SECTIONS 521-533 - California Statutes

PUBLIC UTILITIES CODE

SECTION 521-533

521. As used in this article "employees" includes furloughed,
pensioned, and superannuated employees of any common carrier subject
to the provisions of this part, persons who have become disabled or
infirm in the service of any such carrier, ex-employees traveling for
the purpose of entering the service of any such carrier, and the
remains of persons dying while in the employment of any such carrier;
and "families" includes the families of such persons and the
families of persons killed, and the surviving spouses until remarried
and minor children during minority of persons who died while in the
service of any such carrier.

522. Except as provided in this article, Sections 40180.5 and 99151
of this code, and Section 26002.5 of the Government Code, no common
carrier subject to the provisions of this part shall, directly or
indirectly, issue, give, or tender any free ticket, free pass, or
free or reduced rate transportation for passengers between points
within this state.

523. When approved by the commission, a common carrier may give
free or reduced rate transportation between points within this state
to:
(a) Its officers, agents, employees, and members of their
families.
(b) Indigent, destitute, and homeless persons, and to such persons
when transported by charitable societies or hospitals, and the
necessary agents employed in such transportation.
(c) Persons injured in accidents or wrecks, and physicians and
nurses attending such persons.

524. (a) Any common carrier may issue free or reduced rate
passenger transportation to the proprietors and employees of
newspapers and magazines and the members of their immediate families
in exchange for advertising of equal or greater value in that media,
subject to reasonable restrictions that the commission may impose.
(b) The San Francisco-San Jose commute rail service may issue free
or reduced rate passenger transportation to the proprietors and
employees of the broadcast news media in exchange for advertising of
equal or greater value in those media, subject to reasonable
restrictions that the commission may impose. On or before January 1,
1989, the Department of Transportation shall review and assess the
effectiveness and cost of any advertising program effectuated through
exchanges made pursuant to this subdivision.
(c) Passenger stage corporations may issue free or reduced rate
passenger transportation to any of their commission agents.

525. All blind residents of California may be granted free
transportation on all street cars and may be permitted to travel on
all other common carriers within the State for one-half the current
fare, and when any blind person is accompanied by a guide, the
combined fares for such blind person and his guide may be fixed at
not to exceed the current fare for an individual.

527. Nothing in this part shall prevent the interchange of free or
reduced rate transportation for passenger or express matter between
common carriers, their officers, agents, employees, attorneys,
physicians and surgeons, and members of their families, where such
common carriers are subject in whole or in part to the jurisdiction
of the commission or of the federal Surface Transportation Board or
where such common carriers, though not in whole or in part subject to
the jurisdiction of this commission or of the federal Surface
Transportation Board are engaged in the business of transporting
passengers and freight by water between the United States and foreign
countries, and are permitted by federal law to interchange such free
transportation with common carriers which are subject to the
jurisdiction of the Public Utilities Commission or the federal
Surface Transportation Board.

528. Nothing in this part shall prevent the interchange of free or
reduced rate transportation for passengers or express matter between
a common carrier and a corporation engaged in the carriage of persons
or property by motor vehicle, or the officers, agents, employees,
attorneys, physicians and surgeons of such common carrier or
corporation and their families when the corporation is engaged in the
carriage by motor vehicle of persons or property as a connecting
carrier, or in the carriage by motor vehicle of persons or property
over a portion of a route between the point of departure or shipment
and arrival or delivery, part of which route is covered or traveled
by a common carrier, whether the carriage by motor vehicle is an
initial, an intermediate, or a final portion of the entire route
between the point of departure or shipment and arrival or delivery.
This section does not authorize the interchange of free or reduced
rate transportation for express matter which is not for the personal
use of the person to or for whom it is granted, or of his family.

529. Nothing in this part shall prevent any of the following:
(a) The issue of reduced rate transportation by a common carrier
to children attending an institution of learning.
(b) The issue of passes or franks by telegraph or telephone
corporations to their officers, agents, employees, attorneys,
physicians and surgeons, and members of their families, or the
exchange of passes or franks between the telegraph and telephone
corporations or between the corporations and the common carriers, for
their officers, agents, employees, attorneys, physicians and
surgeons, and members of their families.
(c) The carrying out of contracts for free or reduced rate
passenger transportation previously made, founded upon adequate
consideration and lawful when made.
(d) A common carrier from transporting, storing, or handling, free
or at reduced rates, the household goods and personal effects of its
employees, of persons entering or leaving its service, and of
persons killed or dying while in its service.
(e) A common carrier from providing reduced rate transportation to
elderly and handicapped persons when required pursuant to an
application for federal funds under the Urban Mass Transportation Act
of 1964 (49 U.S.C. Sec. 1601 et seq.).

530. (a) Every common carrier subject to the provisions of this
part may transport, free or at reduced rates, as follows:
(1) Persons for the United States, state, county, or municipal
governments, or persons or property for charitable or patriotic
purposes, or to provide relief in cases of general epidemic,
pestilence, or calamity.
(2) Contractors and their employees, material or supplies for use
or engaged in carrying out their contracts with such carriers, for
construction, operation, or maintenance work or work incidental
thereto on the line of the issuing carrier, to the extent only that
such free or reduced rate transportation is provided for in the
specifications upon which the contract is based and in the contract
itself.
(b) Common carriers may also enter into contracts with telegraph
and telephone corporations for an exchange of service.

531. Every common carrier subject to the provisions of this part
may transport free or at reduced rates contractors and their
employees engaged in carrying out contracts with the United States,
this State, or any county or municipal government, or other
governmental agency in this State, and materials or supplies for use
in carrying out such contracts, in each case to the extent only that
such free or reduced rate transportation is provided for in the
specifications upon which the contract is based and in the contract
itself.

532. Except as in this article otherwise provided, no public
utility shall charge, or receive a different compensation for any
product or commodity furnished or to be furnished, or for any service
rendered or to be rendered, than the rates, tolls, rentals, and
charges applicable thereto as specified in its schedules on file and
in effect at the time, nor shall any public utility engaged in
furnishing or rendering more than one product, commodity, or service,
charge, demand, collect, or receive a different compensation for the
collective, combined, or contemporaneous furnishing or rendition of
two or more of such products, commodities, or services, than the
aggregate of the rates, tolls, rentals, or charges specified in its
schedules on file and in effect at the time, applicable to each such
product, commodity, or service when separately furnished or rendered,
nor shall any such public utility refund or remit, directly or
indirectly, in any manner or by any device, any portion of the rates,
tolls, rentals, and charges so specified, nor extend to any
corporation or person any form of contract or agreement or any rule
or regulation or any facility or privilege except such as are
regularly and uniformly extended to all corporations and persons. The
commission may by rule or order establish such exceptions from the
operation of this prohibition as it may consider just and reasonable
as to each public utility.

533. The officers and employees of the Operations and Safety
Section of the Transportation Division of the commission, shall, when
in the performance of their official duties, have the right to pass,
free of charge, on all railroads, cars, vessels, and other vehicles
of every common carrier subject to control or regulation by the
commission, between points within this State, whether such railroad,
car, vessel, or other vehicle is used for the transportation of
passengers or freight, and regardless of its class. Such officers and
employees when in the performance of their official duties shall
have free access to any portion of any train, including the engine or
any other units of rolling stock, and to all portions of any vessel
or other vehicle of any common carrier used for the transportation of
passengers or freight.