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Impact Of Deregulation On The Trucking Industry

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Deregulation And It’s Impact On The Trucking Industry

The Trucking Industry is a vital component of commerce in the United States largely because such a huge portion of all the goods transported in the United States moves by truck. “68.5 percent of all the freight transportation tonnage moved in the United States according to Costello, B. (2013); and trucking accounts for 84 percent of all revenue spent moving freight in the transportation industry according to Bennett, A. (2010). Truck drivers facilitate one of the modes in intermodal transportation that has in effect created a spatial bridge across the United States. “Trucks are the only mode of freight transport that services 100 percent of the communities in America, with 80 percent …show more content…

(cite 9) Before deregulation there was, and still is regulation in some areas of business and commerce as it relates to transportation. “Regulation consists of requirements the government imposes on private firms and individuals to achieve government’s purposes. These include better and cheaper goods and, protecting existing firms from unfair competition, and economic regulation that limits who can enter a business”. Litan, R. (2008). Regulation in the transportation industry gained momentum in the 1800s after the civil war. The monopoly created by railroads at that time gave birth to many rail carrier abuses and unfair business practices such as the bribing of elected public officials and showing favoritism to preferred customers. They even went so far as to manipulate the price of stocks and bonds on the market by Stifling or eliminating competition. According to Talley, W.(2001) the regulatory periods can be further broken down into three periods; “the Monopoly Era (1800s), the Competition Era (1930s) and the Reform Era …show more content…

It also laid the pathway for the formation of the Interstate commerce commission (ICC) to oversee compliance with the new law. In 1935 the Motor Carrier Act was passed to regulate the trucking industry due to pressure from the railroads. In 1980 a subsequent Motor Carrier act was passed to deregulate the trucking industry. This laid the path for many trucking companies to enter the market. In 1994 the Trucking Industry Regulatory Reform Act was passed; motor carriers were no longer required to submit tariffs with the Interstate Commerce Commission. In 1995 the Interstate Commerce Commission Termination Act was passed. It eliminated the ICC and created what is known today as the Surface Transportation board. In addition to these regulatory acts that have been passed, there have been several others that apply to other modes of transportation such as rail, air and sea

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