[HISTORY: Adopted by the Village Council
of the Village of Ridgewood 3-22-1983 by Ord. No. 1880. Amendments noted where
applicable.]
For the purposes of this article, the following
words and phrases shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to
them by this section:
Any person who operates a taxicab within the Village of Ridgewood,
whether or not such person is also the owner thereof.
Any person or corporation in whose name title to any taxicab
is registered with the New Jersey Department of Motor Vehicles or
who otherwise exercises custody or control of said vehicle as an owner
or lessee thereof.
Includes any automobile or motor car, commonly called a "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 Village of Ridgewood,
and particularly a vehicle which accepts and discharges persons as
may offer themselves for transportation from points or places within
the Village of Ridgewood to other points or places within or without
the Village of Ridgewood.
A.
There are hereby established two classes of taxicab
licenses, to be known as "taxicab owner's license" and "taxicab driver's
license" respectively.
B.
No person or corporation shall operate or permit to
be operated a taxicab upon the streets of the Village of Ridgewood
without first having obtained the licenses provided for herein.
C.
The owner or lessee of each taxicab shall make written
application to the Village Council on forms furnished by the Village
Clerk for a license for each vehicle to be operated in the Village
of Ridgewood as a taxicab. Each application shall be accompanied by
the requisite fees as herein fixed for the license applied for. Each
application shall set forth under oath or affirmation:
(1)
The type, maker's name, seating capacity, weight,
year of manufacture, factory number and engine number of each vehicle.
(2)
The proposed rates of fare for each vehicle.
(3)
The principal location of each vehicle when not being
operated upon the streets as a taxicab.
(4)
The home and business address of the owner of the
vehicle.
(5)
A statement as to whether the applicant has ever been
convicted of a crime or of a violation of a traffic regulation and,
if the applicant has been convicted of a crime or traffic violation,
a complete statement concerning dates and disposition thereof. In
the case of a corporate applicant, the statement shall be completed
as to all officers, directors and stockholders owning 10% or more
of the stock of the corporation.
D.
The driver of each taxicab shall make written application
to the Village Council on forms furnished by the Village Clerk for
a driver's license. Such application shall be accompanied by the requisite
fees as herein set forth for the license applied for. The application
shall set forth under oath or affirmation:
(1)
The name of the applicant.
(2)
The home and business address of the applicant, the
number of his state driver's license and the physical characteristics
of the applicant.
(3)
Whether the applicant was ever convicted of a crime
or a violation of a traffic regulation and, if the applicant has been
convicted of a crime or a traffic violation, the nature and disposition
thereof.
E.
No taxicab driver's license shall be issued to any
person who has not attained the age of 21 and who has not held a valid
New Jersey driver's license for a period of 12 consecutive months.
F.
Each application for a taxicab driver's license shall
be accompanied by a statement signed by a licensed physician of the
State of New Jersey and dated within 60 days prior to the filing of
the application stating that in the physician's opinion the applicant
does not have any infirmity based on the physician's examination of
the applicant which might make the applicant unfit for the safe operation
of a taxicab.
G.
The application may also contain such other questions
or requirements for information as the Village Manager may from time
to time require for the purposes of licensing and regulating public
transportation consistent with the purposes of this article.
[Amended 10-13-1992 by Ord. No. 2375]
All licenses issued under the provisions of this article shall expire on December 31 of the year for which they are issued and shall be nontransferable, both as to owners and drivers. The fees for such licenses shall be as set forth in Chapter 145, Fees.
A.
Upon the granting of any license, the Village Clerk
shall issue to the licensee, owner or driver a license card.
B.
Each owner's license card shall be posted in a conspicuous
place inside the licensed vehicle.
C.
Each driver's license card shall be carried upon the
person of the driver at all times while driving the taxicab within
the Village.
D.
The owner and driver are each required to produce
his license card for inspection whenever so required by any passenger,
police officer or any person reasonably desiring inspection thereof
because of collision, accident or other happening.
