[HISTORY: Adopted by the City Council of the City of Allentown
as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where applicable.]
[Adopted 5-14-1941 by Ord. No. 4613 (Article 305 of the 1962 Codified
Ordinances)]
No person shall drive a taxicab, and no person shall permit
anyone to drive a taxicab, within the City without such driver having
first obtained and paid for and having in force and effect a driver's
license under the provisions of this article.
[Amended 3-4-1987 by Ord.
No. 12757]
Each applicant for a taxicab driver's license must comply with
the following to the satisfaction of the Chief of Police:
A.
Must first have obtained a Commonwealth of Pennsylvania operator's
driving license.
B.
Be 18 years of age or over.
C.
Fill out an application provided by the Chief of Police giving his/her
full name, address, age, color, height, color of eyes and hair, place
of birth, length of residence in the City, whether they are a citizen,
have been convicted of a felony or misdemeanor, whether previously
licensed by the commonwealth and whether their license has been revoked
and for what cause.
Each individual, upon application for a taxicab driver's license,
will be photographed by the Bureau of Identification, and two prints
will be made of each picture. One shall be attached to the license
in such a manner that it cannot be removed and another substituted
without detection. The license, bearing the photograph, shall be displayed
in a conspicuous place in the cab so that the picture and reading
thereon may be easily seen by the occupants or passengers in the cab.
No person shall remove a photograph from the license granted by the
Police Department and substitute another thereon.
[Amended 3-4-1987 by Ord.
No. 12757]
Each individual shall file, with their application for a taxicab driver's license, impressions of their fingers of their right and left hand. Such impressions shall be placed upon forms furnished by the Chief of Police, the impressions to be taken under the supervision of the Chief of Police or someone designated by him. The second print of the photograph mentioned in § 575-3 is to be attached to the form bearing the fingerprint impressions and filed in the Bureau of Identification in the Bureau of Police.
[Amended 3-4-1987 by Ord.
No. 12757; at time of adoption of Code (see Ch.
1, General Provisions, Art. I)]
At the time of application, the applicant shall pay a fee established
in accordance with the Home Rule Charter.[1] This fee shall defray the costs of photographing and fingerprinting
the licensee. The license will be valid for a period of two years
from the date of issuance. The fee for a renewal license shall be
established in accordance with the Home Rule Charter.
The Chief of Police has the authority to revoke a taxicab driver's
license for any violation of City ordinances.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
Any person violating the provisions of this article shall be
fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned not more than 90 days, or
both.
[Adopted 4-1-1958 by Ord.
No. 8610 (Article 303 of the 1962 Codified Ordinances)]
The following words and phrases, when used in this article,
shall have the meanings as set forth herein:
A certificate of public convenience and necessity issued
by the Public Utility Commission, authorizing the holder thereof to
conduct a taxicab business in the City.
A person to whom a certificate of public convenience and
necessity has been issued.
A public place alongside the curb of a street or elsewhere
in the City which has been designated by the Council as reserved exclusively
for the use of taxicabs.
Includes an individual, a corporation or other legal entity,
a partnership and any unincorporated association.
A motor vehicle regularly engaged in the business of carrying
passengers for hire and not operated on a fixed route.
A meter instrument or device attached to a taxicab which
measures mechanically the distance driven and the waiting time upon
which the fare is based.
No person shall operate or permit a taxicab owned or controlled
by him to be operated as a vehicle for hire upon the streets of the
City without first having obtained a certificate of public convenience
and necessity from the Public Utilities Commission.
A.
Solicitation of passengers by driver. No driver shall solicit passengers
for a taxicab except when sitting in the driver's compartment of such
taxicab or while standing immediately adjacent to the curb side thereof.
The driver of any taxicab shall remain in the driver's compartment
or immediately adjacent to his vehicle at all times when such vehicle
is upon the public street, except that, when necessary, a driver may
be absent from his taxicab for not more than 10 consecutive minutes.
Nothing herein contained shall be held to prohibit any driver from
alighting to the street or sidewalk for the purpose of assisting passengers
into or out of such vehicles.
B.
Prohibited solicitation. No driver shall solicit patronage in a loud
or annoying tone or voice or by sign of in any manner annoy any person
or obstruct the movement of any person, or follow any person for the
purpose of soliciting patronage.
C.
Receipt and discharge of passengers on sidewalk only. Drivers of
taxicabs shall not receive or discharge passengers in the roadway
but shall pull up to the right-hand sidewalk as nearly as possible
or, in the absence of a sidewalk, to the extreme right-hand side of
the road and there receive or discharge passengers, except upon one-way
streets, where passengers may be discharged at either the right- or
left-hand sidewalk, or side of the roadway, in the absence of a sidewalk.
D.
Cruising. No driver shall cruise in search of passengers except in
such areas and at such times as shall be designated by Council. Such
areas and times shall only be designated when Council finds that taxicab
cruising would not congest traffic or be dangerous to pedestrians
and other vehicles.
E.
Additional passengers. No driver shall permit any other person to
occupy or ride in his taxicab, unless the person first employing the
taxicab shall consent to the acceptance of additional passengers.
No charge shall be made for an additional passenger except when the
additional passenger rides beyond the previous passenger's destination
and then only for the additional distance so traveled.
F.
Refusal to carry orderly passengers prohibited. No driver shall refuse
to convey any orderly person or persons, upon request, unless previously
engaged or unable or forbidden by the provisions of this article to
do so.
G.
Prohibitions of drivers. It shall be a violation of this article
for any driver of a taxicab to solicit business for any hotel, or
to attempt to divert patronage from one hotel to another. Neither
shall such driver engage in selling intoxicating liquors, or solicit
business for any house of ill repute, or use his vehicle for any purpose
other than the transporting of passengers.
A.
Council is authorized and empowered to establish open stands in such
places upon the streets of the City as it deems necessary for the
use of taxicabs operated in the City. Council shall not create an
open stand without taking into consideration the need for such stands
by the companies and convenience to the general public. Council shall
prescribe the number of cabs that shall occupy such open stands. Council
shall not create an open stand in front of any place of business where
the abutting property owners object to the same of where such stand
would tend to create a traffic hazard.
B.
Open stands shall be used by the different driver on a first-come-first-served
basis. The driver shall pull onto the open stand from the rear and
shall advance forward as the cabs ahead pull off. Drivers shall stay
within five feet of their cabs. They shall not solicit passengers
or engage in loud or boisterous talk while at an open stand. Nothing
in this article shall be construed as preventing a passenger from
boarding the cab of his choice that is parked at open stands.
The Police Department is given the authority and is instructed
to watch and observe the conduct of holders and drivers operating
under this article. Upon discovering a violation of the provision
of this article, the Police Department shall report the same to Council,
which will order or take appropriate action.
The Chief of Police has the authority to revoke the license
of a taxicab driver for the violation of this article.
[Amended 2-21-1973 by Ord. No. 11995; at time of adoption of Code (see
Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I)]
Any person violating the provisions of this article shall be
fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned not more than 90 days. or
both.
