[HISTORY: Adopted by the Mayor and Council of the Borough of Spring Lake 8-9-1993 by Ord. No. 15-1993 (§ 4-2 of the Revised General Ordinances). Amendments noted where applicable.]
No person shall operate any taxicab within this Borough unless both the taxicab and the driver thereof are licensed pursuant to this chapter nor until such application for an owner's license has complied with all the provisions of N.J.S.A. 48:16-1 et seq. and any general provisions of Title 39 of the Motor Vehicle Law of the State of New Jersey.
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 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 license either expires or is surrendered, suspended or revoked and shall not be transferable.
Any licenses issued pursuant to the terms of this chapter shall expire at 12:00 midnight of the year following the year in which it was issued unless sooner surrendered, suspended or revoked.
The number of licenses known as taxicab owner's license shall not exceed two. The licenses' owners shall provide off-street parking for the taxicabs licensed to them.
All applications for the issuance or renewal of any license of either class shall be made to the Borough Council on forms adopted by the Council and obtained from the Borough Clerk and designed to elicit information respecting the identification, responsibility and law-abiding habits of the applicant.
Each application 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 for the proper fee hereinafter affixed therefor as set forth below.
A. 
All applications for taxicab owner's licenses shall be in writing, in duplicate, and shall contain the full name and address of the owner; the serial number, type, color, year and make of each taxicab; the state registration number; the number of doors on the vehicle; and the number of persons the vehicle can carry as passengers. All applications shall be filed with the Borough Clerk, who shall be satisfied that the applicant is at least 18 years of age. If the applicant is a corporation, such corporation must be organized and existing under the laws of the State of New Jersey and must present proof thereof, or, if organized and existing under the laws of another state, be officially authorized to do business in the State of New Jersey and must supply the name and address of the New Jersey registered agent for the corporation. Further a copy of the documents establishing the business address, business telephone number, and names of officers, directors, managers and stockholders owning more than 10% of the corporation.
B. 
The applicant must be the person who will own, control or operate the proposed taxicab service.
C. 
The taxicab owner's license issued hereunder shall briefly describe the taxicab licensed and shall contain the motor vehicle registration number as well as the serial and motor numbers of such taxicab.
D. 
It is the obligation of the owner of the taxi license to comply with the provisions of this chapter. It is further the obligation of the owner to make certain that any person under his employ or who obtains a taxi driver's license as set forth in §§ 342-13, 342-14, 342-15, 342-16, 342-17, 342-18 and 342-19 of this chapter shall comply therewith. Any violation or failure to obtain the necessary documentation by a driver for a driver's taxi license shall not only be deemed to be a violation by the driver but also by the owner.
The fee for a taxi owner's license shall be $50 per year or portion thereof for each vehicle licensed under this chapter.
The taxi owner's license shall at all times be openly and conspicuously exhibited in any motor vehicle licensed under the provisions of this chapter.
No taxi owner's license shall be transferable.
No person shall drive or operate any taxicab used for the transportation of passengers for hire within the Borough until he shall have obtained a taxi driver's license as provided by this chapter.
A. 
Each applicant for a taxi driver's license shall be:
(1) 
At least 18 years of age.
(2) 
A citizen of the United States.
(3) 
Fit to drive or operate a motor vehicle carrying passengers for hire.
(4) 
Of good moral character.
(5) 
Possessed of good eyesight and hearing.
B. 
No taxi driver's license shall be issued to any person who:
(1) 
Is subject to epilepsy, vertigo, heart trouble or any other infirmity.
(2) 
Is addicted to the use of intoxicating liquors, habit-forming narcotics or other drugs.
(3) 
Habitually violates the motor vehicle laws or traffic laws of the State of New Jersey or any of the ordinances of the Borough relating to the use of streets or public places.
(4) 
Violates any of the provisions of this chapter.
(5) 
Is convicted of any crime of the fourth degree or higher.
Each application for a taxi driver's license shall:
A. 
Be addressed to the Borough Council and filed with the Clerk.
B. 
Set forth:
(1) 
Name of the applicant.
(2) 
Residence address of applicant.
(3) 
Age of applicant.
C. 
Be accompanied by:
(1) 
Certificate of good moral character attested by two residents of the Borough.
(2) 
Four recent photographs of the applicant of such size as shall be required by the Police Department (commonly known as "passport size"). One of such photographs shall be attached to the driver's license; one shall be filed with the application for such driver's license in the office of the Clerk, and two shall be filed at police headquarters.
(3) 
Doctor's certificate certifying that the applicant driver has good eyesight and hearing and is not subject to epilepsy, vertigo, heart trouble or any physical infirmity which, in the opinion of the doctor, would make him unfit to drive or operate an automobile.
(4) 
License fee as provided by § 342-17.
No taxi driver's license shall be issued until:
A. 
The applicant has met all of the requirements of this chapter.
