[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Selectmen 2-28-1978.
Amendments noted where applicable.]
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings
indicated:
A vehicle used or designed to be used for the conveyance of persons
for hire from place to place within the Town of Franklin or to surrounding
areas, except a bus, within the meaning of MGL c. 163, § 2, or a
motor vehicle known as a "jitney," without a taximeter.
The Town Council shall annually grant taxi licenses in the Town of Franklin
to suitable persons.
[Amended 5-2-1979]
No taxi permits or licenses shall be sold, assigned or transferred without
obtaining written permission from the Town Council. A licensed owner may transfer
a taxi license from one vehicle to another, provided that there is no increase
in the number of vehicles in operation and provided that prior approval has
been obtained from the Town Administrator.
Employment cards shall be issued to drivers by the Chief of Police.
The licensed owners of taxicabs shall not employ drivers without employment
cards. Said employment cards shall be kept by employers during the period
that the driver is employed.
Licensed owners shall return immediately to the Chief of Police the
employment card of every driver when he ceases to be in their employ, accompanied
by the reason for the termination of employment.
No person shall be licensed to be an owner who is not of the age of
21 years or over, who cannot read, write and speak the English language intelligibly
or who is addicted to the use of intoxicating liquors or narcotic drugs.
The Town Council shall refuse a license for or, if already licensed,
revoke or suspend the license of any hackney carriage found by him to be unfit
or unsuited for public patronage.
Photographs of each applicant will be taken at the police station, for
which a charge of $2 will be made. This will include new and renewal applications
and requests for replacement of lost licenses. One photograph will be filed
with the application, one attached to the license when issued, one attached
to the master record card and the remaining photograph placed in the identification
file in the taxi office.
The photograph shall be attached to the license so that it cannot be
removed and another photograph substituted without detection.
No person shall be licensed to be a driver who is not of the age of
19 years or over, who cannot read, write and speak the English language intelligibly
or who is addicted to the use of intoxicating liquors or narcotic drugs.
All licenses issued to drivers must be called for at the office of the
Chief of Police within 30 days of the filing day of the application.
Any licensee who shall cease to be the driver of a taxi shall at once
surrender his license to the Town Council.
An applicant for a license to drive a motor taxi shall present for examination
a valid license as an operator issued to him by the Registrar of Motor Vehicles
of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and the date and the number thereof
shall be entered on the application.
There shall be no lights on taxicabs, except those required by law,
without first obtaining the approval of the Town Council. No accessories or
appurtenances shall be attached to the interior of any taxicabs without the
express permission of the Town Council.
Every licensed taxi shall contain a card, size six by four (6 x 4) inches,
showing the rate of fare that the particular cab is operating under as approved
by the Town Council. This card shall be displayed in the rear compartment
of the taxicab.
All public stands shall be plainly marked and shall be free and accessible
to all taxis licensed by the Town Council, including taxis permitted to occupy
private stands by owners of property and properly assigned to such private
stands.
Any driver has the right to stop and take position on any stand where
there is a vacancy. The drivers of all taxis shall sit on the driver's seat
of their vehicles, ready to be hired at once, at all times that said taxis
are at public stands. No taxi driver shall make or permit anyone else to make
any repairs to his vehicle while on a public stand. No driver shall sit in
the passenger compartment of a taxi and shall permit no one else to sit therein
except passengers.
No driver shall park his car in a double line at a public stand, nor
shall any driver park his vehicle in such a manner as to interfere with traffic,
both vehicular and pedestrian, at any location.
It is the duty of police officers to observe the movements of taxis,
especially at night, and at all times to see that the rules governing such
taxis and their drivers are obeyed. Licensed drivers shall be respectful to
and are required to answer fully and civilly any questions put to them by
police officers in the performance of their duties.
The Town Council will regard as unsuited to hold a license any driver
who violates any state or federal liquor law or who gives direction, information
or service to a man or woman seeking a place or person for immoral purposes
or any driver who offers such direction, information or service. The Town
Council will regard as unsuited to hold a license any driver who conveys from
place to place a person who is noisy or otherwise disorderly or who conveys
a person who is intoxicated, even though not disorderly, except directly to
the place which the driver has reason to believe is the passenger's place
of lodging; but this provision shall not apply to cases in which persons are
conveyed by direction of a police officer.
When a passenger becomes noisy or otherwise disorderly while in a taxi
and persists in such conduct after warning, the driver may appeal to any police
officer, who shall assist him in any lawful way and, if in possession of the
necessary evidence, shall prosecute the offending passenger. The police shall
observe with particular care the matters to which this section relates and
shall report thereon.
Every driver of any licensed taxi shall report to the police station
any suspicious actions of passengers or conditions which he may observe.
Every driver having charge of a taxi shall have with him his hackney
carriage driver's license and a copy of these rules and regulations, to be
shown to a passenger on request, and shall further have, in an easily accessible
place in the vehicle, the hackney carriage license for such vehicle.
If a license is lost, mislaid or destroyed, the licensee to whom the
same was issued shall immediately report such loss to the Town Council, who
will furnish a new license.
