City of Onalaska, WI Taxicab Regulations

License required. It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to operate a public vehicle, taxicab or automobile for the conveyance of passengers, with or without baggage, for hire or reward, without having first obtained a taxicab license from the Common Council. Such license shall entitle such person, firm or corporation to operate such public vehicle, taxicab or automobile for hire or reward until the first day of July of the year subsequent to the issuance thereof. This section shall apply to all vehicles conveying persons or baggage for hire or offering taxicab or cab or similar transportation service to the public, except such vehicles as operate over a regular route or between fixed termini, excepting, also, such vehicles as are rented to be driven by the renter or their agent, commonly known as "rent-a-cars," and except vehicles operated solely as funeral cars.

License application.

Application for the licensing of a taxicab business shall be addressed to the Common Council and shall be filed with the office of the City Clerk, together with a tendered license fee prorated on the basis of the annual license fee, should each remaining portion of the calendar license year be less than 11 months. The taxicab license fee shall be as set forth on the City of Onalaska Fee Schedule and be reviewed annually.

Upon the filing with the office of the City Clerk of such application, the Common Council shall either grant or deny such license, whichever shall, in its judgment, appear in the interests of the public, specifying the terms and conditions, if any, under which said person, firm or corporation shall operate a public vehicle, taxicab or automobile for hire, including the rates to be charged therefor and any other limitations or conditions that may be deemed advisable in the judgment of the Council. After the granting of such license by the Council, the City Clerk shall issue to the applicant a license for the operation of such vehicle or vehicles.

No license for taxicab business based on new application therefor shall be issued except upon a showing that the available transportation facilities are not adequate to meet the public need and that the applicant is proper and able to furnish it.

The license year for taxicab business licenses shall be from July 1 through June 30. As a condition to the continued holding and renewal of license for a taxicab business, the proprietor, owner or their agent shall pay said fee each year on or before the 15th day of May.

Licenses issued or granted under this section shall be nonassignable and nontransferable.

Operator's license. No person shall operate any vehicle within the City of Onalaska without a valid driver's license. It shall be unlawful for an operator of a vehicle for hire or reward to operate said vehicle more than 12 hours out of every 24 hours. The Police Department may examine operators as to their qualifications as a driver for an automobile for hire in the City of Onalaska and may include a finding as to the moral character and other necessary qualifications required to be a competent operator.

Insurance required.

It shall be unlawful to operate a vehicle for the conveyance of passengers for hire or permit the same to be operated, nor shall any license be issued hereunder until and unless the applicant for a license provide the office of the City Clerk a certificate of liability insurance for the vehicles for which licenses are sought, said certificate of liability insurance to be acceptable and approved by the City Clerk and issued by a company authorized to do business in the State of Wisconsin, indemnifying the applicant in the amount of $100,000 for damage to property, and $100,000 for injury to one person and $300,000 for injury to more than one person caused by the operation of said vehicles in the City.

Each taxicab insurance policy shall contain a provision that the same may not be cancelled before the expiration of its term except upon 30 days' written notice provided to the office of the City Clerk. Every day upon which any vehicle is operated for the conveyance of passengers for hire or when taxicab or cab or similar transportation is offered to the public without an insurance policy as required herein being in effect and on file with the office of the City Clerk shall be deemed a separate violation. The cancellation or other termination of any insurance policy issued in compliance with this section shall automatically revoke and terminate all licenses issued for the taxicab covered by such insurance policy, unless another policy shall be provided and in effect at the time of such cancellation or termination.

The insurance policy or certificate shall further provide that it cannot be cancelled until 15 days' notice of such cancellation shall have been given by registered mail to the office of the City Clerk. The cancellation or other termination of any such insurance policy or certificate shall automatically revoke and terminate all licenses issued for the taxicabs covered by such time of such policy cancellation or termination.

The owner of any taxicab, at the time of filing with the office of the City Clerk said insurance policy or certificate, shall also file a receipted bill from the insurance company issuing said policy or certificate, showing that the premium for said policy or certificate for one year has been paid in full.

Inspection required.

No vehicle shall be licensed until it has been annually examined by an ASE-certified technician and found to be in a thoroughly satisfactory and safe condition for the transportation of passengers, clean, of good appearance and well-painted. The Police Department shall determine whether said vehicle complies with all the other provisions of this section. If such examination and inspection shows that vehicle does not comply with any of the provisions of this section, no license shall be issued. At the request of the Police Department, the taxicab owners shall take their vehicles to a reputable garage for an independent inspection at the owner's expense.

