All of the following requirements herein pertaining to operation
of taxis shall apply to both the owners and drivers of taxis:
A.
Loitering prohibited. No person other than the licensed driver or
paying passenger shall sit in the taxi while the taxi is parked at
a public taxi stand or providing service to a passenger, and no driver
shall encourage or permit loitering near his/her taxi while parked
in a public taxi stand, except that nothing shall prohibit the driver
from being accompanied by an adult companion for security purposes
while on duty between the hours of 8:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.
B.
Personal appearance. All taxi drivers, when operating a taxi, shall
be clean and neatly dressed.
C.
Smoking prohibited. Smoking shall be prohibited at all times in all
taxis licensed by the Township.
D.
Lost articles. Every taxi driver shall, upon the completion of each
and every trip, make a search of said taxi for any property lost or
inadvertently left therein, and any such property, unless sooner claimed
or delivered to the rightful owner, shall be taken to the Police Department
within six hours of the finding thereof.
E.
Conveyance of passengers in safe and expeditious manner. All taxi
drivers shall comply with all reasonable and lawful requests of passengers
as to speed and the route to be taken. Where such requests are not
made by the passenger, such driver shall use lawful and reasonable
speed and the most expeditious route to be taken to such passenger's
destination.
F.
Misinformation to prospective passengers prohibited. No driver of
any taxi shall induce any prospective passenger to employ him/her
by misinforming or misleading any such prospective passenger, either
as to time or place of the arrival or departure of any train or motor
bus, or as to the location of any building or place, or as to the
distance between any two points.
G.
Report of accidents. Any motor vehicle accident involving a taxi
and causing injury to a person or persons or damage to property in
excess of $100 shall be reported immediately by the driver to the
Police Department.
H.
Illegal or immoral use of taxis prohibited. No owner or driver of
any licensed taxi shall permit the use of such taxi for any illegal
or immoral purpose.
I.
Reasonable response period required. All taxi licensees or their
representatives shall answer all calls received for taxi service inside
the Township limits as soon as they can do so. If such services cannot
be rendered within a reasonable time, they shall then notify the prospective
passenger as to how long it will be before the call can be answered
and give the reason therefor.
J.
Refusal to provide service. No licensee under this chapter or his/her
representative shall refuse to accept a call for taxi service anywhere
within the Township limits at any time when such licensee has a taxi
available. In particular, no licensee under this chapter or his/her
representative shall fail to or refuse to accept a call for taxi service
from the North Brunswick Police Department. More than one violation
of this section in any one calendar year may be cause for the denial
of the renewal or transfer of any taxi owner's license or taxi
driver's license.
[Amended 11-21-2016 by Ord. No. 16-20[1]]
[1]
Editor's Note: This ordinance provided an effective date
of 1-1-2017.
K.
Restriction on number of passengers; federally approved car seat
required.
(2)
Each passenger shall have a working seat belt available to him or
her.
(3)
In accordance with the New Jersey Child Restraint Law, no child under
18 months old shall be transported in a taxi unless the child is secured
in a federally approved car seat, and no child between the ages of
18 months and five years shall be transported in the front seat unless
secured in a car seat. Upon request, the car seat shall be made available
to older children.
L.
Fare receipts. The driver of any taxi shall, upon request of a passenger,
render to such passenger a receipt for the fare charged. The receipt
shall state the name of the driver, the taxi license number, the amount
of the fare, the points of origin and destination, and the date and
time of the transaction.
M.
Recordkeeping by owners. The holder of each and every taxi license
shall record in a book kept solely for such purpose the time each
licensed vehicle is available for service, the name of the driver
thereof, the license number of the driver and the license number of
the vehicle.
N.
Refusal to pay legal fare. It shall be unlawful for any person to
refuse to pay the legal fare after having hired the taxi.
O.
Demand of fare in advance. If the exact mileage from the point of
origin to point of destination is known, or if the taxi charges a
flat rate for a given trip, the taxi driver may require the passenger
to pay the fare before departure.
P.
Limitation on hours worked by drivers. No taxi driver shall work
more than 12 hours in any twenty-four-hour period.
Q.
Minimum hours of operation. The owner of a taxi owner's license
issued by the Township shall operate his/her taxi(s), for a minimum
of 40 hours each week.
R.
Clean taxi required. The interior and exterior of a licensed taxi
shall be clean at all times.
S.
No taxi shall be permitted to leak fluids. Except for trace amounts
of fluids and condensation normal to everyday operations, no taxi
shall leak fluids such as, but not limited to, gasoline, motor oil,
power steering fluid, brake fluid, transmission fluid or antifreeze
upon the streets of the Township or upon spaces designated as public
taxi stands. Condensation and trace amounts resulting from normal
operations shall not be considered a violation of this chapter.
T.
Acceptance of more than one fare. No driver shall permit any other
person to ride in the taxi unless the person or persons first employing
the taxi shall consent to the acceptance of additional passengers.
U.
Horns. No driver shall use the vehicle horn when arriving at a fare
destination to alert any person or persons for which the taxicab is
waiting. Horns shall only be used in accordance with the provisions
of N.J.S.A. 39:3-69, wherein horns may be used when reasonably necessary
to ensure safe operation or to give an audible warning.
A.
The Police Department shall have the right at any time to inspect
taxis licensed in the Township of North Brunswick to determine that
said vehicles are maintained in a safe and sanitary condition for
the transportation of passengers.
B.
If inspection reveals a taxi to be in an unsafe or unsanitary condition,
the Director of Public Safety shall have the authority to immediately
suspend without prior hearing the taxi owner's license of any
taxi found to be in such condition. The owner shall be entitled to
a hearing before the Director of Public Safety within three business
days of such action and/or with the Township Council within 15 days
of such action.
