1997 Minnesota Statutes

     221.011 Definitions. 

    Subdivision 1.    Scope.  For the purposes of this 
 chapter, the terms defined in this section have the meanings 
 given them. 

    Subd. 2.    Department.  "Department" means the 
 department of transportation. 

    Subd. 2a.    Commissioner.  "Commissioner" means the 
 commissioner of transportation. 

    Subd. 2b.    Board.  "Board"  means the transportation 
 regulation board. 

    Subd. 3.    Vehicle.  "Vehicle" means a vehicle or 
 combination of vehicles used upon the highways for the 
 transportation of persons or property.  

    Subd. 4. Repealed, 1983 c 371 s 44 

    Subd. 5.    Public highway.  "Public highway" means 
 every public street, alley, road, highway or thoroughfare of any 
 kind, except waterways, open to public travel and use. 

    Subd. 6.    Person.  "Person" means any individual, 
 firm, copartnership, cooperative, company, association and 
 corporation, or their lessees, trustees, or receivers. 

    Subd. 7.    Certificate.  "Certificate" means the 
 certificate of public convenience and necessity issued under 
 section 221.071 to a regular route common carrier of passengers, 
 a class I motor carrier, or a petroleum carrier. 

    Subd. 8.    Permit.  "Permit" means the license, or 
 franchise, which may be issued to motor carriers other than 
 regular route common carriers of passengers, class I common 
 carriers, and petroleum carriers, under the provisions of this 
 chapter, authorizing the use of the highways of Minnesota for 
 transportation for hire.  

    Subd. 9.    Regular route common carrier.  "Regular 
 route common carrier" means a person who holds out to the public 
 as willing, for hire, to transport passengers by motor vehicle 
 between fixed termini over a regular route upon the public 
 highways. 

    Subd. 10.    Petroleum carrier.  "Petroleum carrier" 
 means any person engaged in the business of transporting for 
 hire over the public highways petroleum products in bulk in 
 quantities in excess of 2,000 gallons per load but it shall not 
 include the transportation of such products between points or 
 places wholly within a city, or wholly within a single group of 
 contiguous cities.  

    Subd. 11. Repealed, 1992 c 600 s 34 

    Subd. 12.    Contract carrier.  "Contract carrier" means 
 a person engaged in the business of transporting property for 
 hire over the highways under special contracts of carriage with 
 the shippers or receivers of freight who require a specialized 
 service to meet their needs. 

    Subd. 13.    Interstate carrier.  "Interstate carrier" 
 means any person engaged in transporting property or passengers 
 for hire in interstate commerce in Minnesota, from or into 
 Minnesota, or between any point in the state of Minnesota and 
 the Dominion of Canada. 

    Subd. 14.    Permit carrier.  "Permit carrier" means a 
 motor carrier embraced within this chapter other than regular 
 route common carriers of passengers, class I carriers, and 
 petroleum carriers. 

    Subd. 15.    Motor carrier.  "Motor carrier" means a 
 carrier operating for hire under the authority of this chapter 
 and subject to the rules and orders of the commissioner or the 
 board. 

    Subd. 16.    For hire.  "For hire" means for 
 remuneration or compensation of any kind promised, paid, or 
 given to or received by a person for the transportation of 
 persons or property on the highways, and includes compensation 
 obtained by a motor carrier indirectly, by subtraction from the 
 purchase price or addition to the selling price of property 
 transported, when the purchase or sale of the property is not a 
 bona fide purchase or sale.  The transportation of property by a 
 person who purchases it immediately before transporting it, and 
 sells it immediately after transporting it, is transportation 
 for hire.  The lease or rental of a motor vehicle to a person 
 for transportation of the person's property is transportation 
 for hire and not private carriage when the lessor, directly or 
 indirectly, serves as driver or obtains or arranges for a driver 
 under the terms of the motor vehicle lease.  For hire does not 
 include motor vehicle operations conducted by a private carrier. 

    Subd. 17.    Contiguous.  "Contiguous" means having any 
 portion of a common boundary with another municipality or with 
 one of a group of contiguous municipalities. 

    Subd. 18.    Petroleum products.  "Petroleum products" 
 means crude petroleum and natural gas and any and all 
 derivatives arising out of the refinement thereof, including 
 anhydrous ammonia and liquid fertilizer. 

    Subd. 19.    Service of notice and orders.  "Service of 
 notice and orders" means depositing the notice and orders in the 
 United States mails properly enveloped, addressed, and stamped, 
 provided that service of a notice or order requiring an 
 affirmative or negative action by a person must be by certified 
 United States mail with return receipt. 

    Subd. 20.    Charter.  "Charter" means the agreement 
 whereby the owner of a motor vehicle lets the same to a group of 
 persons as one party for a specified sum and for a specified act 
 of transportation at a specified time. 

