[HISTORY: Adopted by the Mayor and Council of the Borough of Norwood as Sec. 4-2 of the Revised General Ordinances. Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Limousine and livery services — See Ch. 149.
Vehicles and traffic — See Ch. 222.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
CRUISING
The driving of an empty taxicab along a public street at a slow rate of speed for the obvious purpose of soliciting passengers.
OPERATION OF A TAXICAB
Consists of transporting in a taxicab one or more persons for hire. Accepting a passenger to be transported for hire from a point of departure within the Borough to a destination within or without the Borough or discharging a passenger transported for hire from a point outside of the Borough to a point within the Borough shall be considered operation of a taxicab within the Borough. The operation of a taxicab by one other than the owner shall be deemed operation by the owner as well as by the person actually driving the taxi. The transportation of any person other than the owner or driver in any motor vehicle bearing a sign using the words taxi, taxicab or hack shall be presumed, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, to be operation of a taxicab.
OWNER
Any person in whose name title to any taxicab is registered with the New Jersey Department of Motor Vehicles or who appears in the Department's records as a conditional vendee or lessee or has any other proprietary interest in a taxicab.
TAXICAB OR TAXI
A motor vehicle used to transport passengers for hire which does not operate over a fixed route and is not hired by the day or hour.
No person shall operate a taxicab within the Borough unless both the taxicab and the driver are licensed in accordance with the requirements of this chapter.
There shall be two classes of licenses: a taxicab driver's license and a taxicab owner's license. A taxicab driver's license shall entitle the person licensed to operate within the Borough any taxicab duly licensed in accordance with the provisions of this chapter. A taxicab owner's license shall entitle the taxicab so licensed to be operated in the Borough by any person licensed as a taxi driver.
Both classes of licenses designated in § 211-3 shall apply only to the person or taxicab to whom or to which they are issued and shall not be transferable. Both classes of licenses shall expire on December 31 of the year of issue at 12:00 midnight local time, and applications for the renewal of both classes of licenses shall be made before December 1 of the year of issue.
The number of taxicab owners' licenses shall not exceed that number which the Mayor and Council, in the exercise of reasonable judgment, determine to be the maximum number which can be issued without undue congestion in the public streets, including areas adjacent to bus or railroad stations or other locations at which taxicabs frequently pick up or discharge passengers. The number of taxicab drivers' licenses shall be unlimited.
A. 
Application for a license of either class shall be made to the Borough Clerk upon a form provided by him and shall contain the following information:
(1) 
License of either class.
(a) 
The name and address of the applicant; if the applicant is a corporation, its name, the address of its principal place of business and the name and address of its registered agent.
(b) 
A statement as to whether the applicant, in the case of a corporation, its officers, directors and principal stockholders, has ever been convicted of violating any criminal or quasi-criminal statute, including traffic laws and municipal ordinances; if the applicant has been so convicted a statement as to the date of the conviction, the nature of the offense and the punishment imposed.
(c) 
A list of all the places where the applicant has ever applied for or been granted a license of either class required by this chapter, regardless of by what name such license was called, together with the date of the application, a statement as to whether the application was granted or denied and a statement as to whether the license was subsequently suspended or revoked or a renewal of the license refused; in the event that the applicant has ever had an application for the issuance or renewal of a taxicab owner's or taxicab driver's license denied or has had such a license revoked or suspended, a statement as to the date and place of such denial, refusal, revocation or suspension and the reasons for it.
(d) 
Sufficient appropriate evidence as to the applicant's good character and business responsibility so that an investigator may properly evaluate it.
(2) 
Taxicab driver's license.
(a) 
In addition to the information required by Subsection A, an applicant for a taxicab owner's license shall supply the following information:
[1] 
The number of the applicant's New Jersey motor vehicle operator's license.
[2] 
The names and addresses of all persons by whom the applicant has been employed for the past five years, the position held and the nature of the work performed.
[3] 
Two photographs at least 31/2 inches in size showing the head and shoulders of the applicant in a clear and distinguishing manner.
(b) 
If the Mayor and Council consider it necessary for the proper identification or investigation of the applicant, the applicant shall be fingerprinted and the fingerprints immediately processed for classification and identification.
(3) 
Taxicab owner's license. In addition to the information required by Subsection A, an applicant for a taxicab owner's license shall supply the following information:
(a) 
The number of vehicles to be operated or controlled by the applicant and the location of any proposed depots or terminals.
(b) 
Appropriate evidence that the applicant is insured as required by N.J.S.A. 48:16-3 et seq.
(c) 
Any other appropriate information which the Mayor or Council may, by resolution, require.
B. 
Applications shall be verified by oath or affirmation. Applications by a partnership shall give the information required by this section for each partner and shall be verified for all partners. Applications by corporations shall give the information required for and be verified by all officers, directors and principal stockholders of the corporation as well as by the corporation itself.
The application shall be referred by the Borough Clerk to the Chairman of the Police Committee or a police officer designated by him who shall, as soon as practicable, institute an investigation of the facts stated in the application. If the investigating officer decides that the applicant is not a responsible person of good character or cannot be relied upon to render safe and reasonably prompt, efficient and convenient taxicab service or cannot be relied upon to safely drive or operate, as the case may be, a taxicab in the Borough, he shall disapprove the application. Otherwise, he shall approve the application and recommend the issuance of a license.
