2. Background

Complainant in this case is San Gabriel Transit, Inc. (San Gabriel), doing business as City Cab Company (City Cab). City Cab is licensed by municipalities to perform taxicab service in Los Angeles, Burbank, Glendale and Pasadena. Defendant Titan Capital Corp. (Titan) is the now-defunct predecessor of the two operating charter-party carriers, East Valley Transportation, LLC (East Valley) and West Valley Transportation, LLC (West Valley). The Commission granted charter- party carrier authority to both East Valley (TCP-14425-P¹) and to West Valley (TCP-14426-P) effective July 24, 2001. Collectively, the two companies are known as "Valley Transportation."

Titan operated Valley Cab Company in the San Fernando Valley area for 14 years until December 31, 2000, when its franchise was revoked. Titan then sought and obtained charter-party carrier authority from this Commission. It removed the top lights, meters, signs and other taxi markings from its former taxicabs and converted the vehicles for charter service. Titan's authority was voluntarily suspended in July 2001. All of its vehicles were acquired by East Valley.

The complaint alleges that East Valley and West Valley were formed by the principals of Titan and are providing taxi-like services under the guise of charter-party carriers. Specifically, City Cab alleges that East Valley and West Valley advertised in the taxi section of the Yellow Pages, used the former Valley Cab telephone number to receive calls, picked up passengers from the streets rather than through prearrangement, lacked proper insurance, accepted city vouchers intended for use with taxicabs, and made primarily short-duration, short-distance trips.

On March 7, 2002, Commissioner Brown issued a Scoping Memo in this case, identifying the following issues for hearing:

(1) Are the defendants operating as taxicabs under the guise of charter-party authority in violation of Pub. Util. Code §§ 5351, et al.?

(2) Are defendants violating General Order (G.O.) 157-C?

A hearing was conducted on July 11 and 12, 2002, in Los Angeles, at which time the Commission heard from 14 witnesses and received 26 exhibits into evidence. Briefing by the parties was completed on October 10, 2002, at which time the case was deemed submitted for Commission decision. The statutory deadline for resolution of the matter has been extended by Commission order to February 28, 2003.