Opinion ID: 175671
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Southern Shuttle

Text: Guided by the interstate commerce principles in Walters, Morris and Yellow Cab, we conclude that the purely intrastate transport of passengers to and from an airport may, under certain circumstances, constitute interstate commerce and thus bring the transportation company within the jurisdiction of the Secretary of Transportation. Those circumstances are present here. Many of Southern Shuttle's passengers to and from the airport have either just flown from, or are about to fly to, places outside the state of Florida. A large portion of Southern Shuttle's reservations are made via travel websites on the internet. Travelers buy package deals from these internet travel companies that include hotel accommodations and airfare in addition to transportation to and from the airport. The internet travel companies provide their package-deal customers with a voucher for free airport transportation, which the customers use to board Southern Shuttle's airport shuttles. Southern Shuttle then uses the collected vouchers to invoice the internet travel company for payment. In other words, Southern Shuttle's local transport of these package-deal travelers has a practical continuity of movement with the overall interstate journey. Furthermore, Southern Shuttle's arrangement with internet travel companies to provide airport shuttle service for their package-deal customers meets the common arrangement requirement discussed in Walters. Indeed, Southern Shuttle's voucher system resembles in many respects the voucher system the bus company used for cruise ship passengers in Walters. In sum, we conclude that Southern Shuttle has shown that it is subject to the Secretary of Transportation's jurisdiction under the MCA. [6]
We next address the second requirement: whether the Secretary's jurisdiction extends to Abel's work-related activities at Southern Shuttle. To satisfy this requirement, Southern Shuttle must show that Abel engage[d] in activities of a character directly affecting the safety of operation of motor vehicles in the transportation on the public highways of passengers or property in interstate or foreign commerce within the meaning of the Motor Carrier Act. 29 C.F.R. § 782.2(a). Abel does not dispute that, as an airport shuttle driver, he engaged in activities that directly affected the safety of operation of motor vehicles in the transportation of passengers on the public highways. Thus, the only issue presented is whether Abel's activities as an airport shuttle driver constituted interstate commerce within the meaning of the MCA. Here, the issue is easily resolved because Abel performed Southern Shuttle's core airport shuttle transport activity. Having already concluded that Southern Shuttle's airport shuttle service was transportation of passengers in interstate commerce that subjected it to the Secretary's jurisdiction, we conclude that Abel's activities in driving the airport shuttle also constitute interstate commerce.