[HISTORY: Adopted by the Mayor and Council
of the Borough of Shrewsbury 4-5-1949 by Ord. No. 74 (Ch. 85 of the 1973 Code).
Amendments noted where applicable.]
The following words and phrases and their derivatives,
when used in this chapter, shall have the meaning hereafter ascribed
to them:
The Borough of Shrewsbury, in the County of Monmouth and
State of New Jersey.
The practice of driving about the streets of the Borough
with a taxicab so as to solicit passengers or to bring the presence
of the taxicab to the attention of prospective passengers. A taxicab
driving along the streets of this Borough for any purpose other than
while transporting a passenger, going to a definite destination by
the most direct route in response to a call for a taxicab by a prospective
passenger, or returning by the most direct route to the taxicab's
home terminus after discharging a passenger, or going to or from the
said terminus to the driver's home by the most direct route shall
be prima facie evidence of cruising.
Any person who drives a taxicab within this Borough.
Licensed in accordance with the appropriate section of this
chapter, unless otherwise stated in this chapter.
Transporting in such taxicab one or more persons for hire
along any of the streets of this Borough. 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 meaning thereof. The operation of
a taxicab in any of the above-described manners by one other than
the owner shall be deemed operation by the owner thereof 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
sign therein or thereon using the words "taxi," "taxicab," "cab" or
"hack" shall be prima facie evidence of operation.
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.
Includes the plural as well as the singular, and artificial
as well as natural persons.
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 within the Borough of Shrewsbury, and
which particularly accepts and discharges such persons as may offer
themselves for transportation from points or places to points or places
within or without the said Borough.
From and after the effective date of this chapter
no person shall operate any taxicab within this Borough unless both
the taxicab and the driver thereof are licensed pursuant to this chapter
and conform to all the provisions hereof, provided that such taxicab
licenses as are now issued and outstanding shall remain effective
until their respective expiration dates and the taxicabs thereby licensed
shall be deemed to be licensed pursuant to the terms of this chapter,
until such licenses are surrendered, suspended or revoked or have
expired; provided, nevertheless, that in all other particulars said
taxicabs and their owners shall be subject to all the provisions hereof.
There are hereby established two classes of
taxicab licenses, to be known as "taxicab driver's license" and "taxicab
owner's license," respectively.
A taxicab driver's license shall entitle the
person named therein to operate within this Borough any taxicab duly
licensed hereunder until the said license either expires or is surrendered,
suspended or revoked, and shall not be transferable.
A taxicab owner's license shall entitle the
taxicab therein described to be operated in this Borough by a driver
duly licensed hereunder until the said license either expires or is
surrendered, suspended or revoked, and shall not be transferable.
Any license issued pursuant to the terms of
this chapter shall expire at 12:00 midnight of the 31st day of December
of the year in which it was issued, unless sooner surrendered, suspended
or revoked.
[Amended 9-27-1973 by Ord. No. 346; 4-16-2012 by Ord. No.
981]
The maximum number of taxicab owner’s
licenses shall not exceed five at any time, and the maximum number
of taxicab driver’s licenses shall not exceed five per owner.
All applications for the issuance or renewal
of any license of either class shall be made to the Borough Council
on forms adopted by said Council and obtained from the Borough Clerk
and designed to elicit information respecting the identification,
responsibility and law-abiding habits of the applicant.
Each applicant for a license of any class shall
supply the information requested on the application in full and verify
the correctness thereof by his oath or affirmation and thereafter
file the completed application with the Borough Clerk, together with
the full amount of the proper fee hereinafter fixed therefor.
Each applicant for a taxicab driver's license
shall file with his application two photographs, each 3 1/2 inches
by 3 1/2 inches in size, clearly depicting the facial features
of the applicant, both of which photographs shall thereupon become
the property of the Borough and be retained with the application form
unless the license shall be issued, in which event one of such photographs
shall be permanently affixed to the license card in a space provided
therein.
[Amended 4-16-2012 by Ord. No. 981]
A.
Every
applicant for a taxicab driver’s license shall submit to be
fingerprinted by an agency recognized by the Division of State Police.
The applicant shall provide written consent to the performance of
a criminal history record background check. The Chief of Police or
his designee is authorized to receive the criminal history background
information results from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the
Division of State Police. The applicant shall bear the cost of the
background check. An applicant shall be disqualified for operating
or driving a taxicab if the applicant’s criminal history background
check reveals a conviction of a crime. For purposes of this section,
a crime shall be an offense that is a violation of Title 2C of the
New Jersey Statutes.[1] If the Police Department feels there are reasons to deny
the taxicab driver’s license, they shall notify the applicant
within 10 days, and the applicant may choose to appeal.
