[HISTORY: Adopted by the City Council of the City of Galax as Ch.
17 of the 1974 Code. Sections 140-18A, 140-20B and C(2) and 140-22 amended
at time of adoption of Code; see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I. Other
amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Streets, sidewalks and public places — See Ch.
127.
Vehicles and traffic — See Ch.
148.
For the purposes of this chapter, the following words and phrases shall
have the meanings respectively ascribed to them by this section:
CERTIFICATE
A certificate of convenience and necessity issued or authorized to
be issued by the City Council, which authorizes the person to whom issued
to operate one or more public vehicles pursuant to this chapter.
DRIVER
Any person driving a public vehicle.
OWNER
Any person having control of the employment, use or maintenance of
a public vehicle or of the collection of revenue derived from its operation.
PUBLIC VEHICLE
Any motor vehicle used for the transportation for hire or reward
of passengers upon the streets of the City, other than buses being operated
under franchise and over fixed routes between fixed termini and other than
vehicles being operated in interstate commerce.
It shall be unlawful for any person to operate or cause to be operated
any public vehicle on the streets of the City except pursuant to a certificate
and in compliance with the provisions of this chapter.
An application, in duplicate, for a certificate shall be made by the
owner or proposed owner to the City Council through the City Clerk and shall
furnish the following information:
A. The full name, home and business addresses of the applicant.
B. The financial ability and responsibility of the applicant.
C. The name and address of the person lending money or furnishing
capital to the applicant.
D. The number, kind, seating capacity, design and color
scheme of each public vehicle.
E. Convictions or pleas of guilty, if any, for the violation
of any law.
F. The experience of the applicant in the transportation
of passengers for hire.
G. The reasons why the applicant believes that public convenience
and necessity require the granting of his application.
Upon receipt by the City Clerk of an application for a certificate,
he shall promptly furnish to the Chief of Police the duplicate copy thereof
and retain the original copy for presentation to the City Council at its next
regular meeting. The Chief of Police shall investigate the matter and report
thereon, in writing, to the City Council at its next regular meeting.
Upon presentation to it of an application for a certificate at any regular
meeting, the City Council shall proceed to determine whether the public convenience
and necessity require the operation of the public vehicle or vehicles for
which the application is filed. The City Council is authorized to grant or
refuse the certificate applied for or to grant a certificate for a fewer number
of vehicles than that specified in the application. Upon determination by
the Council to grant a certificate, the City Clerk shall transmit such certificate
to the applicant, giving the name of the owner, the number, kind and description
of vehicles, the date of issuance and the expiration of certificate, which
certificate shall expire at the end of the 31st day of March annually unless
revoked or suspended as hereinafter provided.
Certificates shall not be transferable, and no license for the operation
of any public vehicle shall be issued until the certificate therefor shall
have been issued.
The City Council may for cause cancel, revoke or suspend any certificate
after notice to the holder of the certificate.
Each owner of a taxicab shall pay such license taxes as may be fixed
by the City Council.
A. Each owner shall file with the City Clerk and keep effective
at all times a policy of insurance in some duly licensed insurance company
authorized to do business in the Commonwealth of Virginia or provide a surety
bond approved by the City Council with some solvent surety, in the amount
herein specified, conditioned on such owner responding in damages or provide
a cash bond, in the amount herein specified, covering damages for liability
incurred on account of any injury to persons or damage to property resulting
from the operating of such public vehicle, taxicab or for-hire car in the
following amounts:
(1) Injury to or death of one person in any one accident:
$20,000.
(2) Injury to or death of two or more persons in any one
accident: $40,000.
(3) Property damage in any one accident: $5,000.
B. Surety or cash bonds shall be for or in the amount of
at least $45,000 for each public vehicle for which a certificate is issued
hereunder. Each such policy of insurance shall contain a clause whereby the
policy may not be canceled until after 30 days' notice of intention to
cancel shall have been given to the City Clerk.
Every taxicab operated within the City must meet all requirements of
the state law as to speed, lights, brakes, horn, chauffeur's license
for drivers, inspections, etc.
A. Every public vehicle for which a certificate is issued
shall be kept in good order and repair at all times and shall have on the
outside on both sides the name of the owner in letters not less than two inches
high.
B. The rates in effect shall be posted in a conspicuous
place inside the vehicle and shall be exhibited to any person so demanding.
