The Nature, Effectiveness, and Importance of Motor Common Carrier Service Obligations

The crux of the debate over trucking deregulation, as implemented by the Motor Carrier Act of 1980, is the issue of the importance of motor common carrier service to the viability of small rural communities. This study addresses this debate by: 1. analyzing the role and importance of motor common carrier service obligations to these small communities, and 2. addressing the possible role of these obligations in protecting the small communities in the 1980s. Studies have revealed that Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) regulation of the common carrier service obligations is neither capable of nor necessary to ensuring adequate trucking service to small rural communities. A more direct and plausible approach to protect the communities would be the use of direct subsidies, not cross subsidies. Because Congress has failed to undertake a new policy to benefit rural areas, opponents of deregulation will probably begin again to use the cross subsidy argument. The degree to which service obligations are removed under deregulation and thus lead to deterioration of service to rural communities remains to be seen.