[1]
Editor’s Note: See N.J.S.A. 2C:1-1 et seq.
B.
Driver’s
license applicants must obtain a copy of their personal driving record
from the New Jersey State Department of Motor Vehicles. Applicants
must be drivers in good standing and must never have been found in
violation of Title 39 of New Jersey Motor Vehicles and Traffic Regulation.
Applicants applying for a Borough taxicab driver’s license must
be able to show a valid New Jersey driver’s license.
Each applicant for a taxicab owner's license
shall have a regularly registered business office and shall therein
have a telephone operating.
[Amended 4-16-2012 by Ord. No. 981]
Every applicant for a taxicab owner’s
license shall submit the insurance policy or bond required by N.J.S.A.
48:16-3 and 48:16-4, covering the taxicab to be licensed, and shall
execute and deliver to the Borough Clerk concurrently with the filing
of the policy or bond aforesaid, a power of attorney, wherein and
whereby the owner shall appoint the Borough Chief Financial Officer
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 the insured by virtue of the indemnity granted under the insurance
policy or bond filed, in accordance with N.J.S.A. 48:16-5. Minimum
liability insurance to be provided by all taxicab owners shall be
$1,500,000/ $3,000,000.
The Borough Clerk, upon filing of the required
insurance policy or bond, shall issue a certificate in duplicate,
showing that the owner of the taxicab has complied with the terms
of the statutes aforementioned, which certificate shall recite the
name of the insurance company, the number and date of expiration of
the policy or bond, a description of the taxicab insured thereunder,
and the registration number of the same. The duplicate certificate
shall be filed with the Department of Motor Vehicles before any such
car is licensed as a taxicab. The original certificate shall be posted
in a conspicuous place within the taxicab.
[Amended 9-27-1973 by Ord. No. 346; 4-16-2012 by Ord. No.
981]
The annual fee for each taxicab driver’s
license hereafter issued or any renewal thereof shall be $50 for each
year or portion of a year for which the license is issued or renewed,
and the annual fee for each taxicab owner’s license issued or
renewed shall be $100 for each taxicab for each year or portion of
a year for which the license is issued or renewed, and all of such
licenses shall be under the charge and control of the person applying
therefor, and he shall be responsible for the operation of all cars
so licensed to him. Such fees shall not be prorated nor any part thereof
refunded for any reason, except that upon the denial of an application
for issuance or renewal of license by the Borough Council, 90% of
the fee deposited shall be returned to the applicant and 10% shall
be retained by the Borough as compensation for investigation of the
application.
[Amended 4-16-2012 by Ord. No. 981]
The Borough Council may, in its discretion,
refuse to issue or renew, or may, after notice and hearing, revoke
or suspend:
A.
Any license
of either class if the applicant or licensee has been once convicted
of a crime in this or any other jurisdiction, or convicted of being
a disorderly person, or of a violation of Title 39, Motor Vehicles
and Traffic Regulation, of the Revised Statutes of New Jersey, or
who violates any provision of this chapter, or has any judgment unsatisfied
of record against him arising out of an automobile accident, or who
has made false answers in his application for such license or any
renewal thereof, or who has failed or fails to render reasonably prompt,
safe and adequate taxicab and limousine services, or who has not complied
fully with all requirements of this chapter for such class of license;
or, in addition
B.
Any taxicab
driver’s license if the licensee or applicant has in any degree
contributed to any injury to person or damage to property arising
out of negligent operation of a motor vehicle; or has any communicable
or contagious disease; or any other condition which may make the driver
unfit to safely operate a taxicab; or
C.
Any taxicab
owner’s license if the motor vehicle licensed or to be licensed,
by reason of unsafe or unsanitary conditions, is dangerous to the
safety or health of the occupants or others, or if the policy of insurance
or bond or power of attorney required by N.J.S.A. 48:16-3, 48:16-4
and 48:16-5 aforementioned has not been furnished or kept in force,
or if said owners fail to comply with any terms or conditions imposed
by the Borough Council or any law of this state.
Each applicant granted a taxicab driver's license
shall be issued a license card in evidence thereof in a form approved
by Borough Council and signed by the Borough Clerk in its behalf.
Such license card shall at all times be prominently displayed and
adequately protected in the interior of any taxicab operated by the
licensee so that the face thereof shall be at all times in full view
of and plainly legible to any passenger seated on the rear seat of
such taxicab; the said license card shall at all times be and remain
the property of the Borough and, on direction of Borough Council,
shall at once be surrendered to the Borough Clerk.