C. Each such vehicle must be maintained in a clean, neat
and safe condition at all times, and it shall be the duty of the Chief of
Police to make regular inspections of each vehicle and parking stand and report
his findings to the City Manager, who shall take such action thereon as may
be appropriate.
No public vehicle shall be substituted for that described in the certificate
until investigated and approved by the Chief of Police and endorsed on the
certificate by him.
The City Council shall have the authority to fix the rates to be charged
for the transportation of passengers and baggage.
All operators of public vehicles shall furnish their own stands or parking
lot, not on the City streets, and each stand or parking lot shall have telephone
service.
Every accident in which any public vehicle is involved shall be immediately
reported to the Chief of Police.
It shall be unlawful for a person to engage or ride in a taxicab without
paying the legal fare therefor or make improper, misleading, false or unauthorized
calls for taxicabs.
It shall be unlawful for the registered owner or person in charge of
a vehicle of more than 1,800 pounds gross weight displaying license plates
entitling it to be operated exclusively not for hire to operate such vehicle
for hire or to permit it to be operated for hire.
A. It shall be unlawful for any person to violate or fail
to comply with any provision of this chapter, and any such violation or noncompliance
shall subject the offender to a maximum fine of $100 for the first offense
and a maximum fine $500 for each subsequent offense.
B. For failure or refusal to complete accepted calls as
promptly as possible and for any other violations of any of the provisions
of this chapter, the judge or other trial officer invested with authority
to try violations of ordinances of the City may, in addition to any other
penalty prescribed, revoke or suspend the license of the owner or operator.
Upon the conviction of any owner of a violation of any criminal law
involving moral turpitude, his business license shall become void, and the
licensee shall forthwith surrender it to the Chief of Police. The judge or
other trial officer invested with authority to try violations of ordinances
of the City shall have power to revoke or suspend such license for permitting
violations of the traffic laws or failure to report an accident, for permitting
the operation of a vehicle not in good order, for a conviction of reckless
driving, charging illegal rates or violation of laws and ordinances or for
permitting the failure or refusal to complete accepted calls in the absence
of satisfactory reasons.
A. No person shall drive a public vehicle within the City
unless he shall have obtained from the Chief of Police a special license for
that purpose, which the Chief of Police shall grant unless the applicant for
such driver's license shall, in the opinion of the Chief of Police, be
disqualified because of physical condition, including defective hearing or
defective eyesight, addiction to intoxicating liquors, narcotics or drugs
or conviction of a violation of a criminal law or the applicant is not morally
or mentally fit to receive such license. The Chief of Police may require of
such applicant for license that he take a medical examination and submit the
finding to the Chief of Police.
B. The fee to be paid for a public vehicle driver's
license shall be $10.
[Amended 2-24-1986]
C. Renewal.
(1) A public vehicle driver's license granted by the
Chief of Police shall be for a period of one year, and it may be renewed by
the Chief of Police annually. If for any reason the Chief of Police believes
that such license should not be renewed, he may refuse renewal, but the applicant
may appeal this decision to the City Council if he so desires.
(2) The fee for renewal of such license shall be $3.
[Amended 2-24-1986]
A driver shall not purchase alcoholic beverages of any description for
a passenger nor carry or allow a passenger to carry any illegally acquired
alcoholic beverages in a taxicab nor tolerate any disorderly conduct in a
cab nor take a fare or fares to a known or suspicioned house, room, cabin
or other place for illegal or illicit purposes.
Any person driving a public vehicle on the streets of the City without
a public vehicle driver's license or any owner of a public vehicle who
shall permit such vehicle to be driven by any person who does not have a valid
and effective public vehicle driver's license shall be fined not more
than $100 for the first offense and not more than $500 for each subsequent
offense.
Upon the conviction of a driver of a violation of any criminal law involving
moral turpitude, his public vehicle driver's license shall become void,
and the licensee shall forthwith surrender it to the Chief of Police. The
judge or other trial officer invested with authority to try violations of
ordinances of the City shall have power to revoke or suspend such license
for violations of the traffic laws, failure to report an accident, operation
of a vehicle not in good order, conviction of reckless driving, charging illegal
rates, violation of laws and ordinances, failure or refusal to complete accepted
calls in the absence of satisfactory reasons and failure to be courteous at
all times.