Hon. JamesE. Kilday

Director,

Motor Transportation Division RailroadCommission of Texas Austin,Texas
Dear Sir: Opinion No. O-2737 Re: Jurisdiction

of Railroad

Commission

over application

of JamesW. White, proposing a motor bus operation, only 8 fractional

pert of which is not within the limits of some incorporated city or town.
From your letterof September 12, l&O, and the attached exhibits,

we have the following

information:James W. White has filed an application for a certificate

of convenience

and necessity

to operate

a motor bus company over the route "Fruitdale Acres, Texas, to Preston Hollow,Texas, via Dallas, Highland

Park and University Park." Fruitdale

Acres is an incorporated town and adjoining it on the north is the incorporated town of Honey Springs. There is a portionof the Southern boundary

of Honey Springs

which is coincident with the boundary line of the incorporated City of Dallas,

but immediately to the north and east of Honey Springs there is a small area which does not lie within any corporation. North of Dallas and adjacentthereto is Highland

Park, an incorporated town, and adjoining it on the north is the incorporated.

town of University

Park. Immediately

north of University Park and adjacent

thereto is Preaton:Hollow, also a separate

corporation.The proposed

operation

would go easterlyfrom Fruitdale Acres on a countyroad, not within the limitsof any corporation but over a road Immediately contiguous to and forminga boundary of Honey Springs for a distance of approximately one third of a mile to U. S. Highway No. 75; thence in.S northerly

directian over Highway

No. 

### 75, outside

any corporate

limits,

but adjoining

and forminga boundary

of Honey Springson the east, a distance of nearly a mile, to the TrinityRiver; thence in a northerly direction

for a distance

of about 1.1 mile to the boundary of Dallas; thence on a road outsideof any city limits but adjacentto and forming a boundary

of the City of ~Dallas; a distance

of 4.4 miles, at which the corporate limitsof the City of Dallaswould be entered. The operation would then go through Dallas,Highland

Park, University

Park into PrestonHollow,at all timas being within the limits of one or the other of such corporations. You requestour opinionas to whether the operations

appliedforaould come within the jurisdiction of the Railroad Commission

of Texas.Hon James E. Kilday,page 2 

### o-2737

In Article glla,Vernon's Civil Statutes,

motor bus companies are made subject to regulation by the State of Texas throughits Railroad Conmission. In this act we find a definition of the carrier

which is made subjectto such regulation. %&ion (c), of Saction 1. thereof

reads:
'The term 'Motor

Bus Company when used in this Act (Art.glla; P. C. 165Ca)means

every corporation

or persona

as herein defined,

their lessees,

trustees,

receivers,

or trustees

appointed

by any court

whatsoever, owning, controlling, operating,

or managing

any motor propallec! passenger

vehicle,

not usually

operated

on or over rails,and engaged In the business

of transporting

personsfor compensation or hire over the publichighways within the State of Texas,whether operating over fixed routes or fixed schedules, or otherwise;

provided

further,

tlat the term 'Motor

Bus Company'

as used in this Act (Art. 911s; P. C. 16')Ca) shallnot include

corporations

or persons,

their lessees,

trustees, or recei.vera,

or trustees

appointed

by any court

wUk.oever, i~nsofnr as they own, control,

operate,

or manage motor propelled passenger

vehicles operated

whollywithin the limitsof any incorporated town or city and the suburbs thereof, whether separately incorporated

or otherwise."
Prom the above it ls seen that a person operating 'kholly within the limits of any incorporated town or city and the suburbsthereof, whether separately incorp.rated

or not, is not a motor bus carriersubjectto regulation 1'~ ihe RailroadCommission. In your letteryou cell attention to the enclosed

maps and say that "These maps seem to :.indicate clearlythat the towns of Preston Hollow and Fruitdale Acres ar: b

au urbs of the City of Dallas, since at the nearestpoint Preston Hollow i.s

only about .@(mile from the tit;? 1imi.l;; of Dallas,and at the nearestpointsFruitdaleis only one mile fro:,; ',~e cit,y limitsoi‘

Dallas."

Other than this statement from your letteran p,he Pect made obvjous

by tb.e maps that all outsidepoints concerned are vx-y cloee to the Cli~y

of Dallas, the while distance covered

by the operatk1 being; only about 1.3

miles,we are n,t advised whether or not the route: traversed outs!deof ?:;?e

City of Dallas are all within its suburbs. We arc not ~l;:~:~?icientlyfami.l:;ar

with the facls to be able to say that as a matt:;' of ln~!,r all such outside

pofntsare within the suburbs of the City, or that 'ny of tImm are not. The applicstion in i'selfdoes not disclose the answer Lo the question

either on? way or the other,as a matter of law. The Commission

can he?>-?

testimol~y

on the question. If the evGk!ce shows conclusively

that all p~'4a in\ ,lvedin the operation are eithc* within the city limitsof Dallas or ic' aubl?bs, or if the Commissica so f;,:.Is

upon diquted evidence, then the apk-' ,-riion shouldbe dismisr.ed, s5i: 3 the RatI'?

‘ati Commission

would be without juris X&ion. On the other hand if 'xe evident:, shows beyond any disputethat SOIE parts of the operation i.rould ::? conducted outs?'.de

the limitsof Dallas and ::!,a suburbs,

or if the Commiss,

-1 so fi,rds upon contradictory testimony,

the Commission

would have jur.i.sdi~ ;~ion to entertain

the application

upon its :zits.Hon. James E. Kilday,page 

### 3 O-2737

In Woolf v. Del Rio Motor Tramp. CO., 27 S. W. (2d) 

### 874,by the San Antonio Court of Civil

### Appeals, it was unsuccessfully contended

that Villa Acma was a suburb of Del Rio. The Court remarked that "sincethe statutedoes not seek to define the word 'suburb', we are left to work out and give to that word theusual, familiar

and generally

uuderstood

meaning, as used in everydaylife." We furtherquote from the opinion: ,I

. . . The use of the word suburb in Texas statutesin not new, for We have it used and well defined and understood

in urban homesteads and other laws. Suburb is definedin Webster's New International

Dictionary as follows: 'An outlying pert of a city or tam; a smaller place adjacentto a city.'" Regretting

our inability

to answeryourquestion categorically

we trust that the above my be of some aid to you.
Yours very truly
ATTORNEYGENERALOFTEKAS s/ Glenn R. Lewis



### By Glenn R. Lewis

Assistant
GRL:AMM
APPROVEDSEP 

### 27, 1940 a./ GeraldC. Mann
ATTORNEY

GENERALOFTEKAS
APPROVEDOPINIONC@iMITTEE BY B. W. B. CHAIRMAN