No taxicab driver's license card other than
that of the licensee actually operating the taxicab at the time shall
be displayed therein.
The Borough Clerk shall, at the time the Borough
Council acts on any application, pay the fees received therefor over
to the Borough Chief Financial Officer.
[Added 9-27-1973 by Ord. No. 346; 4-16-2012 by Ord. No. 981]
The Mayor and Council shall fix the rates of
fare for taxicabs from time to time by resolution, and the prices
that may be charged by the owners or drivers for the transportation
of passengers for hire, or any of the baggage of such passengers,
shall not exceed such fixed rates of fare. All taxicabs must be equipped
with and utilize a meter, utilizing the rates posted on and in the
taxicab.
No taxicab shall hereafter be operated in this
Borough unless and until there is prominently displayed in the interior
thereof, within the full view and access of any passengers therein,
a complete list of fares, charges or tariff rates charged for transportation
of passengers, which fares, charges or tariff rates so displayed,
and no other, shall be those to be charged any passenger so transported.
[Added 4-16-2012 by Ord. No. 981[1]]
The owner of each taxicab shall keep or cause to be kept a written
daily record of each trip made by the taxicab showing the date, time
and place the cab was engaged, the place and time of the discharge
of the passenger, the number of passengers carried, the fare received,
distance traveled and the driver’s license number of the persons
driving the cab on the trip. The records shall be kept in a place
that is convenient for a proper authorized representative of the Borough
to inspect the same, and the owner shall give his cooperation in expediting
any inspection.
[Added 4-16-2012 by Ord. No. 981]
Every driver of a taxicab, immediately after the termination
of any hiring or employment shall carefully search his taxicab for
any property lost or left therein, and any property, unless sooner
claimed or delivered to the owner, must be reported, by the driver
or owner of the taxicab to the Police Department, with brief particulars
and a description of the property, within 24 hours after the finding.
[Added 4-16-2012 by Ord. No. 981]
Every taxicab, so licensed, shall have conspicuously located
on the exterior thereof the words "taxi," "cab" or "taxicab," which
shall be illuminated during darkness and shall be contained in a dome
light or other similar device, the size, colors, wording, location
on the cab and other particulars of which may be subject to approval
by the Borough Administrator.
No person shall park or rank any taxicab on
any of the streets of this Borough at any time except at such place
or places as Borough Council may from time to time designate as municipal
taxi stands.
No person shall cruise on the streets of this
Borough with any taxicab at any time for the purpose of soliciting
passengers.
No taxicab or other vehicle for hire shall be
parked or stopped, nor shall the drivers thereof solicit, attempt
to solicit or otherwise seek to engage a passenger, whether said driver
be in or out of said taxicab or other vehicle, within 50 feet of a
regularly operated taxicab office or terminus, except the owner or
lessee of said taxicab office or terminus and his licensed drivers.
Every person so licensed as aforesaid shall
not refuse to carry local fares or passengers.
Owners and drivers of taxicabs licensed out
of the jurisdiction of this Borough may be allowed to enter their
taxicabs in this Borough, but on specific call only, whether transporting
a passenger within this Borough or from a point within this Borough
to a point outside the Borough limits or discharging a passenger transported
from a point outside of the Borough limits to a point within the Borough
limits, and the name of the passenger so calling shall be given by
the owner or driver when requested by the Borough police or other
lawful persons. Such taxicabs shall not be parked in this Borough
nor shall the drivers thereof cruise on the streets of this Borough
at any time for the purpose of soliciting passengers, nor shall they,
in the nighttime or other periods of darkness, when in this Borough,
permit any advertising lights on the taxicab to remain lighted; provided,
however, that the same or similar substantial reciprocal rights are
granted to owners and drivers of taxicabs licensed in this Borough
by the municipalities in which the aforesaid owners or drivers are
licensed.
Owners, operators or drivers of vehicles for
hire other than taxicabs, commonly known as "OH" cars, shall not display
the word "taxi," "cab" or other sign thereon which would tend to lead
the public to believe the vehicle is a taxicab as herein defined,
and if a "For Hire" sign is or shall be used on each such vehicle,
such sign or other device shall be displayed only when said vehicle
is actually engaged in transporting a passenger for hire.
[Amended 9-27-1973 by Ord. No. 346]
Any person, firm or corporation violating any
provision of this chapter shall, upon conviction, be subject to a
fine of not less than $50 nor more than $1,250, a term of imprisonment
not exceeding 90 days or a period of community service not exceeding
90 days, or any combination thereof.