Nothing in this section shall be interpreted as relieving the owner or operator of a taxicab from any and all liability arising from any unsafe, unsanitary, unreliable or illegal conditions existing in his taxicab, whether or not such conditions are discovered or omitted by the inspections required herein. This section shall not be interpreted as creating a duty or liability on the part of the City of Onalaska, the Police Department or any employee or agent of the City to any person.

Any law enforcement officer may, at all reasonable times, inspect any cab or public hack under such taxicab business license and may prohibit the use of any cab which is unsafe or not in proper repair.

Liability of licensee. Any licensee shall be liable for any violations of ordinances or statutes by any and all persons operating taxicabs under its license.

Information card to be displayed. A card containing the name of the owner, license number, the number of the vehicle and rates of fare printed thereon shall be placed and at all times kept in a conspicuous place inside such vehicle.

Number of passengers. No licensee or person driving a taxicab shall carry or permit to be carried in any such vehicle more than the number of persons specified in the license applicable to such vehicle.

Individual service. Every patron who first engages services in a vehicle for the convenience of passengers for hire shall receive individual service unless they give consent to additional passengers being carried.

Duty to carry passengers. No person, firm or corporation engaged in the business of carrying passengers for hire or reward shall refuse to carry passengers to or from any part of the City with reasonable promptness and at the rates fixed in the license to operate.

Refusal to pay fare prohibited. No person who has been transported by a taxicab shall refuse to pay the fare for such transportation as such fare is shown on the taximeter or zone meter.

Common Council may impose further restrictions. Any licensee hereunder shall be subject to such further regulations and restrictions as may be imposed at any time by the Common Council.

Revision of license. The Common Council may, after due hearing thereon and pursuant to notice to all interested parties while any license required by this section is in full force and effect, change such license or licenses by inserting therein additional terms or conditions of schedules of changes in the rates as may, to the Common Council, appear to be for the public good.

Revocation of license.

Licenses granted under this section may be suspended or revoked at any time by the Police Department for any violation of this section. When a taxicab license is revoked or cancelled as herein provided, the Police Department shall immediately notify the owner to cease at once to operate the vehicle for which the license has been revoked as a taxicab.

Appeals. Any person who received a revocation of license and objects to all or part thereof may appeal to the Common Council within seven days of the receipt of the order, and the Common Council shall hear such appeal within 30 days of receipt of such written notice of the appeal. After such hearing, the Common Council may reverse, affirm or modify the order or determination.

Exceptions. This section shall not apply to persons, firms or corporations engaged in the business of carrying passengers for hire both interstate and intrastate between regularly established points and on regularly established time schedules, nor to the operator of a motor vehicle engaged in the business of transporting school students for hire. This section shall not apply to transportation network companies as defined under § 440.40, Wis. Stats.

All taxicabs operated under the authority of this section, except those operating under the Onalaska Shared Ride Program, shall be equipped with taximeters fastened in front of the passengers, visible to them at all times, day and night; and, after sundown, the face of the taximeter shall be illuminated. Said taximeter shall be operated mechanically, be a mechanism of standard design and construction, driven either from the transmission or from one of the front wheels by a flexible and permanently attached driving mechanism. They shall be sealed at all points and connections which, if manipulated, would affect their correct reading and recording. Each taximeter shall have thereon a flag to denote when the vehicle is employed and when it is not employed, and it shall be the duty of the driver to throw the flag of such taximeter into a nonrecording position at the termination of each trip. The said taximeters shall be subject to inspection from time to time by the Police Department. Any law enforcement officer is hereby authorized, either on complaint of any person or without any complaint, to inspect any meter and, upon discovering any inaccuracy therein, to notify the person operating such taxicab to cease operation. Thereupon, said taxicab shall be kept off the highways until the taximeter is repaired and in the required working condition. Each vehicle operated under a license required by this section shall have displayed in a prominent place therein the schedule of rates charged. The licensee shall submit to the Common Council with each application a schedule of the rates proposed to be charged during the license year. The Common Council may approve or disapprove the proposed rates or may substitute in its discretion a rate or rates which shall be reasonable under the circumstances.

Generally, the rate applicable to the City of La Crosse shall prevail in the City of Onalaska. Standards of service shall also be as prescribed by the Common Council. Failure to charge the rate subsequently approved by the Common Council or to provide the service proposed to be performed, or failure to comply with any of the provisions of this section shall subject the licensee to the penalties as stated.