C.
Prior to issuing the original taxi owner's license, the police
shall inspect the taxi to verify that the taxi possesses a valid motor
vehicle inspection sticker. Upon receipt of a new sticker, the taxi
shall again be presented for inspection by the police to verify that
a valid sticker is in place.
D.
No taxi shall be put in service or kept in service unless both heat
and air conditioning are operational.
The owner of each taxi licensed under the provisions of this
chapter shall keep or cause drivers employed by the owner to keep
a daily manifest of all trips showing the date, time and place each
passenger was picked up, the number of passengers, the time and place
each passenger was discharged, the trip distance and the amount of
fare charged for each trip. Manifests must also document the number
assigned to any public taxi stand that a taxi occupies, occupy, as
well as the time it arrives at the stand and the time it departs.
Such manifest shall be subject to inspection by the Code Enforcement
Office or the Township Director of Public Safety or his or her designated
representative, at their discretion. Manifests shall be maintained
for three months before they may be discarded.
[Amended 12-15-2014 by Ord. No. 14-13; 12-4-2017 by Ord. No. 17-14; 2-19-2019 by Ord. No. 19-03]
The fare to be charged by a taxi licensed by the Township for
any trip with both an origin and a destination in the Township shall
not exceed the maximum established herein.
A.
A base fare of $4.50 shall be charged for the first two miles or
part thereof for all passengers, except senior citizens and handicapped
persons.
B.
An additional fare of $1 shall be charged for each subsequent 1/2
mile or part thereof for all passengers, except senior citizens.
C.
The maximum fares established in this section shall apply to the
transportation of one or two persons from the same point of origin
to the same point of discharge. The fare for each additional passenger
above two shall be $0.50 per person.
D.
An additional dispatch charge of $0.50 shall be charged for all trips
in which the origin of the trip is not a designated public taxi stand.
E.
Senior citizens of 62 years of age or over and handicapped persons
shall be charged a base fare of $3.50 for the first two miles and
an additional fare of $0.75 for each subsequent 1/2 mile or part thereof.
F.
An additional administrative fee of $3 shall be charged for each
trip (one-way) provided to a registered participant under the Municipal
Senior Transportation Program and for trips scheduled by a municipal
official for programs organized and administered by the Municipal
Senior Center.
G.
There shall be no additional charge for up to two grocery bags, laundry
bags or packages. Each grocery bag, laundry bag or package in excess
of two shall be an additional $0.25. Suitcases shall be an additional
$0.25 per suitcase.
H.
Nothing in this chapter shall prohibit any licensee from establishing
flat rates for service between designated points as long as such flat
rates do not exceed the mileage rates established by this chapter.
A.
No taxi driver shall cruise any public road, private road or commercial
facility located in the Township of North Brunswick at any time for
the purpose of soliciting passengers, regardless of whether the taxi
holds a license issued by the Township of North Brunswick. While on
duty, taxis licensed by North Brunswick Township shall be permitted
to park only in designated public taxi stands or at their central
place of business.
B.
While on duty, all taxis, regardless of whether they are licensed
by the Township of North Brunswick, shall be prohibited from parking
to await calls in residential driveways, in commercial parking lots
or on public or private streets in the Township.
A.
The Township Council is authorized to designate by ordinance or by
resolution such places in the Township where the location of public
taxi stands is permitted.
B.
Picking spaces may be delineated as public taxi stands in the following
commercial centers, subject to approval of the location and signage
by the Township Planner:
C.
Spaces designated as public taxi stands shall be designated by metal
signs that contain wording provided by the Code Enforcement Office.
The cost of fabrication and installation shall be borne by the property
owner.
D.
Public taxi stands are reserved exclusively for use by taxis licensed
by the Township of North Brunswick for soliciting business, and there
shall be no parking of any other vehicles therein.
E.
No taxi shall be left unattended by the driver while the vehicle
is standing at a designated public taxi stand. Drivers shall remain
in or within 50 feet of the vehicle while it is standing at a designated
public taxi stand.
F.
No taxi that is not licensed in the Township of North Brunswick shall
stand at any public taxi stand.
G.
Spaces at public taxi stands shall be occupied on a first-come, first-served
basis. Passengers approaching a public taxi stand for service shall
be referred to the driver who has been stationed at the stand for
the longest period of time. However, nothing in this article shall
be construed as preventing a passenger from boarding the vehicle of
his or her choice that is parked at said stand. If a passenger selects
another taxi other than the taxi that has been stationed at the stand
for the longest period of time, the taxi driver of the chosen taxi
must get out of the taxi and indicate to the other taxi driver that
the referral policy was explained to the passenger and that the passenger
declined to occupy the referred taxi.
H.
Any driver who intentionally violates this specified procedure of referring passengers to the driver who has been at a public taxi stand for the longest period of time shall be fined and subject to disciplinary action, including suspension of his/her taxi driver's license in accordance with § 311-30F.
I.
Nothing herein shall require the owner of property where the delineation
of public taxi stands is permitted to actually designate spaces as
a public taxi stand; nor shall anything herein prohibit the removal
of spaces previously designated as a public taxi stand.
J.
The hours that public taxi stands shall be permitted to be occupied
for the purpose of soliciting passengers shall be 7:00 a.m. to 11:00
p.m., unless the owner of a commercial property has received approval
of different hours of operation from the Township Planner.
K.
Parking spaces designated as public taxi stands shall continue to
be counted as off-street parking spaces.
L.
The owner of a commercial property applying to designate space as
a public taxi stand shall be permitted to establish reasonable regulations
for the operation of taxis, subject to approval of such regulations
by the Township Planner.
M.
No loud music or other loud noise shall be permitted to emanate from
a taxi parked at a public taxi stand.
