in lieu of filing formal applications to file informal applications to reduce hours of service at branch offices where weekday hours (Monday through Friday) will not be reduced below a minimum of 8 hours per day, and alternate service will be available at a company-operated main or branch office located in the community, which will be opened during the hours to be deleted and will have equal or better pickup and delivery facilities during those hours which will be available to the area served by the office at which hours will be reduced. If the substitute office is located more than one-quarter mile, but not more than one mile from the office at which hours are to be reduced, the normal outgoing traffic volumes during those hours must not exceed an average of 4 messages per hour during the total hours to be deleted and 6 messages per hour during the maximum traffic hour. Should the substitute office be closer than one-quarter mile, higher traffic volumes of 6 and 8 as specified in Section 63.68 (3) (iii) are qualifying, and, if the alternate office is greater than one mile in distance, traffic volumes can not exceed an average of 2 and maximum in any one hour of 4 messages. The traffic volumes are to be determined by studies made during the latest normal month with respect to conditions generally affecting traffic volume. Applications filed under this section of the Rules are deemed granted effective as of the 15th day following the date of filing unless the Commission notifies the carrier within such 15 day period not to make such reduction. Upon written request from the Commission at any time within 6 months from the effective date of a reduction in hours as authorized under this section, the carrier is required to reestablish the hours observed before the reduction. 3. The company submits the subject application as meeting the requirements of Section 63.68, based on the study month of November 1972. The Public Message Center at 18 John Street, .4 of a mile distant, will provide alternate counter acceptance service during the hours to be deleted. The application shows an average hourly number of messages filed during the total hours to be deleted of 5 of one message and 3.0 messages filed during the maximum traffic hour.2 However, the application states that 64 mailgrams filed during the month by a single customer between the hours of 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. on Saturdays were excluded from the study, which if included would increase the maximum traffic hour to 10, exceeding by 4 messages the requirements of the rules. For this reason and also because of the involvement of "UJ" in Docket 19267, Western Union was notified within the 15-day waiting period not to reduce the hours of service at the office, pending further order from the Commission. 4. Western Union International, Inc. (WUI) has filed a Petition to Dismiss, Deny or Reject the application for authority to reduce hours of service at "UJ" office, contending principally that The Western Union Telegraph Company is obligated by our Decision in The amendment filed April 23, 1973 retaining the one-hour period 9 a.m. to 10 a.m., Monday through Friday, changed these volume figures to .3 and 1.5 messages, respectively. Docket No. 19267 to maintain the "always open" status of that office. The international carrier claims that denial in Docket No. 17972 of that portion of Western Union's application to close "UJ" office constitutes a dismissal with prejudice; that a denial of the request for full closure of the office necessarily includes a denial of a request for substantial closure; and that our procedural rules do not permit consideration of a like application filed by the same applicant within twelve months from the effective date of the Commission's action. Finally, WUI contends that the application is in violation of the section of the rules under which it is filed, in that November 1972 rather than January 1973, was used as the "latest month for which traffic statistics are available" in making the traffic volume measurements required by the rules, and that Western Union's own statistics show a traffic volume during the average maximum traffic hour in excess of the maximum stated in Section 63.68. No other protests have been received. 5. In an Opposition to WUI's pleading, Western Union generally refutes the contentions of the international carrier that the Commission's action in Docket 19267 bars consideration of the instant application, and argues that the application is wholly consistent with the requirements of Part 63 of the Commission's Rules. 6. We will first give attention to the question of whether the circumstances surrounding the UJ application qualifies the office for consideration under Section 63.68 of the Rules. Western Union contends that exclusion of the 64 mailgrams filed between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. on Saturdays from the hourly traffic data for the study month was not improper as the customer had agreed prior to submission of the application, and as noted in the application, to use an alternate means of filing these messages. We have confirmed with this patron of the telegraph company (Blyth Eastman Dillon) that since early January 1973, any accumulation of mailgrams for transmission during early morning hours is being picked up by messengers dispatched from the PMC at 18 John Street in lieu of over-the-counter filing at "UJ”, and that this arrangement is satisfactory. The customer is located about equal distance between the PMC and "UJ" office. Statistical data in the application showing hourly distribution of load documents that, aside from the subject mailgrams, there was virtually no load handled during the entire spread of Saturday hours to be deleted. Although WUI in its pleading raises a technical point, as hereinafter discussed. concerning the selection of November as the study month, there is no contention by this carrier or other indication that the traffic volume figures presented, exclusive of the mailgrams no longer filed at “UJ“, do not reflect normal traffic conditions existing at this time. Under the above circumstances, we see no compelling reason to reject consideration of the application under the procedures of Section 63.68. 