[HISTORY: Adopted by the Common Council of the City of Princeton
as Title 7, Ch. 11, of the City Code. Amendments noted where applicable.]
A.
No person shall regularly offer taxicab service within the City of
Princeton or regularly operate a motor vehicle upon the highways and
streets of the City unless such taxicab business is licensed by the
City as hereinafter provided.
B.
Application for the licensing of a taxicab business shall be addressed to the Common Council and shall be filed with the City Administrator/Clerk-Treasurer, together with a tendered license fee prorated on the basis of the annual license fee set forth in Subsection D, should each remaining portion of the calendar license year be less than 11 months. The City Administrator/Clerk-Treasurer shall present such application to the Common Council at its next regular meeting and the Council shall consider such application and shall instruct the City Administrator/Clerk-Treasurer to issue the license or dismiss the application upon a majority vote of the Council.
C.
No license for taxicab business based on new application therefor
shall be issued except upon a showing that the available transportation
facilities are not adequate to meet the public need and that the applicant
is proper and able to furnish it.
D.
The taxicab business license fee shall be based on the number of vehicles to be operated thereunder and shall be as prescribed in Chapter 182, Fees.
E.
The license year for taxicab business licenses shall be from January 1 through December 31. As a condition to the continued holding and renewal of license for a taxicab business, the proprietor, owner or his agent shall pay to the City the license fees computed as set forth in Subsection D above each year on or before the 15th day of January.
[Amended 6-25-2013 by Ord. No. 2013-01]
A.
It shall be unlawful to operate a vehicle for the conveyance of passengers
for hire or permit the same to be operated, nor shall any license
be issued hereunder until and unless the applicant for a license deposit
with the City Administrator/Clerk-Treasurer a certificate of liability
insurance for the vehicles for which licenses are sought, said certificate
of liability insurance to be acceptable and approved by the City Administrator/Clerk-Treasurer
and issued by a company authorized to do business in the State of
Wisconsin, indemnifying the applicant in the amount of $10,000 for
damage to property, and $75,000 for injury to one person and $150,000
for each accident for each motor vehicle having a seating capacity
of seven passengers or less that was caused by the operation of said
vehicles in the City.
B.
Each taxicab insurance policy shall contain a provision that the
same may not be canceled before the expiration of its term except
upon 30 days written notice to the City. Every day upon which any
vehicle is operated for the conveyance of passengers for hire or when
taxicab or cab or similar transportation is offered to the public
without an insurance policy as required herein being in effect and
on file with the City Administrator/Clerk-Treasurer shall be deemed
a separate violation. The cancellation or other termination of any
insurance policy issued in compliance with this section shall automatically
revoke and terminate all licenses issued for the taxicab covered by
such insurance policy, unless another policy shall be provided and
in effect at the time of such cancelation or termination.
A.
No vehicle shall be licensed until it has been annually examined
by a reputable automobile repair facility and found to be in a thoroughly
satisfactory and safe condition for the transportation of passengers,
clean, of good appearance and well painted. The Chief of Police shall
determine whether said vehicle complies with all the other provisions
of this chapter. If such examination and inspection shows that vehicle
does not comply with any of the provisions of this section, no license
shall be issued. At the request of the Chief of Police, the taxicab
owners shall take their vehicles to a reputable garage for an independent
inspection at owner's expense.
B.
No taxicab shall be licensed until the Police Department has approved
that:
(1)
The horn, footbrake, windshield, rear vision mirror, fenders, exhaust
system, windshield wipers, emergency brake, directional signals, speedometer,
license lamps, tires, headlamps, stop lamps and tail lamps are in
legal working order as required by the Wisconsin Motor Vehicle Code;
(2)
The taxicab is in generally safe, sanitary and reliable condition.
C.
The inspection required by this section is only an inspection of
the taxicab's exterior and passenger areas and shall not be a
thorough mechanical inspection of the taxicab. Nothing in this section
shall be interpreted as relieving the owner or operator of a taxicab
from any and all liability arising from any unsafe, unsanitary, unreliable
or illegal conditions existing in his taxicab, whether or not such
conditions are discovered or omitted by the inspections required herein.
This section shall not be interpreted as creating a duty or liability
on the part of the City of Princeton, the Police Department or any
employee or agent of the City to any person.
D.
Any police officer of this City may, at all reasonable times, inspect
any cab or public hack under such taxicab business license and may
prohibit the use of any cab which is unsafe or not in proper repair.
A.
Licenses nontransferable. Licenses issued or granted under this chapter
shall be nonassignable and nontransferable.
B.
Information card to be displayed. A card containing the name of the
owner, license number, the number of the vehicle and rates of fare
printed thereon shall be placed and at all times kept in a conspicuous
place inside such vehicle.
C.
Liability of licensee. Any licensee shall be liable for any violations
of ordinances or statutes by any and all persons operating taxicabs
under its license.
D.
Number of passengers. No licensee or person driving a taxicab shall
carry or permit to be carried in any such vehicle more than the number
of persons specified in the license applicable to such vehicle.
E.
Common Council may impose further restrictions. Any licensee hereunder
shall be subject to such further regulations and restrictions as may
be imposed at any time by the Common Council.
This chapter shall not apply to persons, firms or corporations
engaged in the business of carrying passengers for hire both interstate
and intrastate between regularly established points and on regularly
established time schedules, nor to the operator of a motor vehicle
engaged in the business of transporting school students for hire.
No person who has been transported by a taxicab shall refuse
to pay the fare for such transportation as such fare is shown on the
taximeter or zone meter.
A.
Revocation. Licenses granted under §§ 333-1 through 333-4 may be suspended or revoked at any time by the Chief of Police for any violation of this chapter. When a taxicab license is revoked or canceled as herein provided, the Chief of Police shall immediately notify the owner to cease at once to operate the vehicle for which the license has been revoked as a taxicab.
B.
Appeals. Any person who received a revocation of license and objects
to all or part thereof may appeal to the Common Council within seven
days of the receipt of the order and the Common Council shall hear
such appeal within 30 days of receipt of such written notice of the
appeal. After such hearing, the Common Council may reverse, affirm
or modify the order or determination.
