Since everyone likes discussions on regulations… today is your lucky day.
The government saw that transportation had major impact on domestic and internal commerce, so they took a special interest in it. The interest was in the way of controlling it through regulations.
The regulations we in two forms… economic and social.
ECONOMIC: the government wanted equal access of economical transportation available to everyone. So they invested in the infrastructure such as highways, airports, waterways, and deepwater ports. Since the government didn’t provide transportation they made sure that the carriers ensured:
-service availability (service available to all businesses)
-Stability (guaranteed sufficient profits to ensure long term business)
-and fair prices (carriers could not take advantage of anyone).
In 1980 the deregulation practices were stopped… not competition and antitrust laws are the only ones impacting transportation economics.
SOCIAL: To protect public safety and the environment the department of transportation was created. The department manages harardous material transport and rules related to maximum driver hours.