ARTICLE 3. Free or Reduced Rates [521. - 533.]

Cal. Public Utilities Code - PUC 3.

in effect

Cal. Public Utilities Code - PUC § 521. Section 521.

As used in this article “employees” includes furloughed, pensioned, and superannuated employees of any common carrier subject to the provisions of this part, persons who have become disabled or infirm in the service of any such carrier, ex-employees traveling for the purpose of entering the service of any such carrier, and the remains of persons dying while in the employment of any such carrier; and “families” includes the families of such persons and the families of persons killed, and the surviving spouses until remarried and minor children during minority of persons who died while in the service of any such carrier.

Cal. Public Utilities Code - PUC § 522. Section 522.

Except as provided in this article, Sections 40180.5 and 99151 of this code, and Section 26002.5 of the Government Code, no common carrier subject to the provisions of this part shall, directly or indirectly, issue, give, or tender any free ticket, free pass, or free or reduced rate transportation for passengers between points within this state.

Cal. Public Utilities Code - PUC § 523. Section 523.

When approved by the commission, a common carrier may give free or reduced rate transportation between points within this state to: (a) Its officers, agents, employees, and members of their families. (b) Indigent, destitute, and homeless persons, and to such persons when transported by charitable societies or hospitals, and the necessary agents employed in such transportation. (c) Persons injured in accidents or wrecks, and physicians and nurses attending such persons.

Cal. Public Utilities Code - PUC § 524. Section 524.

(a) Any common carrier may issue free or reduced rate passenger transportation to the proprietors and employees of newspapers and magazines and the members of their immediate families in exchange for advertising of equal or greater value in that media, subject to reasonable restrictions that the commission may impose. (b) The San Francisco-San Jose commute rail service may issue free or reduced rate passenger transportation to the proprietors and employees of the broadcast news media in exchange for advertising of equal or greater value in those media, subject to reasonable restrictions that the commission may impose. On or before January 1, 1989, the Department of Transportation shall review and assess the effectiveness and cost of any advertising program effectuated through exchanges made pursuant to this subdivision. (c) Passenger stage corporations may issue free or reduced rate passenger transportation to any of their commission agents.

Cal. Public Utilities Code - PUC § 525. Section 525.

All blind residents of California may be granted free transportation on all street cars and may be permitted to travel on all other common carriers within the State for one-half the current fare, and when any blind person is accompanied by a guide, the combined fares for such blind person and his guide may be fixed at not to exceed the current fare for an individual.

Cal. Public Utilities Code - PUC § 527. Section 527.

Nothing in this part shall prevent the interchange of free or reduced rate transportation for passenger or express matter between common carriers, their officers, agents, employees, attorneys, physicians and surgeons, and members of their families, where such common carriers are subject in whole or in part to the jurisdiction of the commission or of the federal Surface Transportation Board or where such common carriers, though not in whole or in part subject to the jurisdiction of this commission or of the federal Surface Transportation Board are engaged in the business of transporting passengers and freight by water between the United States and foreign countries, and are permitted by federal law to interchange such free transportation with common carriers which are subject to the jurisdiction of the Public Utilities Commission or the federal Surface Transportation Board.

Cal. Public Utilities Code - PUC § 528. Section 528.

Nothing in this part shall prevent the interchange of free or reduced rate transportation for passengers or express matter between a common carrier and a corporation engaged in the carriage of persons or property by motor vehicle, or the officers, agents, employees, attorneys, physicians and surgeons of such common carrier or corporation and their families when the corporation is engaged in the carriage by motor vehicle of persons or property as a connecting carrier, or in the carriage by motor vehicle of persons or property over a portion of a route between the point of departure or shipment and arrival or delivery, part of which route is covered or traveled by a common carrier, whether the carriage by motor vehicle is an initial, an intermediate, or a final portion of the entire route between the point of departure or shipment and arrival or delivery. This section does not authorize the interchange of free or reduced rate transportation for express matter which is not for the personal use of the person to or for whom it is granted, or of his family.

