[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Commissioners of the Borough of Mount Ephraim 1-12-1954 by Ord. No. 186 (Ch. 90 of the 1973 Borough Code). Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Fees — See Ch. 165, Art. II.
Trailers, recreational vehicles and unlicensed vehicles — See Ch. 402.
Vehicles and traffic — See Ch. 410.
The following words and phrases and their derivatives, when used in this chapter, shall have the meanings hereafter ascribed to them:
AUTOCAB and/or TAXICAB
Any automobile or motorcar, commonly called "taxi," 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 or highways of the Borough of Mount Ephraim, and particularly accepts and discharges such persons as may offer themselves for transportation from points or places to points or places within or without the Borough of Mount Ephraim.
BOROUGH
The Borough of Mount Ephraim, in the County of Camden and State of New Jersey.
DRIVER
Any person who drives a taxicab within this Borough of Mount Ephraim.
LICENSED
Licensed in accordance with the appropriate section of this chapter.
OPERATION (of a taxicab and/or autocab)
Transporting therein one or more persons for hire along any of the streets or highways of the Borough of Mount Ephraim. Accepting a passenger to be transported for hire within this Borough or from a point within this Borough to a point outside of the Borough limits, or discharging a passenger transported for hire from a point outside of the Borough limits to a point within the Borough limits, shall be deemed to be "operation" of a taxicab within the Borough of Mount Ephraim under the terms hereof. The "operation" of a taxicab and/or autocab in any of the above-described manners by one other than the owner shall be deemed "operation" by the owner as well as by the person actually driving the same. The transportation of any person other than the owner or driver in any motor vehicle bearing a sign or signs 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.
PERSONS
Includes the plural as well as the singular and any individual, copartnership, association, corporation or joint-stock company, and their lessees, trustees or receivers appointed by any court whatsoever.
STREETS and HIGHWAYS
Any street, avenue, park, parkway, highway or other public place or any part thereof.
No autocab shall be operated upon the streets or public places of the Borough of Mount Ephraim unless the owner thereof shall have caused the said autocab to be licensed as herein provided and shall have complied with the laws of the State of New Jersey relating to autocabs; nor shall any cab licensed hereunder be driven by any person unless the driver thereof has been duly issued an automobile driver's license by the State of New Jersey.
[Amended 1-2-1973]
No autocab shall be licensed until an application therefor shall have been made in writing and filed with the Borough Clerk in the form provided by the Borough therefor, and unless the said applicant shall agree to operate said autocab within the Borough of Mount Ephraim for at least six days in every week and at least eight hours in each operating day, and unless such applicant shall be determined to be of good moral character, and until the owner thereof shall have submitted proof satisfactory to the Board of Commissioners that such owner is financially able to pay any judgment which may be obtained against him for injuries or damages to persons and property resulting from an accident occurring by reason of the ownership, maintenance or use of such autocab or cabs owned and operated by the same owner, and shall have filed with the Borough Clerk an insurance policy of a company duly licensed to transact business under the insurance laws of this state, in a sum of at least $100,000 against loss or damage to personal property resulting from a single accident, in a sum of at least $100,000 against personal injury to one person resulting from a single accident, and in the sum of at least $300,000 against all personal injuries resulting from a single accident.
[Amended 1-2-1973]
Every person operating autocabs as aforesaid shall execute and deliver to the Borough Clerk at the time of the filing of the insurance policy aforesaid a power of attorney in which the owner shall appoint the chief fiscal officer of the Borough as his true and lawful attorney for the purpose of acknowledging service of any process out of a court of competent jurisdiction to be served against such person by virtue of the indemnity granted under the insurance policy filed as aforesaid.
[Amended 11-9-1954 by Ord. No. 191]
A. 
Each application for an autocab license hereunder shall set forth:
(1) 
The full name and address of the applicant-owner.
(2) 
The number of autocabs to be operated by such applicant-owner.
(3) 
The make and character of each autocab to be operated, and the length of time each such autocab has been in use.
(4) 
The number of persons each such autocab is capable of carrying.
(5) 
The place where each such autocab may be inspected by the Board of Commissioners or its duly authorized representatives.
(6) 
The days of the week and the hours of such days when it is proposed to operate each such autocab.
(7) 
A schedule of rates showing the charges proposed to be made for the transportation of passengers.
B. 
Each application hereunder shall be accompanied by an annual fee computed as follows:[1]
(1) 
The annual fee for one autocab or the first autocab owned and proposed to be operated by such applicant shall be as set forth in Chapter 165, Article II, Fee Schedule.
(2) 
For each autocab proposed to be operated by such applicant in excess of one autocab, there shall be an additional fee as set forth in Chapter 165, Article II, Fee Schedule; provided, however, that licenses for the operation of more than five autocabs shall not be issued to any one applicant.
[1]
Editor's Note: Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I).
C. 
In the case of a license issued after the first day of August in any year, the license fee for the remainder of such calendar year shall be 60% of the annual license fee computed as above.
Every autocab license shall expire on the 31st day of December in the year in which it is issued; provided, however, that if an application for renewal shall have been filed on or before December 31, said autocab may be operated pending the issuance of a new license until the 15th day of January next succeeding, and provided further that application for licenses for the calendar year following the year in which the application is filed shall not be filed prior to the 15th day of December in the year in which the application is filed.
Every licensed autocab shall display its license number in a manner required or approved by the Board of Commissioners. Upon the issuance of the license of any autocab, there shall be furnished to the owner a card setting forth the name and address of the owner and the number of the license, which card shall be permanently displayed in the interior of the autocab, together with a statement or schedule of the charges for the use thereof.
No autocab shall occupy any public hack stand unless such autocab shall have been licensed by the Board of Commissioners.
[Amended 1-20-1958 by Ord. No. 213; 2-2-1971 by Ord. No. 304]
No more than 12 autocab licenses shall be in effect in the Borough of Mount Ephraim at any one time.
No license shall be issued hereunder nor shall any autocab licensed hereunder be operated or driven by any person until such applicant or driver shall have first notified the Chief of Police of the Borough of Mount Ephraim of such intentions, and such officer shall, after an investigation of such applicant or driver, make a report thereof to the Director of the Department of Public Safety, which report shall be considered by said Director in passing upon applications for licenses as aforesaid, and, in the case of drivers only, will be considered in passing upon the issuance of a certificate of approval, which is hereby declared as essential to the driving of any autocab or taxi licensed hereunder; such certificates of approval shall be signed by the Director of the Department of Public Safety of the Borough of Mount Ephraim.
The Board of Commissioners, after a hearing, is hereby authorized and empowered to suspend or revoke any license issued under the provisions hereof for any violation of the law or of the provisions of this chapter, or for failure to comply with the provisions of Chapter 16, Title 48 of the Revised Statutes of New Jersey, or the amendments thereto or supplements thereof, or for failure to operate such autocab in the manner and at the times set forth in the application for such license.
[Amended 1-2-1973[1]]
Any person or persons who shall violate any of the provisions of this chapter shall, upon conviction thereof, be subject to the penalty provisions contained in Chapter 305, Penalties.
[1]
Editor's Note: Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I).