This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the "Passenger Transport
Control Law of the Village of New Hyde Park" or as the "PTCL-NHP."
It is hereby found and declared by the Board of Trustees that the operation
for hire of taxicabs, limousines and other passenger transport vehicles in
the Village of New Hyde Park is vested with a significant public interest,
constituting an important and integral part of the transportation facilities
and options available to the commuting public. Because of this public interest,
and as a matter of public convenience and necessity, it is the purpose of
this chapter to provide for both the licensing of identified passenger transport
vehicles operated for hire and the regulation of their business operations
and activities within the village. It is the intention of the Village Board,
in enacting these provisions, to ensure the physical safety, comfort and welfare
of the passengers utilizing such modes of transportation, to secure the imposition
of fair and competitive rates and charges and the avoidance of unscrupulous
practices in connection therewith and to prevent the aggravation of traffic
problems and parking congestion within the village which might be occasioned
thereby.
Unless the provisions set forth in a given context shall clearly require
a different interpretation, the following words, terms and phrases, when used
in this chapter, shall have the meanings ascribed to them hereinbelow:
Any act of offering, or accepting solicitations or requests, to operate
a regulated vehicle for hire, with the intent of making a profit and/or recovering
some or all of the expenses incurred in connection with such operation.
Any additional and fixed place of business located within the area
where an owner's terminal is situated and lawfully occupied and used
by the owner for the off-street parking, storage, repair or servicing of that
owner's regulated vehicles when such vehicles are not otherwise being
operated for hire.
Any person who drives or chauffeurs a regulated vehicle, for a business
purpose, on or over the public streets and highways of the village, whether
or not such driver is also the owner of such vehicle.
An annual or other periodic license issued to a natural person by
the Village Clerk, pursuant to the provisions of this chapter, and authorizing
the operation by that person of regulated vehicles likewise licensed by the
village under and pursuant to this chapter.
The hire of a regulated vehicle by, and for the transport of, a single
passenger or a group of related passengers, under the condition that such
passenger(s) shall have and enjoy the exclusive use of such vehicle during
the course of such transport.
When referring to the operation of a regulated vehicle under this
chapter, the offer or agreement, express or implied, by the owner or driver
of such a vehicle to pick up and transport any one or more passengers in exchange
for, and in consideration of, the payment by such passengers of a fare, fee
or other charge of money or in money's worth.
The shared use of a taxicab or private livery van by two or more
unrelated passengers entering such vehicle at the same point of origin, disembarking
at the same destination point and sharing payment of a single fare for the
entire trip.
Any authorized medallion, tag, decal, sticker, plate or other tangible
device officially issued by or on behalf of the Village Clerk to the owner
of, and for display upon, a specified regulated vehicle, in order to identify
such vehicle as one currently licensed to operate in the village under the
provisions of this chapter.
A motor vehicle seating not less than five nor more than eight passengers,
licensed or required to be licensed by the New York State Department of Motor
Vehicles with a "Z" license tag or other similar prescribed and descriptive
license plate and intended for use and/or actually used for hire at an hourly,
daily or other predetermined periodic set rate solely in connection with funerals,
weddings, proms or other passenger-directed transport or excursion.
Every motor vehicle, other than a taxicab or a bus, used in the business
of transporting passengers for hire; excepting, however, vehicles which are
rented or leased without a driver to members of the public .
To employ or direct a regulated vehicle to pick up any passenger,
for hire, anywhere within the village, whether or not that passenger's
destination or dropoff point lies within or without the village.
The person, firm or other legal entity which owns or controls one
or more regulated vehicles and operates or causes or permits the operation
of any such vehicle(s), for hire, upon the public streets and highways of
the village.
A person, other than the driver or owner, who occupies a regulated
vehicle; and for the purposes of this chapter, any such person(s), when picked
up in the village, shall be presumed to be a passenger or passengers for hire.
An individual, partnership, corporation, unincorporated association
or any other legal entity capable of suing or being sued.
A motor vehicle, seating not less than five nor more than 15 passengers
in addition to the driver, used solely for hire in connection with sightseeing
excursions, airport calls or similar trips and functions.
Any taxicab, livery, limousine or private livery van either used
or operated, or intended for use or operation, as a vehicle for the transport
of any one or more passengers for hire.
The nonexclusive use of a taxicab by two or more unrelated passengers
traveling between different points of origin and/or destination, although
in the same general direction.
A motor vehicle other than a bus, having a seating capacity of not
more than eight passengers in addition to the driver, used in the business
of transporting passengers for hire on other than a fixed route and licensed
or required to be licensed by the New York Department of Motor Vehicles with
a "taxi" license tag or similar prescribed and descriptive license plate;
excepting, however, vehicles rented or leased to members of the public without
a driver.
Any village employee or other agent designated or appointed by the Board of Trustees or the Village Clerk to enforce the provisions of this chapter or to perform other duties requisite to enforcement, whether by issuance of appearance tickets or otherwise, including any officer or code enforcement officer authorized by or under Chapter 5, Appearance Tickets, and Chapter 10, Code Enforcement Bureau, of this Village Code to enforce any provisions of this Code.
A public place, either alongside the curb of any street or highway
or at any other place within the village, which has been so designated, and
posted as reserved, for the exclusive use of all taxicabs licensed under and
pursuant to the provisions of this chapter.
A fixed place of business, situated within an area lawfully zoned
for such use and proximate to the area within the village for which an application
for a license under this chapter is made, in which there is located a central
dispatch office and (if the owner of such terminal does not have a depot nearby)
adequate off-street parking facilities for the storage of licensed vehicles
when they are not actually engaged in transport operation or activities regulated
under this chapter.
The area comprising, and lying within the geographical boundaries
of, the Incorporated Village of New Hyde Park, New York, including those portions
thereof within the Towns of Hempstead and North Hempstead.
An area within the village, established by the Village Board for
the purposes of determining the rates to be charged for the hiring of taxicabs.
The Village Board of Trustees may, from time to time, after public notice
and hearing, and for the purposes of this chapter, establish and fix taxicab
rate zones within the village and/or abolish, or enlarge or diminish the boundaries
of, any zone or zones so established.
A.
The Village Board of Trustees may, from time to time and in the interest of public convenience and necessity, by resolution in accordance with the provisions of §§ 189-26 and 189-72 of Chapter 189, Vehicles and Traffic, of this Code, establish taxi stands at such locations within or upon the public streets and highways or other public places of the village as it may determine; and such stands shall be posted as reserved for the exclusive use of taxicabs licensed under this chapter when operated or driven by persons likewise licensed hereunder.
B.
It shall be unlawful, and a violation both of the provisions of this chapter and of § 189-26 of Chapter 189, Vehicles and Traffic, of this Code, for any vehicle other than a taxicab licensed under this chapter to stop or stand in any taxi stand designated and posted pursuant to the provisions of this section and/or §§ 189-26 and 189-72 of Chapter 189, Vehicles and Traffic, of this Code.
C.
It shall be unlawful, and a violation of the provisions of this chapter, for any person other than one licensed as a driver under this chapter to stop or stand any vehicle, including one licensed as a taxicab hereunder, at any taxi stand so designated and posted in accordance with this section and/or the provisions of §§ 189-26 and 189-72 of Chapter 189, Vehicles and Traffic, of this Code.