Cal. Public Utilities Code - PUC § 529. Section 529.

Nothing in this part shall prevent any of the following: (a) The issue of reduced rate transportation by a common carrier to children attending an institution of learning. (b) The issue of passes or franks by telegraph or telephone corporations to their officers, agents, employees, attorneys, physicians and surgeons, and members of their families, or the exchange of passes or franks between the telegraph and telephone corporations or between the corporations and the common carriers, for their officers, agents, employees, attorneys, physicians and surgeons, and members of their families. (c) The carrying out of contracts for free or reduced rate passenger transportation previously made, founded upon adequate consideration and lawful when made. (d) A common carrier from transporting, storing, or handling, free or at reduced rates, the household goods and personal effects of its employees, of persons entering or leaving its service, and of persons killed or dying while in its service. (e) A common carrier from providing reduced rate transportation to elderly and handicapped persons when required pursuant to an application for federal funds under the Urban Mass Transportation Act of 1964 (49 U.S.C. Sec. 1601 et seq.).

Cal. Public Utilities Code - PUC § 530. Section 530.

(a) Every common carrier subject to the provisions of this part may transport, free or at reduced rates, as follows: (1) Persons for the United States, state, county, or municipal governments, or persons or property for charitable or patriotic purposes, or to provide relief in cases of general epidemic, pestilence, or calamity. (2) Contractors and their employees, material or supplies for use or engaged in carrying out their contracts with such carriers, for construction, operation, or maintenance work or work incidental thereto on the line of the issuing carrier, to the extent only that such free or reduced rate transportation is provided for in the specifications upon which the contract is based and in the contract itself. (b) Common carriers may also enter into contracts with telegraph and telephone corporations for an exchange of service.

Cal. Public Utilities Code - PUC § 531. Section 531.

Every common carrier subject to the provisions of this part may transport free or at reduced rates contractors and their employees engaged in carrying out contracts with the United States, this State, or any county or municipal government, or other governmental agency in this State, and materials or supplies for use in carrying out such contracts, in each case to the extent only that such free or reduced rate transportation is provided for in the specifications upon which the contract is based and in the contract itself.

Cal. Public Utilities Code - PUC § 532. Section 532.

Except as in this article otherwise provided, no public utility shall charge, or receive a different compensation for any product or commodity furnished or to be furnished, or for any service rendered or to be rendered, than the rates, tolls, rentals, and charges applicable thereto as specified in its schedules on file and in effect at the time, nor shall any public utility engaged in furnishing or rendering more than one product, commodity, or service, charge, demand, collect, or receive a different compensation for the collective, combined, or contemporaneous furnishing or rendition of two or more of such products, commodities, or services, than the aggregate of the rates, tolls, rentals, or charges specified in its schedules on file and in effect at the time, applicable to each such product, commodity, or service when separately furnished or rendered, nor shall any such public utility refund or remit, directly or indirectly, in any manner or by any device, any portion of the rates, tolls, rentals, and charges so specified, nor extend to any corporation or person any form of contract or agreement or any rule or regulation or any facility or privilege except such as are regularly and uniformly extended to all corporations and persons. The commission may by rule or order establish such exceptions from the operation of this prohibition as it may consider just and reasonable as to each public utility.

Cal. Public Utilities Code - PUC § 533. Section 533.

The officers and employees of the Operations and Safety Section of the Transportation Division of the commission, shall, when in the performance of their official duties, have the right to pass, free of charge, on all railroads, cars, vessels, and other vehicles of every common carrier subject to control or regulation by the commission, between points within this State, whether such railroad, car, vessel, or other vehicle is used for the transportation of passengers or freight, and regardless of its class. Such officers and employees when in the performance of their official duties shall have free access to any portion of any train, including the engine or any other units of rolling stock, and to all portions of any vessel or other vehicle of any common carrier used for the transportation of passengers or freight.

Source: CA Legislative Counsel Bulk DataURL: https://downloads.leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/pubinfo_2025.zipFetched: 6/27/2026