Executive Order  No. 48: (1st Series) Authorizing car pools by commuting employees and others

WHEREAS, the conservation of gasoline, rubber and motor vehicles has become essential to the successful prosecution of the war; and

WHEREAS, many privately owned motor vehicles used for the carriage of their owners can be utilized for the carriage of additional persons; and

WHEREAS, many owners of motor vehicles who would otherwise be willing to transport such additional persons may be deterred from so doing by the provisions of certain existing laws relative to the operation of motor vehicles for hire; and

WHEREAS, the failure to utilize the carrying capacity of said motor vehicles for the transportation of additional persons results in a failure to fully utilize gasoline, rubber and motor vehicles; and

WHEREAS, the Government of the United States, acting through the Office of Price Administration and various other agencies, has requested that action be taken to encourage the use of the full carrying capacity of all motor vehicles:

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Leverett Saltonstall, Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, acting under the provisions of Acts of 1941, chapter 719, Acts of 1942, chapter 13, and all other authority vested in me, do hereby issue this order as a measure necessary and expedient for meeting the supreme emergency of the existing state of war between the United States and certain foreign countries.

1. During the continuance of the existing state of war a motor vehicle registered for purposes other than carrying persons for hire may be used as a ride-sharing automobile, as hereinafter defined, without being specially registered therefor and without the payment of an additional fee on account thereof.

2. The operation or use of a motor vehicle as a ride-sharing automobile pursuant to the foregoing paragraph shall not be subject to the provisions of General Laws (Ter. Ed.), chapter 159A, or to the provisions of any other law or regulation applicable solely to the operation or use of motor vehicles as taxicabs, jitneys or other vehicles used for carrying passengers for hire.

3. The term "ride-sharing automobile" is hereby defined for the purpose of this order as a motor vehicle used by the owner, or any person operating said motor vehicle with the express or implied consent of the owner, for the transportation of other persons, whether for compensation or otherwise. A ride-sharing automobile as herein defined shall not include any motor vehicle --

(a) Operated for hire from a stand, hotel, station, dock or place of public resort.

(b) Operated as a bus or on schedule along a regular route.

(c) Operated at fares determined by zones or taximeter.

(d) Carrying any sign that such motor vehicle is for hire.

(e) Operated as a private livery automobile.

(f) Operated regularly in the business of carrying persons for hire.

4. A motor vehicle operated as a ride-sharing automobile in accordance with this order shall not be deemed to be a motor vehicle "registered as a taxicab or otherwise for carrying passengers for hire" under the provisions of the paragraph defining "guest occupant" or "guest occupant of such motor vehicle," inserted in General Laws (Ter. Ed.), chapter 90, section 34A, by Acts of 1935, chapter 459, section 1.

5. This order shall not be deemed to repeal, modify, amend or alter in any manner the provisions of Executive Order No. 21, promulgated on June 9, 1942.

GIVEN at the Executive Chamber in Boston, this fifth day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and forty-three, and of the Independence of the United States of America, the one hundred and sixty-seventh.

LEVERETT SALTONSTALL