    Subd. 21.    Charter carrier.  "Charter carrier" means a 
 person who engages in the business of transporting the public by 
 motor vehicle under charter.  The term "charter carrier" does 
 not include regular route common carriers of passengers, school 
 buses or Head Start buses described in section 221.025, clause 
 (a), or persons providing limousine service described in section 
 221.84. 

    Subd. 22. Repealed, 1983 c 371 s 44 

    Subd. 23.    Household goods.  "Household goods" means 
 personal effects and property used or to be used by the owner in 
 the owner's dwelling; furniture, fixtures, equipment and 
 property of business places and institutions, public or private, 
 when a part of the stock, equipment, supplies or property of 
 such establishments. 

    Subd. 24.    Livestock carrier.  "Livestock carrier" 
 means any person whose primary business is the transportation of 
 livestock. 

    Subd. 25.    Courier services carrier.  "Courier 
 services carrier" means any person who transports packages and 
 articles except household goods by either: 

    (1) expedited delivery, which means that: 

    (i) shipments are made by single axle straight truck or 
 smaller vehicle; 

    (ii) shipments are picked up within one hour of the 
 shipper's initial request for service; 

    (iii) after shipments are picked up, delivery is made 
 within six hours; and 

    (iv) there is no cross docking or overnight sorting of 
 shipments; or 

    (2) overnight small package delivery, which means that: 

    (i) the transportation originates and ends on the same 
 calendar day or the following business day; 

    (ii) no package or article of a shipment exceeds 100 pounds 
 per item; 

    (iii) the aggregate of shipments received by a single 
 consignee from a single consignor on a single calendar day does 
 not exceed 400 pounds; 

    (iv) a vehicle at the point of delivery does not exceed 
 15,000 pounds gross vehicle weight; 

    (v) there may be cross docking or overnight sorting of 
 shipments; and 

    (vi) operations of the courier services carrier may 
 resemble operations of other types of carriers defined in this 
 section.  

    Courier service carriers must maintain accurate records of 
 each shipment picked up and delivered, including (1) time of the 
 request for service, (2) time of the pickup, (3) time of 
 delivery, (4) weight of the shipment, and (5) the specific 
 vehicle or vehicles used to transport the shipment. 

    Subd. 26.    Private carrier.  "Private carrier" means a 
 person engaged in the transportation of property or passengers 
 by motor vehicle when:  

    (a) the person transporting the property or passengers is 
 engaged in a business other than transportation; and 

    (b) the transportation is within the scope of and furthers 
 a primary business, other than transportation, of that person.  

    "Private carrier" does not include a person while engaged 
 in transportation described in section 221.025.  

    Subd. 27.    Commuter van.  "Commuter van" means a motor 
 vehicle used in a ridesharing arrangement and used principally 
 to provide prearranged transportation of persons for a fee to or 
 from their place of employment or to or from a transit stop 
 authorized by a local transit authority:  

    (a) when the vehicle is operated by a person who does not 
 drive the vehicle for that person's principal occupation but is 
 driving it only to or from that person's principal place of 
 employment or to or from a transit stop authorized by a local 
 transit authority; or 

    (b) when the vehicle is operated for personal use at other 
 times by an authorized driver.  

    Subd. 28.    Local cartage carrier.  "Local cartage 
 carrier" means a person engaged in transporting property or 
 freight, other than household goods and petroleum products, for 
 hire when the movement is entirely within an area composed of 
 two contiguous cities of the first class and municipalities 
 contiguous thereto as defined by subdivision 17.  

    Subd. 29.    Hazardous material.  "Hazardous material" 
 means a substance or material determined by the United States 
 secretary of transportation to be capable of posing an 
 unreasonable risk to health, safety, and property when 
 transported in commerce, and so designated by the United States 
 secretary of transportation.  

    Subd. 30.    Hazardous substance.  "Hazardous substance" 
 has the meaning given it in Code of Federal Regulations, title 
 49, section 171.8.  

    Subd. 31.    Hazardous waste.  "Hazardous waste" has the 
 meaning given it in Code of Federal Regulations, title 49, 
 section 171.8.  

    Subd. 32.    Special passenger carrier.  "Special 
 passenger carrier" means a person who holds out to the public to 
 provide transportation of passengers for hire by motor vehicle 
 over the public highways under the following conditions:  (1) 
 the service is provided in vehicles that are not limousines, (2) 
 the vehicle has a seating capacity, excluding the driver, of 
 more than six persons, (3) the service does not begin or end at 
 an airport, and (4) the service is provided to definite, 
 predetermined locations to which tickets are sold on an 
 individual basis.  

    Subd. 33.    Gross vehicle weight.  "Gross vehicle 
 weight" has the meaning given it in section 169.01, subdivision 
 46. 

