119 Wash. 684 | Wash. | 1922
— This is an appeal from a judgment of the superior court of Thurston county, setting aside an order and certificate issued hy the director of public works to the Sound Transit Company, a corporation. Prom the judgment, the Sound Transit Company appeals, and the director of public works prosecutes a cross-appeal. Upon the appeal of the Sound Transit Company is presented the question whether, when the superior court sets aside a portion of an order and certificate entered by the director of public works which had been taken before that court for review, the judgment should set aside the entire order. The principal question upon the cross-appeal is whether the order entered and the certificate issued by* the director of public works were valid in their entirety.
We will first consider the question presented upon the cross-appeal, because, if we sustain the order and certificate as entered by the director, the question which is presented upon the Sound Transit Company’s appeal becomes immaterial. On October 8, 1921, the Sound Transit Company presented a petition to the department of public works asking that a certificate be issued to it which would authorize the carrying of passengers by means of motor propelled vehicles between Roosevelt Heights and Seattle, Washington. Thereafter an order was entered and a certificate issued which authorized that company to carry passengers
“This Certificate authorizes passenger service by means of. motor propelled vehicles between Roosevelt Heights and Seattle, Washington,, entering the city limits of Seattle at Ravenna and 65th Streets and is subject to the ordinances of the said city now in effect or which may hereafter become effective, governing the operating of motor vehicles upon the streets of said city. ”
' Roosevelt Heights is beyond the city limits and it was desired to carry passengers from that point to the business section of the city of Seattle. The application was based upon a provision, in § 4 of the Transportation by Motor Yehicle Act. Laws of 1921, ch. Ill, p. 338. It is the contention of the Sound Transit Company that, under this act, since that company, prior to January 15, 1921, had been operating motor vehicles for hire, it was entitled to an order and certificate without limitation or qualification. Section 4 of the act after stating that no auto transportation company shall hereafter operate for the transportation of persons between fixed termini without first having obtained a certificate declaring that public convenience and necessity require such operation, provides:
“.....but a certificate shall be granted when it appears to the satisfaction of the commission that such person, firm or corporation was actually operating in good faith, over the route for which such certificate shall be sought on January 15th, 1921.” [Rem. Comp. Stat., § 6390.]
It is upon this quoted provision that the Sound Transit Company relies to sustain its position. • The question then is whether, by this provision of the statute,
“The state constitution, § 11 of article 11, provides: ‘Any county, city, town, or township, may make and enforce within its limits all such local, police, sanitary, and other regulations as are not in conflict with general laws.’ This is a direct delegation of the police power as ample within its limits as that possessed by the legislature itself. It requires no legislative sanction for its exercise so long as the subject-matter is local, and the regulation reasonable and consistent with the general laws.”
If the Transportation by Motor Vehicle Act is not inconsistent with the power of the city to regulate the use of its streets, it does not supersede that right which the city possessed. The title to the act states that it is “An Act providing for the additional supervision and regulation of the transportation of persons and property for compensation over any public highway by motor propelled vehicle:.....” Section 11, which is the last section of the act, provides:
“This act shall not repeal any of the existing law or laws, relating to motor propelled vehicles, their owners*688 or operators, or requiring compliance with any condition for their operation.” [Bern. Comp. Stat., § 6397.]
It thus plainly appears, as indicated by the title and as provided in the body of the act, that it was not the intent of the legislature that the act should supersede other laws and regulations relating to motor propelled vehicles, but that it was to be considered as an act in addition to those already in existence. The use to which the Sound Transit Company purposed putting the streets of Seattle is not their ordinary and customary use, but a special one and one for which they were not primarily constructed. As to such a user the power of the municipality is plenary, unless it has been deprived of that power by an act of the legislature: As said in Allen v. Bellingham, 95 Wash. 12, 163 Pac. 18, and subsequently quoted with approval in State ex rel. Schafer v. Spokane, 109 Wash. 360, 186 Pac. 864, relative to the right of the use of the streets of the city by a motor propelled vehicle for hire:
“But the use to which the appellant purposes putting the streets is not their ordinary or customary use, but a special one. He purposes using them for the transportation of passengers for hire, a use for which they are not primarily constructed. As to such users we think the power of the municipality is plenary, in so far as this particular clause of the statute is concerned. It denies no form of regulation pertaining to business of this character, even to the prohibition of the business entirely. ’ ’ (Allen v. Bellingham, 95 Wash. 12, 163 Pac. 18.)
Before we hold that the legislature has taken from the city the power to regulate and control the use of its streets, it will be necessary for the legislature to pass an act to that effect which makes its meaning plain and unequivocal. As already stated in our opinion, the ■legislature manifested no such intent in the passing
Our attention is especially called to the case of the Seattle Electric Co. v. Seattle, 78 Wash. 203, 138 Pac. 892, as sustaining the contention of the Sound Transit Company that the Motor Vehicle Act has abrogated the power of the city to regulate its streets by ordinance so far as relates to motor propelled vehicles. In that case the question was whether the public service commission law, which conferred upon the commission the power to regulate the service which the street car
The judgment will be reversed, and the cause remanded with directions to the superior court to enter a judgment affirming the order entered and sustaining the certificate issued by the department of public works.
Parker, O. J., Holcomb, Mackintosh, and Hovey, JJ., concur.