Passyunk Avenue Business Men's Ass'n v. Public Service Commission

Citations

• 73 Pa. Super. 242
• 1919 Pa. Super. LEXIS 218

Syllabus

<p>Public service companies — Trolley companies — Routes—Rerouting — Charters—Forfeiture—Act of May 8, 1905, P. L. 879.</p> <p>Under the provisions of Act of May 3, 1905, P. L. 379, the local authorities of any city, borough or township may enter into a contract with any street railway company operating within the municipal limits to secure the removal, or prevent the laying, of tracks already laid Or to change the route of any street railway. The contract may not exceed fifty years and gives the local authorities and the street railway company the right to provide for the abandonment or modification of a charter route for that period. Such contract, when made, forms a part of the charter of the company with like force and effect as if the same were part of the original charter.</p> <p>An ordinance providing for a general authority to a Street railway company to relocate its line, without the formal consent of the municipality, as evidenced by a contract, is not in accordance with the provisions of the Act of 1905.</p> <p>Public service companies — Public service company law — Rerouting — Municipal consent — Certificate of public convenience.</p> <p>Under the terms of the Public Service Company Law the Public Service Commission must pass upon the question of the convenience or necessity to the public of any contemplated change in the facilities of a public service company. Its orders are administrative and, ■ since they are made from the standpoint of public convenience only, they cannot be made a substitute for a writ of quo warranto or other legal proceeding in which it may be judicially determined what franchises claimed by any chartered company are active and in full force. The commission may regulate the action of public service companies in the respects provided for in the Public Service Company Law, but it cannot expand their powers beyond the limits established by their charters.</p> <p>Public service■ companies — Charters—Forfeiture of charters.</p> <p>When