The report of the investigation shall be transmitted to the Mayor and Council who shall, within a reasonable time after the application has been filed, consider the same. The Mayor and Council may then proceed to grant the application or, if they are not satisfied that the applicant is entitled to a license, they may determine to hold a hearing on the matter. In that event, the applicant and any other person having a special interest in the matter shall be given at least five days' notice of the time and place of the hearing, which shall be conducted in the same manner as the hearing provided in Chapter 172, Peddling and Soliciting. After the hearing, the Mayor and Council shall, by resolution, grant or deny the license.
[Amended 9-7-2010 by Ord. No. 10:12]
The fee for a taxicab driver's license shall be $50 per year, and the fee for a taxicab owner's license shall be $50 per year for each taxicab, except that an owner and operator will not pay a fee in excess of $50 for the right to operate each taxicab. Fees shall not be prorated.
A. 
Solicitation and acceptance of passengers.
(1) 
No taxicab shall engage in cruising as defined in § 211-1.
(2) 
No person other than a licensed taxicab driver with a vehicle at his immediate disposal shall solicit passengers.
B. 
Display of licenses. Every person licensed as a taxicab driver under this chapter shall be issued a license card in a form approved by the Borough Council and signed by the Borough Clerk. The license card shall at all times be prominently displayed in the interior of the taxicab in such a manner that it can be easily seen by all persons riding in the cab as passengers. No license shall be displayed in a taxicab which does not belong to the person actually driving it at the time.
C. 
Identification of taxicab. Every taxicab shall prominently display a sign bearing the owner's name and the word "taxi," "taxicab" or "cab." No taxicab owner shall attempt to mislead the public by imitating the name or color scheme of another taxicab owner. The person first using a particular name and color scheme shall have the prior right to it.
D. 
Inspection. Every vehicle operated under a taxicab license issued by the Borough shall be subject to inspection at all reasonable times by any police officer of the Borough.
E. 
Service.
(1) 
Every taxicab shall have in it a card displayed within view of all passengers stating its maximum seating capacity. This capacity shall be determined by the Mayor and Council based upon the recommendation of the Chief of Police at the time that the vehicle is initially licensed. No driver shall permit more persons to be carried in his taxicab as passengers than the number stated as the maximum permissible seating capacity.
(2) 
No driver shall refuse to carry any orderly person to any destination within the Borough unless unable or forbidden by the provisions of this chapter to do so.
(3) 
No driver of a taxicab shall induce any person to employ him by knowingly misinforming that person as to the time or place of the arrival or departure of any train or bus, or as to the location of any public place or private residence within the Borough, or as to the distance between any two points; nor shall any driver convey a passenger to any other place or over any other route than that which the passenger may have instructed him to take. Unless otherwise ordered, a passenger shall be conveyed only over the most direct, practical route to his destination.
F. 
Lost property. Every taxicab driver, at the beginning and at the end of his tour of duty, shall carefully search his cab for any property lost or left in it. Any lost property not claimed by or delivered to the owner within 24 hours shall be reported in writing to the Chief of Police by the driver or owner of the taxicab. The report shall give brief particulars and a description of the property.
G. 
Telephone. Every taxicab owner shall have a regular business office and shall have a telephone installed in it. The number of the telephone shall be listed in the telephone directory under the same name as that under which the taxicab is operated.
Any application for the issuance or renewal of a license required by this chapter may be denied, and any license issued under this chapter may be revoked or suspended by the Borough Council after notice of a hearing in the manner provided in Chapter 172, Peddling and Soliciting, for any of the following reasons:
A. 
License of either class.
(1) 
Conviction of the licensee of any felony or high misdemeanor or any misdemeanor or disorderly persons offense involving moral turpitude.
(2) 
Violation of any provision of Title 39 of the New Jersey Revised Statutes or any ordinance of the Borough dealing with the regulation of traffic, provided that such violation is of such a nature as to show a disregard by the applicant or license for the safety of others. In addition, there shall be grounds to refuse to issue or renew or to revoke or suspend a license if the applicant has been guilty of repeated violations of Title 39 or of the ordinances of the Borough relating to traffic, regardless of the nature of the violation.
(3) 
Violation of any provision of this chapter.
(4) 
The existence of a judgment unsatisfied of record against the applicant or licensee arising out of an automobile accident.
(5) 
Fraud or misrepresentation in any application for the issuance or renewal of a license.
(6) 
Failure to render reasonably prompt, safe and adequate taxicab service.
B. 
Taxicab driver's license. In addition to the causes for denial, revocation or suspension of a license specified in Subsection A, a taxicab driver's license may be denied, suspended or revoked for the following reasons:
(1) 
Negligence by the licensee or applicant in the operation of a motor vehicle resulting in damage to property or injuries to persons. Such denial, revocation or suspension may be made regardless of whether or not there has been a criminal conviction or a finding of civil liability against the applicant or licensee for such negligence.
(2) 
Contraction by the applicant or licensee of a communicable or contagious disease.
C. 
Taxicab owner's license. In addition to the causes specified in Subsection A, a taxicab owner's license may be denied, revoked or suspended for any of the following reasons:
(1) 
If by reason of unsafe or unsanitary conditions, the motor vehicle licensed or to be licensed is dangerous to the safety or health of the occupants or others.
(2) 
If the policy of insurance or bond or power of attorney required by N.J.S.A. 48:16-3 et seq. has not been furnished or kept in force.
(3) 
Violation of any applicable law of the State of New Jersey or ordinance of the Borough relating to the operation of taxicabs.