[HISTORY: Adopted by the Mayor and Council of the Borough of Hopatcong 8-6-2008 by Ord. No. 19-2008.[1] Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Vehicles and traffic — See Ch. 231.
[1]
Editor's Note: This ordinance also repealed former Ch. 219, Taxicabs, adopted 11-5-1970, as amended.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
TAXICAB
Includes any motor vehicle used in the business of transporting persons for hire from or to points within the Borough of Hopatcong, including vehicles hired by charter or special contract, whether the fare or price is agreed upon in advance or not. This term includes any commercial vehicle known as an "autocab" or a "limousine" and all vehicles used in a livery service. Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to include taxicabs, hotel buses or buses employed solely in transporting school children or teachers or autobuses which are subject to the jurisdiction of the Board of Public Utilities or interstate autobuses required by federal or state law or rules of the Board of Public Utilities to carry insurance against loss from liability imposed by law on account of bodily injury or death.
No person shall operate any taxicab business or taxicab based in the Borough of Hopatcong, as hereinabove defined, for the transportation of passengers without first having obtained a license from the Borough of Hopatcong or another municipality for every vehicle to be so operated.
[Amended 4-20-2016 by Ord. No. 11-2016]
Every application for a license shall be filed with the Borough Clerk on a form furnished by the Borough of Hopatcong, accompanied by a fee of $50 or the amount set forth in N.J.S.A. 48:16-2 or 48:16-18.1, whichever is higher.
No taxicab shall be operated wholly or partly along any street in the Borough of Hopatcong until the owner shall have filed with the Borough Clerk of Hopatcong a certificate of insurance from a company licensed to transact business under the insurance laws of this state in the minimum sum of $250,000 against loss by reason of liability imposed by law upon every autocab, limousine or livery service owner for damages on account of an accident occurring by reason of the ownership, maintenance or use of the taxicab upon any public street. The insurance shall provide for the payment of any final judgment recovered by any person on account of the ownership, maintenance and use of such autocab, limousine or livery service or any fault in respect thereto and shall be for the benefit of every person suffering loss, damage or injury in the aforesaid.
The Borough Clerk, upon the filing of the required certificate of insurance, shall issue a license, in duplicate, showing that the owner of the taxicab has complied with the terms and provisions of this chapter. Such license shall recite the name of the insurance company, the number and date of expiration of the policy, a description of the vehicle licensed. The original license shall be posted in a conspicuous place within the vehicle. The Borough Clerk shall keep a register of the licensed taxicabs or other vehicles under this chapter.
The Borough Clerk's decision to deny or revoke a license may be appealed to the governing body by written request within 30 days of the Clerk's action.
A. 
Refusal of fares. No taxicab operator, owner, dispatcher or employee shall refuse to carry any orderly person to any destination within a fifty-mile radius of the Borough of Hopatcong, provided that said person agrees to pay the proper rate of fare, and this regulation shall apply regardless of whether the aforesaid request for transportation shall be made directly or by telephone and whether made at a taxicab stand or at any other place; provided, further, that compliance with said request would not result in a violation of any other provision of this section.
B. 
Posting of rates. A schedule of the rates of fare shall be conspicuously placed inside each licensed taxicab and filed with the Borough Clerk.
C. 
Display of certificate. Each licensed taxicab or other vehicle shall prominently display on the inside of each taxicab the photograph and certificate required under § 219-6.