    Subd. 34.    Personal transportation service.  "Personal 
 transportation service" means service that: 

    (1) is not provided on a regular route; 

    (2) is provided in a personal transportation service 
 vehicle as defined in section 168.011, subdivision 36; 

    (3) is not metered for the purpose of determining fares; 

    (4) provides prearranged pickup of passengers; 

    (5) charges more than a taxicab fare for a comparable trip. 

    Subd. 35.    Truckload freight.  "Truckload freight" 
 means freight collected by a motor carrier (1) from one 
 consignor at a single place and delivered directly to one or 
 more consignees, or (2) from one or more consignors and 
 delivered directly to one consignee at a single place. 

    Subd. 36.    Less-than-truckload freight.  
 "Less-than-truckload freight" means freight carried by a motor 
 carrier that is not truckload freight. 

    Subd. 37.    Certificated carrier.  "Certificated 
 carrier" means a motor carrier holding a certificate issued 
 under section 221.071. 

    Subd. 38.    Class I carrier.  "Class I carrier" means a 
 person who has been issued a certificate under section 221.071 
 to operate as a class I carrier. 

    Subd. 39.    Class II carrier.  "Class II carrier" means 
 a person who has been issued a permit under section 221.121, 
 subdivisions 6c to 6e, to operate as a class II carrier.  Class 
 II carrier includes persons who have been issued either a class 
 II-T or class II-L permit, or both. 

    Subd. 40.    Terminal.  "Terminal" means (1) a facility 
 that a motor carrier owns, leases, or otherwise controls, and 
 uses to load, unload, dispense, receive, interchange, gather, or 
 otherwise physically handle freight for shipment, or (2) any 
 other location at which freight is exchanged by motor carriers 
 between vehicles.  "Terminal" does not mean a public warehouse 
 with a storage capacity of at least 5,000 square feet that was 
 licensed under chapter 231 on or before March 1, 1992. 

    Subd. 41.    Temperature-controlled commodity.  
 "Temperature-controlled commodity" means a commodity requiring 
 protection from heat or cold that is transported with or without 
 other commodities, provided that all such commodities move in 
 mechanically temperature-controlled vehicles. 

    Subd. 42.    Lightweight vehicle.  "Lightweight vehicle" 
 means a vehicle with a gross vehicle weight of 10,000 pounds or 
 less, but does not include a vehicle transporting passengers for 
 hire or a vehicle transporting hazardous materials that must be 
 placarded or marked under Code of Federal Regulations, title 49, 
 section 177.823. 

    Subd. 43.    Petroleum transport.  "Petroleum transport" 
 means a vehicle, trailer, or semitrailer with a tank (1) that is 
 mounted on it or made an integral part of it, other than the 
 fuel supply tank for the engine of that vehicle, (2) that is 
 filled or emptied while on the vehicle, and (3) that is used to 
 transport petroleum products in bulk. 

    Subd. 44.    Armored carrier service.  "Armored carrier 
 service" means transportation of property in armored vehicles 
 protected by at least one armed person other than the driver. 

    Subd. 45.    Armored carrier.  "Armored carrier" is a 
 motor carrier engaged in providing armored carrier service. 

    Subd. 46.    Bulk commodity.  "Bulk commodity" means a 
 commodity that (1) can be poured, scooped, or shoveled into a 
 vehicle, (2) is carried loose in that vehicle, (3) is confined 
 by the bottom and sides of the vehicle, and (4) is not sacked, 
 boxed, bundled, or otherwise assembled before delivery. 

    Subd. 47.    Motor carrier of property.  "Motor carrier 
 of property" means a motor carrier engaged in the for-hire 
 transportation of property, other than household goods, in 
 Minnesota who has filed a registration statement with the 
 commissioner.  

    HIST: Ex1957 c 17 s 1; 1959 c 376 s 1; 1965 c 523 s 1; 1969 c 
 870 s 1; 1971 c 25 s 67; 1971 c 74 s 2; 1971 c 631 s 1; 1973 c 
 123 art 5 s 7; 1973 c 367 s 1; 1973 c 754 s 2; 1975 c 313 s 4,5; 
 1976 c 166 s 65-69; 1976 c 233 s 9; 1979 c 50 s 23; 1980 c 428 s 
 1,2; 1980 c 465 s 1; 1980 c 534 s 55-57; 1981 c 209 s 7,8; 1982 
 c 617 s 19; 1983 c 371 s 3-18; 1984 c 520 s 1-3; 1985 c 299 s 
 15,16; 1986 c 444; 1989 c 318 s 7,8; 1992 c 418 s 1; 1992 c 578 
 s 13-17; 1992 c 600 s 1-11; 1993 c 117 s 7,8,30; 1993 c 213 s 
 1,2; 1994 c 603 s 19; 1994 c 635 art 1 s 17,41; 1996 c 377 s 1,2