73 Pa. Super. 192 | Pa. Super. Ct. | 1919
Opinion by
The Scranton Railway Company, impelled by a strike of its employees and the recommendation of the National War Labor Board in connection therewith, filed with the Public Service Commission, in accordance with the provisions of the Public Service Company Law of 1913, new schedules of rates, increasing the unit fare, first, from five cents to six cents, and later from six cents to eight cents. Within thirty days the City of Scranton filed with the Public Service Commission its complaint setting forth that said increases were invalid as violating certain ordinances granting the said railway company, or its constituent corporations, the right to construct lines of railway on the city streets and limiting therein the rate
The right of the Public Service Commission to change a rate of fare fixed by a municipal ordinance granting consent to the use of the city streets, when found to be inadequate or unreasonable, has been upheld by this court in the cases of Wilkinsburg v. Public Service Commission, 72 Pa. Superior Ct. 423, and Foltz v. Public Service Commission, decided July 17, 1919, 73 Pa. Superior Ct. 24. It follows that if the Public Service Company Law confers this right, its provisions as to when the new rate shall take effect must govern: (see Art. II, Sec. 1 (f); Pittsburgh Rys. Co. v. Public Service Commission, 66 Pa. Superior Ct. 243). And there is no difference in this respect, contained in the act, between a change from a rate fixed by a municipal ordinance and from any other original tariff or schedule. That it was the intention of the legislature that the rate established by the public service company should take effect and be collectible pending a determination by the commission as to its reasonableness, is seen from the fact that the act provides for a refund in case the commission fixes a lower rate, and fails to give the commission power to suspend rates duly filed, posted and published.
The order of the commission is affirmed, and the appeal is dismissed at the costs of the. appellant.
Linn, J., took no part in this decision.