CCJ 100

The seventh in a series of quick peeks into the world of commercial vehicles through the lens of Commercial Carrier Journal

Retrospective — 1970 – 1979

Sowing the seeds of deregulation

When President Roosevelt signed the Motor Carrier Act of 1935, he did so to protect the fledgling industry from cutthroat competition. With the passage of the law, the Interstate Commerce Commission had the sole authority to determine which carriers could operate interstate, what services they could offer and what rates they could charge.

At the time, large trucking firms such as Roadway, Pacific Intermountain Express and Consolidated Freightways did not exist. By the 1970s, however, these large firms joined thousands of other “regulated” carriers to form rate bureaus. ICC-approved agreements allowed the rate bureaus to set rates collectively, and the Reed-Bullwinkle Act of 1948 protected them from anti-trust prosecution.