7. We find no merit in WUI's argument that the application be rejected because it is based upon a November study month while bearing the date of February 20, 1973, and thus, in WUT's view, fails to meet the requirements of the Rules specifying that traffic must be measured "during the latest month for which traffic statistics are available." Western Union advises that December was not considered a normal month because of the holidays, and asserts that in view of the work required to compile the results of the special studies and prepare the application, the month of January, 1973 can not be considered to be "available" from a practical point of view. It is not unusual for informal applications to be based on a study month other than the most current, and absent any indication that November is an atypical month there would appear to be no useful purpose served by requiring Western Union to resubmit the application based on a month subsequent to November 1972, or to refile under the more burdensome requirements for formal applications. 8. We will now turn to the matter of whether Western Union is obligated by our Decision in Docket No. 19267 to maintain the "always open" status of the "UJ" office. WUI contends that the Commission has determined that a 24-hour office at 75A New Street is required in the public interest, and consequently Western Union's informal request to reduce hours of service at that office should be rejected. We disagree with this premise. Our Decision did not specify any particular hours of service at "UJ" branch. We were concerned with the indicated high volume of domestic traffic filed over the counter at "UJ" and the interests of international service users in the neighborhood who prefer to route their messages by international carriers, such as WUÎ, who do not maintain their own offices in lower Manhattan, and thus found that retention of a public facility for acceptance of messages over the counter should be retained at or near the "UJ" location to meet this demand. Western Union in the subject application (TD-20479-2-(2)) has demonstrated that public usage of the counter facilities at "UJ" during the hours to be deleted is minimal. Moreover, the company states that during the study month there were no international messages filed at the branch office during the periods proposed for reduction. Thus, the demand indicated by the record in Docket No. 19267, and upon which we based our requirement for retention of the facility would appear to occur during hours not affected by the subject application. 9. The criteria and standards contained in Section 63.68 of the Rules were adopted by the Commission some 20 years ago. Since that time the Commission has gathered substantial experience with their application in the context of maintaining adequate public service. This experience has demonstrated that the standards reflected by our rules comport with fair and realistic service objectives and the interest of the public in the availability of adequate and acceptable telegraph service insofar as public office facilities are concerned. While these rules are not necessarily dispositive of each application filed thereunder, they nevertheless, in the absence of countervailing evidence, provide appropriate guidelines for testing the merits of proposed reductions in hours of service. No such countervailing evidence has been presented in this instance. 10. We are not persuaded by the arguments of WUI that the ap plication to reduce hours at "UJ" office should be rejected or denied, and find, on the contrary that, in view of the minimal traffic loads during the hours to be deleted and availability of an alternate office only .4 of one mile distant, the public convenience and necessity would not be adversely affected by the proposed reduction. Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED, That Western Union's application TD-20479-2-(2)) IS GRANTED. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED, That the Petition to Dismiss, Deny or Reject filed by Western Union International, Inc. on March 7, 1973 IS DENIED. FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION, 41 F.C.C. 2d The following are notations of Commission actions AMENDMENT OF RULES Petition by C.P. B/cers, Inc., WIFE AM-FM, Auburn, Ind., to amend sec. 73.202(b) to change FM channel in Auburn, denied, July 3, 1973. Petition by White Mountain B/cing Co. (opposed by Vermont Radio, Inc.) to reassign FM channel 246 from Rutland, Vt., to Woodstock, Vt., denied, July 3, 1973. Petition by West Central Investment Co. to amend sec. 73.202(b) to grant first FM assignment to Gregory, S. Dak., granted, July 3, 1973. Amendments of Part 23, Intl. Fixed Public Radiocommunications Services, adopted, August 8, 1973. APPARENT LIABILITY Notice of Apparent Liability for forfeiture of $500 to Jack G. Hunt, KDFN, Doniphan, Mo., for violations of sec. 73.93 (b) and (f) (improperly licensed operators), adopted, June 21, 1973. Notice of Apparent Liability for forfeiture of $2,000 to Greater Indianapolis B/cing Co., Inc., WXLW, Indianapolis, Ind., for violations of 18 U.S.C. 1304 (lottery announcements) and promotional misrepresentations, adopted. June 27, 1973. Notice of Apparent Liability for forfeiture of $500 to Tri-Cities B/cing Co., Inc., KWSH, Wewoka, Okla., for failure to make field intensity measurements, adopted, July 3, 1973. Notice of Apparent Liability for forfeiture of $2,000 to Quality T/cing Corp., WSVI-TV, Christiansted, St. FOR FORFEITURE Croix, V.I., for broadcast of lottery information, adopted. July 3, 1973. Notice of Apparent Liability for forfeiture of $2,000 to Radio Beaumont, Inc., KLVI, Beaumont, Tex., for violations of sec. 73.1206, adopted, July 26. 1973. Notice of Apparent Liability for for- APPLICATIONS FOR REVIEW AND RECONSIDERATION RCA Global Comm., Inc., request for Request for review of denial of fair- Application for review of denial of Hubbard B/cing, Inc., petition to enlarge issues in proceeding on WLCY-TV, Inc., WLCY, Largo, Fla.. petition to increase antenna height, denied, July 26, 1973. Application for review by Pacifica Foundation of Review Board decision denying stay of hearing until Commission has acted on petition for extraordinary relief (docket 18634), granted and stay ordered, August 2, 1973. Applications for review of Review Board decision directing certain carriers to cease and desist from offering dial restoration panel service except as such service may be provided subject to tariffs filed with FCC, denied, August 8, 1973 (Dept. of Defense, General Tel. & Elec. Service Corp. subsidiaries, St. Joseph Tel. & Tel. Co. and A.T. & T.). 524-892 - 75 - 3 |