(a) The Commission, after giving the affected parties an opportunity to be heard through their participation in quasi-legislative hearings or in writing, may establish service standards and determine the equipment to be used therefor by the public service companies which are reasonable and necessary for the safety, comfort or convenience of its patrons, employees and the public, in the rendering, accounting and evaluating of their services. After granting the parties the opportunity to be heard through their participation in quasi-legislative hearings or in writing, the Commission may also require public service companies to make all such repairs, changes, alterations, additions, extensions and improvements in and about their equipment and service as may be reasonable, necessary and proper for the safety, comfort, convenience and service of its patrons, employees and the public, as well as for rendering and the accounting of its services. The regulation of car rental enterprises shall include the inspection of their vehicles, the fixing of liability insurance, any and all regulations pertaining to the signage of rented cars, and the prohibition of the use of stickers, drawings, signs or stamps which identify the rental nature of said vehicles, and any other regulation the Commission deems necessary pursuant to §§ 1101 and 1108 of this title.
(b) The Commission may require public service companies to file insurance policies or copies thereof, or to post bonds, or to qualify as self-insurers, for such amounts as the Commission may consider reasonably necessary to guarantee payment within the limits required by any final judgment obtained against the company or carrier in question, for any damages caused to any person or property as the result of the negligent or culpable acts or omissions of the company or carrier. This provision shall not apply to public vehicles (P) or public owners (PO).
(c) The Commission shall have the same authority as provided in subsections (a) and (b) of this section with regard to private carriers, except that it may not require them to carry out improvements or extensions to the service or to increase their properties.
History —June 28, 1962, No. 109, p. 288, § 18; June 7, 1977, No. 46, p. 97; July 26, 1979, No. 193, p. 547, § 1; Apr. 30, 1996, No. 32, § 1; Dec. 19, 2002, No. 282, § 69, eff. 180 days after Dec. 19, 2002.