Trucking Overhaul

For more than a year, the Ford Administration has waged a crusader's war against "regulatory fiefdoms" in the Federal Government that, it claims, aggravate inflation by keeping prices artificially high and limiting competition. Last week, in line with this campaign, the Administration submitted to Congress a Motor Carrier Reform Act, which would largely remove interstate truck and bus transportation from federal regulation. This marked the third phase of a land-air offensive: earlier the Administration had proposed a Railroad Revitalization Act, which would lift the heavy hand of the Interstate Commerce Commission from railroads, and an Aviation Act of 1975, which would allow airlines freer competition in fares and routes. The three bills together, said Ford, would "produce a regulatory system that responds to the needs of the consuming public instead of the interests of the regulated industries."

Of the three Administration bills, the trucking proposal is the most sweeping. It would end many inefficiencies, including the prohibition against certain classes of trucks' carrying cargo on return trips, or "backhauls." Other provisions:

> An end to antitrust immunity for anticompetitive rate-making activity by truckers. After a three-year phase-in period, carrier associations could in most cases no longer discuss rates, nor could industry rate bureaus file rates for members. Truckers could raise rates up to 15% a year without ICC intervention; they could cut rates without limit.

> Vast simplification of ICC regulations, making it easier for new firms to enter the trucking business. Restrictions on businesses that operate their own truck fleets (private carriers) would be eased; a private carrier, for example, could haul goods for an affiliate of the parent company, rather than the parent company only.

> Expansion of the "aircraft exemption." Now any truck or bus serving an airport needs ICC authorization if its operating radius exceeds 25 miles. This would be increased to 100 miles, presumably allowing more vehicles to serve wider areas.

Stiff Opposition. This legislation, like the proposals that have gone before it, faces stiff industry-union opposition. The American Trucking Associations, the industry's voice, noted that the great majority of trucking companies do $500,000 a year or less in business, and that there already are 15,000 trucking companies. The ATA snarled: "The trucking industry needs more competition like Custer needed more Indians." The International Brotherhood of Teamsters concurred, sensing that Ford's bill would keep rates and profits of big truckers smaller than they otherwise would be, and thus probably limit pay raises for drivers. At a meeting with Administration officials some weeks ago, Teamster President Frank Fitzsimmons vented these views in a profane tirade against the proposals.

Administration officials concede that not all of their proposals will be adopted. But they are confident that chances for change in the nation's creaky transportation regulatory system, whose underpinnings go back to the 1880s, when the ICC was established, are better than 50%. One possible benefit: increased competition among common carriers could encourage some companies, like large retailers, to cut costs by getting out of the trucking business. These companies have established their own truck fleets, not because it is efficient, but because they felt it was the only way they could cope with the maze of ICC regulations.

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