The commission does not regulate the following passenger transportation operations under this chapter:

(1) Auto transportation company operations conducted wholly within the limits of an incorporated city or town, or auto transportation company operations from a point in a city or town in the state of Washington for a distance of not more than three road miles beyond the corporate limits of the city or town in which the trip began. The operations must not be part of a journey beyond the three-mile limit, either alone or in conjunction with another vehicle or vehicles.

(2) Commuter ride sharing or ride sharing for persons with special transportation needs under RCW 46.74.010, provided the ride-sharing operation does not compete with nor infringe upon comparable service that was actually provided by an auto transportation company under chapter 81.68 RCW before the ride-sharing operation started.

(3) Municipal corporations and other government entities.

(4) Public transit agencies.

(5) Persons operating vehicles under exclusive contract to a public transit agency.

(6) Persons owning, operating, controlling, or managing taxi cabs, hotel buses, or school buses, when operated as such.

(7) Passenger vehicles carrying passengers on a noncommercial basis, including but not limited to, nonprofit corporations.

(8) Private carriers who, in their own vehicles, transport passengers as an incidental adjunct to some other established private business owned or operated by them in good faith.

(9) Transporting transient air flight crew or in-transit airline passengers between an airport and temporary hotel accommodations under an arrangement between the airline carrier and the passenger transportation company.

(10) Substituting ground transportation for air transportation under an arrangement between the airline carrier and the passenger transportation company in emergency situations arising from the inability of the air carrier to perform air transportation due to adverse weather conditions, equipment failure, or other causes.

(11) Transporting passengers who have had or will have had a prior or subsequent movement by air under a through ticket or common arrangement with an airline or with a connecting out-of-state passenger transportation company.

(12) Any other carrier or company that does not come within the term:

(a) "Auto transportation company" as defined in RCW 81.68.010;

(b) "Charter party carrier" as defined in RCW 81.70.020; or

(c) "Excursion service carrier" as defined in RCW 81.70.020.