Any license, owner's or driver's, issued pursuant
to the provisions of this article may be revoked or suspended (without
refund of fees) by the Village Manager for any violation hereof or
of any rules or regulations adopted hereunder or for other good cause
shown. The person or corporation affected by such revocation or suspension
shall have the opportunity for a public hearing before the Village
Manager in a summary manner in order to contest the suspension or
revocation. Pending hearing and decision by the Village Manager, the
revocation or suspension shall remain in effect. In order to obtain
a hearing from a summary revocation or suspension of a license, the
licensee shall be required to request the hearing, in writing, within
10 business days of the effective date of the suspension or revocation
imposed by the Village Manager.
No taxicab shall be operated as such along any
street in the Village of Ridgewood until the owner thereof shall have
obtained the consent of the Village Council.
[Amended 10-13-1992 by Ord. No. 2375; 1-12-2011 by Ord. No.
3274; 2-13-2013 by Ord. No. 3374]
No consent by the Village Council to the owner of a taxicab
to operate upon the streets of the Village shall become effective
until the owner of each such taxicab shall have filed with the Village
Clerk an insurance policy of a company duly licensed to transact business
under the insurance laws of this state, conditioned for the payment
of the sum of not less than $100,000 to satisfy all claims for damages
by reason of bodily injury to or the death of any one person resulting
from an accident and property damage and a sum of not less than $300,000
to satisfy all claims for damages by reason of the bodily injuries
to or the death of all persons and property on account of any such
accident, by reason of the ownership, operation, maintenance or use
of such taxicab within the Village of Ridgewood. Any consent to operate
or lease a taxicab upon the public streets of the Village of Ridgewood
which has been granted by the Village Council shall become void and
of no effect in the event that the aforementioned insurance policy
lapses, is canceled, or becomes ineffective for any reason.
The owner of each taxicab licensed hereunder
shall execute and deliver to the Village Clerk, concurrently with
the filing of the insurance policies herein required, a power of attorney,
wherein and whereby the owner shall appoint the Village Manager of
the Village his true and lawful attorney for the purpose of acknowledging
service of any process of a court of competent jurisdiction to be
served against the insured by virtue of the indemnity granted under
the insurance policies required hereunder.
A.
Each taxicab shall be maintained in a clean and sanitary
condition, inside and out, and shall be kept in good repair, both
mechanically and in appearance. Each taxicab shall be kept in strict
compliance with the motor vehicle laws of the State of New Jersey.
B.
The Village Manager, his designee or any member of
the Police Department of the Village of Ridgewood shall have the right
to inspect any taxicab licensed hereunder for the purposes of determining
whether said taxicab complies with this article or with state law.
It shall be unlawful for a driver of a taxicab
to drive a taxicab while the driver's view of the road is obstructed
or receive or discharge passengers of a taxicab in any part of the
street except within three feet of the right-hand curb.
Taxicabs may only operate from such public stands
as may be created by the Village Council from time to time. It shall
be unlawful for taxicabs to solicit passengers within the Village
limits except from such public stands, and no individual or company
owning or operating a taxicab within the Village except as are authorized
to use such public taxi stands shall operate a taxicab upon the streets
of this Village.
A.
Each and every public taxicab operating in the Village
shall have installed therein a taximeter or the equivalent thereof
of standard make, by which the fare or charge for hire of such taxicab
is mechanically and accurately calculated and registered and on which
taximeter such charge is plainly indicated. Such taximeter is to be
so placed in the taxicab that the charge thereof may be plainly seen
by the passengers.
B.
No person shall use or permit to be used upon any
taxicab a taximeter which shall be in such a condition as to be over
5% incorrect to the prejudice of any passenger.
C.
After sundown the face of every taximeter shall be
illuminated by a suitable light so arranged as to throw a continuous
steady light thereon, while in operation and carrying a passenger,
so that the meter will be clearly discernible and can be read by a
passenger in the rear seat.
D.
Such taximeter shall be sealed, and a colored sticker
different in color at each inspection shall be placed on the taximeter
after inspection.
E.
No person shall use or permit to be used or drive
for hire a public taxicab equipped with a taximeter the case of which
is unsealed or the seal of which is broken.
F.
