them. Definitions: "household goods" — meaning as defined on December 31, 1995; "transportation" — meaning as defined under the old law on December 31, 1995.