PANAY AUTOBUS CO., PETITIONER AND APPELLANT, VS. ILOILO TRANSPORTATION CO., INC., RESPONDENT AND APPELLEE.

Alfaras
apparently had routes fully covering the routes desired by the other
companies, but the equipment and facilities of Alfaras are inadequate
to meet the public demand and the service, therefore, naturally is
somewhat irregular. The other two companies have adequate capital and
management, and they render adequate and high class service. For
example, the Iloilo Transportation Co., Inc., desires to use a
high-power and expensive autobus suitable for long interstate travel in
the United States, though the use of such buses in the streets of
Iloilo can well be questioned from a practical standpoint.

It would seem from the evidence that, with the exception of
Alfaras, the other companies are willing to maintain expensive fleets
of autobuses and furnish a frequency of service beyond the real
necessities of the traveling public. It is also apparent from the
evidence that the public of Iloilo are anxious to have unlimited
autobus service, notwithstanding the fact that they will be called upon
to spend large sums of money for the repair of their streets and roads,
caused by the unnecessary movement of autobuses thereover.

The Public Service Commission, after a careful study of the
evidence presented, is apparently convinced that the time has” not yet
arrived for it to apply restrictive measures to prevent ruinous
competition among these three operators. In the briefs submitted there
are no maps, diagrams, or charts that clearly present to this court the
questions that must be decided if this court is to revise the practical
questions involved.

Appellants ask us to revoke the order of the Public Service
Commission on the ground that each of the applicants desires to enter
territory and have routes now being occupied by existing operators.
Each of the applicants is an existing operator, and a slight extension
of their existing routes for the benefit of the public is not on its
face illegal.

The cases present no new question of law but involve only the
application of repeated pronouncements of this court to the facts as
they exist in Iloilo. This court may have fears that the commission has
acted too leniently in these matters and that the applicants are
assuming serious financial risks in establishing the service they
desire to furnish. However, there is evidence in the record upon which
the Public Service Commission can arrive at the conclusion it did, and,
therefore, this court should not interfere.

The orders appealed from are therefore affirmed, with costs against the appellants. So ordered.