Taximeters on all taxicabs shall be subject to inspection
at any time by the Village Manager, his designee or by any member
of the Department of the Police of the Village of Ridgewood.
[Amended 10-8-1985 by Ord. No. 2008; 8-8-2001 by Ord. No. 2751]
A.
Meter and other rates to be charged for the transportation
of passengers shall be subject to the final approval of the Village
Council by a resolution approving, rejecting or modifying the recommendation
of the Village Manager.
(1)
Request for rate modification shall be made in writing
to the Village Manager, who shall have 60 days to review the request
and report a recommendation to the Village Council.
(2)
In making his or her recommendation, the Village Manager
shall take into account changes in operating costs of providing the
taxi service, general fees charged for similar services in other communities
in the region and other economic factors that the Village Manager
may deem relevant to a particular application.
(3)
The Village Manager may conduct an administrative
public hearing pursuant to a ten-day public notice. The cost of the
public notice shall be borne by the applicant seeking the rate modification.
(4)
The Village Council shall consider the report of the
Village Manager at a public meeting at which the public shall have
the opportunity to comment on the recommendations of the Village Manager.
A public notice of the Village Council's intent to consider the recommendation
of the Village Manager shall be published at least 10 days prior to
the public meeting at which the matter is to be considered. The cost
of the public notice shall be borne by the applicant seeking the rate
modification.
B.
Every vehicle licensed by the Village as a taxicab
shall have fastened in a conspicuous place therein a printed card
showing the rates authorized in figures of not less than 1/2 inch
in height, which card shall bear the license number of such vehicle
and also the name of the owner thereof. Any fares charged in excess
thereof shall constitute a violation of this article by the driver
or owner, or both.
C.
Every driver of a taxicab shall, when requested, give
a passenger a receipt for the fare paid.
E.
Licensed taxicab operators are required to accept
from senior citizens 65 years of age or over prepurchased Senior Transportation
Assistance Program coupons bearing the words, "Village of Ridgewood,
Senior Transportation Assistance Program, Sponsored by the Village
of Ridgewood," and the dollar denomination of the coupon. These coupons
shall be purchased by senior citizens at the Village Hall in the Village
of Ridgewood. The rates for the Senior Transportation Assistance Program
coupons shall be set periodically by resolution of the Village Council
of the Village of Ridgewood, and such rates shall become effective
immediately upon adoption of said resolution.
[Amended 3-8-2006 by Ord. No. 2985]
Each taxicab owner shall require each driver
to maintain a daily record upon which all trips shall be recorded.
The daily record shall show the taxicab number or other pertinent
identification, the name and license number of the driver, specific
hours of duty, time and place of origin and destination of each trip
and the amount of the fare received for each trip. All such records
shall be maintained by the taxicab owner for a period of one year
and shall be subject to inspection by the Village Manager, his designee
or any member of the Department of Police of the Village of Ridgewood.
The Village Manager may adopt and promulgate
written regulations hereunder prescribing rules effecting the operation
maintenance of taxicabs within the Village of Ridgewood, including
the conduct and appearance of the drivers thereof and designations,
markings and the appearance and safety of the taxicabs.
As used in this article, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated:
Includes any automobile or motor car with a carrying capacity
of not more than nine passengers, not including the driver, used 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 public highways of the Village of Ridgewood and
which is hired by charter or for a particular contract or by the day
or hour or other fixed period or to transport passengers to a specified
place or places or which charges a fare or price agreed upon in advance
between the operator and the passenger. Nothing herein shall be construed
to include taxicabs, hotel buses or buses employed solely for transporting
schoolchildren or teachers or autobuses or other vehicles which are
subject to the jurisdiction of the Board of Public Utilities or interstate
autobuses required by federal or state law or rules of the Board of
Public Utilities to carry insurance against loss from liability imposed
by law on account of bodily injury or death.
A.
No limousine service which has its principal place
of business within the Village of Ridgewood shall be operated along
any street in the Village of Ridgewood until the owner or operator
of said limousine service shall have obtained a limousine owner's
license for each limousine so operated.
B.
