[HISTORY: Adopted by the Township Committee of the Township of Delanco 10-12-1971 by Ord. No. 19-1971 as Ch. 93 of the 1971 Code. Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Vehicles and traffic — See Ch. 295.
The following words and phrases, when used in this chapter, shall have the meaning ascribed to them as follows:
DRIVER
Any person who drives a taxicab within this township.
OPERATION OF A TAXICAB
Transporting in such taxicab one or more persons for hire from point to point within this township or from a point within this township to a point outside the township limits. The operation of a taxicab by one other than the owner shall be deemed operation by the owner thereof as well as by the driver. The transportation of any person other than the owner or driver in any motor vehicle bearing a sign therein or thereon using the word "Taxi," "Taxicab," "Cab" or "Hack" shall be prima facie evidence of operation.
OWNER
Any person, corporation or association in whose name title to any taxicab is registered with the New Jersey Department of Motor Vehicles, or who appears in such records to be the conditional vendee or lessee thereof.
TAXICAB
Any automobile or motorcar, commonly called taxi, but not including autobuses operating with municipal consent, engaged in the business of carrying passengers for hire, which is held out, announced or advertised to operate or run or which is operated or run over any of the streets within the Township of Delanco, and which accepts passengers for transportation from points or places within said township to points or places within or outside said township.
From and after the effective date of this chapter, no person shall operate any taxicab within this township unless both the taxicab and the driver thereof are licensed pursuant to this chapter and conform to all the provisions hereof, except that such taxicab licenses as are now issued and outstanding pursuant to the terms of any ordinance heretofore adopted shall remain effective until their respective expiration dates, and the taxicabs thereby licensed shall be deemed to be licensed pursuant to the terms of this chapter until such licenses are surrendered, suspended or revoked or have expired; provided, nevertheless, that in all other particulars said taxicabs and their owners shall be subject to all the provisions hereof.
There are hereby established two classes of taxicab licenses, to be known as "taxicab driver's license" and "taxicab owner's license" respectively. A taxicab driver's license shall entitle the person named therein to operate within this township any taxicab duly licensed hereunder until the said license expires, is surrendered, suspended or revoked, and shall not be transferable. A taxicab owner's license shall entitle the taxicab therein described to be operated in this township by a driver duly licensed hereunder until the said license expires, is surrendered, suspended or revoked, and shall not be transferable.
Any license issued pursuant to the terms of this chapter shall expire at 12:00 midnight of the 31st day of December of the year in which it was issued, unless sooner surrendered, suspended or revoked.
The number of licenses of either class issued and outstanding at the same time shall not exceed such number as the Township Committee shall, in its discretion, from time to time, deem adequate to serve public necessity and convenience.
All applications for the issuance or renewal of a license of either class shall be made to the Township Committee on forms adopted by said Township Committee and designed to elicit information respecting the identification, responsibility and law-abiding habits of the applicant.
Each applicant for a license of either class shall supply the information requested on the application form in full, verify the correctness thereof by his or her oath or affirmation and file the completed application with the Township Clerk, together with the full amount of the fee hereinafter fixed therefor.
Each applicant for a taxicab driver's license shall file with his or her application two photographs, each 3 1/2 inches by 3 1/2 inches in size, clearly depicting the facial features of the applicant, both of which photographs shall thereupon become the property of the township and be retained with the application form unless the license shall be issued, in which event one of such photographs shall be permanently affixed to the license card in a space provided thereon.
Every applicant for a taxicab owner's license shall submit with his or her application the insurance policy, or certificate in lieu thereof, required by N.J.S.A. 48:16-3 of New Jersey, covering the taxicab to be licensed.
The annual fee for each taxicab driver's license hereafter issued or any renewal thereof shall be $3 for each year or portion of a year for which the license is issued or renewed, and the annual fee for each taxicab owner's license issued or renewed shall be $10 for each year or portion of a year for which the license is issued or renewed. Such fees shall not be prorated nor any part thereof refunded for any reason, except that, upon the denial of an application for issuance or renewal of a license by the Township Committee, the fee deposited shall be returned to the applicant.
The Township Committee may, in its discretion, refuse to issue or renew, or may, after notice and hearing, revoke or suspend:
A. 
Any license of either class if the applicant or licensee has been once convicted of a crime in this or any other jurisdiction, or convicted of being a disorderly person or of a violation of Title 39, Motor Vehicles and Traffic Regulation, of the Revised Statutes of New Jersey,[1] or has violated or violates any provision of this chapter, or has any judgment unsatisfied of record against him or her arising out of any automobile accident, or is a citizen of any nation between which and the United States of America a state of war exists, or has made false answers in his or her application for such license or any renewal thereof, or has failed or fails to render reasonably prompt, safe and adequate taxicab service, or has not complied fully with all requirements of this chapter for such class of license;
[1]
Editor's Note: See N.J.S.A. 39:1-1 et seq.
B. 
Any taxicab driver's license if the licensee or applicant has in any degree contributed to any injury to person or damage to property arising out of negligent operation of a motor vehicle, or has any communicable or contagious disease; or
C. 
Any taxicab owner's license if the motor vehicle licensed or to be licensed, by reason of unsafe or insanitary conditions, is dangerous to the safety or health of the occupants or others, or if the policy of insurance required by N.J.S.A. 48:16-3 has once lapsed or such coverage is not maintained at all times.
Each applicant granted a taxicab driver's license shall be issued a license card in evidence thereof, in a form approved by the Township Committee and signed by the Township Clerk in its behalf. Such license card shall at all times be prominently displayed and adequately protected in the interior of any taxicab operated by the licensee so that the face thereof shall be at all times in full view of and plainly legible to any passenger seated on the rear seat of such taxicab. Such license card shall at all times be and remain the property of the township and, on direction of the Township Committee, shall be surrendered to the Township Clerk.
No taxicab shall hereafter be operated in this township unless and until there is prominently displayed in the interior thereof, within the full view and access of any passengers therein, a complete list of fares, charges or tariff rates charged for transportation of passengers, which fares, charges or tariff rates so displayed, and no other, shall be those to be charged any passenger so transported.
Every taxicab so licensed shall display a sign with the words "Taxicab," "Taxi" or "Cab" thereon in letters at least six inches high, or the name of the operating owner containing the words "Taxi," "Cab" or "Taxicab."
No person shall park or rank any taxicab on any of the streets of this township at any time except at such place or places as the Township Committee may from time to time designate as taxi stands.
Any person or persons who shall violate any of the provisions of this chapter shall, upon conviction thereof, be punishable as provided in Chapter 1, General Provisions, Article II, General Penalty.
[1]
Editor's Note: Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I).