Written application for such license shall be made
to the Village Council on forms furnished by the Village Clerk. Each
application shall be accompanied by the requisite fees as herein fixed
for the license applied for. Each application shall set forth under
oath or affirmation:
(1)
The type, maker's name, seating capacity, weight,
year of manufacture, factory number and engine number of each vehicle.
(2)
The principal location of each vehicle when not being
operated upon the streets as a limousine.
(3)
The home and business address of the owner of the
vehicle.
(4)
A statement as to whether the applicant has ever been
convicted of a crime or of a violation of a traffic regulation and,
if the applicant has been convicted of a crime or a traffic violation,
a complete statement concerning dates and disposition thereof. In
the case of a corporate applicant, the statement shall be completed
as to each officer, director and owner of more than 10% of the stock
of the corporation.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: Former Subsection B(5), regarding
applicant fingerprints, added 3-10-2004 by Ord. No. 2873, which immediately
followed this subsection, was repealed 6-9-2004 by Ord. No. 2888.
C.
The application form may also contain such other information
as the Village Council may from time to time require for the purpose
of licensing and regulating public transportation consistent with
the purposes of this article.
[Amended 10-13-1992 by Ord. No. 2375]
All licenses issued under the provisions of this article shall expire on December 31 of the year for which they are issued and shall be nontransferable. The fee for a license for each limousine shall be as set forth in Chapter 145, Fees.
Upon granting of such license, the Village Clerk
shall issue to the licensee a license card which shall be posted in
a conspicuous place inside the licensed vehicle.
Any license issued pursuant to the provisions
of this article may be revoked or suspended (without refund of fees)
by the Village Manager for any violation hereof or of any rules or
regulations adopted hereunder or for other good cause shown. The person
or corporation affected by such revocation or suspension shall have
the opportunity for a public hearing before the Village Manager in
a summary manner in order to contest the suspension or revocation.
Pending hearing and decision by the Village Manager, the revocation
or suspension shall remain in effect. In order to obtain a hearing
from a summary revocation or suspension of a license, the licensee
shall be required to request the hearing, in writing, within 10 business
days of the effective date of the suspension or revocation imposed
by the Village Manager.
No limousine, the owner of which has his principal
place of business in the Village of Ridgewood, shall be operated along
any street in the Village of Ridgewood until the owner thereof shall
have obtained the consent of the Village Council.
[Amended 10-13-1992 by Ord. No. 2375]
No consent by the Village Council to the owner
of a limousine to operate upon the streets of the Village shall become
effective until the owner of such limousine shall have filed with
the Village Clerk an insurance policy of a company duly licensed to
transact business under the insurance laws of the state, conditioned
for the payment of the sum of not less than $1,000,000 to satisfy
all claims for damages by reason of bodily injury to or the death
of any one person resulting from an accident and a sum of not less
than $1,000,000 to satisfy all claims for damages by reason of the
bodily injuries to or the death of all persons on account of any such
accident, by reason of the ownership, operation, maintenance or use
of such limousine within the Village of Ridgewood, and conditioned
for the payment of not less than $1,000,000 to satisfy any claim for
damages to property of any one person resulting from an accident and
a sum of not less than $1,000,000 to satisfy all claims for damages
to property of all persons on account of any such accident by reason
of the ownership, operation, maintenance or use of such limousine
upon the public streets of the Village of Ridgewood. Any consent to
operate a limousine which has been granted by the Village Council
shall become void and of no effect in the event that the aforementioned
insurance policies are cancelled or for any reason become ineffective.
The owner of each limousine licensed hereunder
shall execute and deliver to the Village Clerk, concurrently with
the filing of the insurance policies herein required, a power of attorney,
wherein and whereby the owner shall appoint the Village Manager of
the Village his true and lawful attorney for the purpose of acknowledging
service of any process of a court of competent jurisdiction to be
served against the insured by virtue of the indemnity granted under
the insurance policies required hereunder.
The Village Manager may adopt and promulgate
written regulations hereunder prescribing rules effecting the operation
and maintenance of limousines within the Village of Ridgewood, including
the conduct and appearance of the drivers thereof and designations,
markings and the appearance and safety of the limousines.