B. 
The applicant has been fingerprinted and his prints filed at police headquarters.
C. 
The Chief of Police has endorsed his approval of the applicant on the application.
D. 
The Borough Council has approved the license.
The fee for a taxi driver's license shall be $35 per year.
No taxi driver's license shall be transferable.
A. 
The taxi driver's license provided for in this chapter shall be a card in such form as to contain the photograph and signature of the licensee. Such photograph shall be one of the photographs filed with the application, shall be a front view of the head and shoulders of the licensee taken within 90 days of the date of application and shall be so attached to the license that it cannot be removed and another photograph substituted without detection.
B. 
Each applicant granted a taxicab driver's license shall be issued a photo license card in evidence thereof in a form approved by the 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 in the rear seat of such taxicab, the license card shall at all times remain the property of the Borough and on direction of the Borough Council shall at once be surrendered to the Borough Clerk.
Each taxicab business shall be limited to one regularly registered business office within the Borough and shall therein have a telephone operating.
A. 
No vehicle shall be operated wholly or partly along any street in any municipality until the owner of the vehicle shall have filed with the Clerk of the municipality in which such operation is maintained, an insurance policy of a company duly licensed to transact business under the insurance laws of the state in the sum of $100,000 against loss by reason of the liability imposed by law upon the vehicle owner for damages on account of bodily injury or death suffered by any person with a maximum limit of $500,000 for more than one person in any one accident, and in the sum of $25,000 against loss by reason of such liability for damages on account of the injury to or destruction of the property of any person, with a maximum of $100,000 for more than one person in any one accident, as the result of an accident occurring by reason of the ownership, maintenance or use of the vehicle upon any public street. Further, there shall be full compliance with any requirements of N.J.S.A. 48:16-1, and the New Jersey Compulsory Act as set forth in N.J.S.A. 39:6A-1 et seq., Jersey Automobile Reparation Reform Act and N.J.S.A. 39:6B-1 et seq., New Jersey Compulsory Motor Vehicle Insurance Act N.J.S.A. 39:6B-1 et seq.).
B. 
The insurance policy shall provide for the payment of any final judgment recovered by any person on account of the ownership, maintenance and use of such vehicle or any fault in respect thereto, and shall be for the benefit of every person suffering loss, damage or injury as aforesaid.
The Borough Council may, in its discretion, refuse to issue or renew or may, after notice and hearing revoke and/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 of a violation of Title 39, Motor Vehicles and Traffic Regulation, of the Revised Statutes of New Jersey, or who violates any provisions of this chapter, or has any judgment unsatisfied of record against him arising out of an automobile accident or who is an alien citizen of any nation between whom there exists a war with the United States or who has made false answers in his application, for such license or any renewal thereof, or who has failed or fails to render reasonable prompt, safe and adequate taxicab service, or who has not complied fully with all requirements of this chapter for such class of license.
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.
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 of 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 the owners shall fail to comply with any terms or conditions imposed by the Borough Council or any law of this state.
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 Treasurer.
The fare that may be charged by the driver or owner of a taxicab for a trip wholly within the limits of the Borough shall not exceed the rates approved by the Borough Council by ordinance. A schedule of the approved rates shall be displayed in the taxicab in a manner so as to be easily read by all passengers. The rates to be charged shall not exceed the following:
A. 
For two passengers or less in the area of the Borough from place to place, the taxi fare shall be $3.50.
B. 
Each additional passenger in excess of two shall be charged $0.50.
C. 
It shall be the obligation of the taxi driver or owner for fares starting in the Borough and proceeding to destinations outside of the Borough to advise the person in advance as to what the given rate shall be. The intent and purpose of this provision is to allow the caller to determine whether the Spring Lake taxicab fare is competitive with a surrounding community. It may very well be that the caller may choose to use a taxicab company located outside the Borough when the fares are so determined.
A. 
Stopping restriction. No person shall park or place any taxicab on any of the streets of this Borough at any time except at such place or places as the Borough Council may designate as municipal taxi stands unless operator is stopped while in service or stopped for the purpose of obtaining food for himself.
B. 
Prohibited solicitation of passengers. No person shall cruise the streets of the Borough with any taxicab at any time for the purpose of soliciting passengers.
C. 
Parking at taxicab office terminal or designated location restricted. No taxicab or other vehicle for hire shall be parked or stopped within 100 feet of a regularly operated taxicab office, terminal or location licensed by the Borough of Spring lake except the owner or lessee of the taxicab's office or terminus and his licensed drivers.
D. 
Refusal to carry certain passengers. Every person so licensed as aforesaid shall not refuse to carry local fares or passengers unless the fare is unruly or intoxicated.
Owners and drivers of taxicabs licensed out of the jurisdiction of this Borough, or who have their principal office or place of business out of the jurisdiction of the Borough, may be allowed to enter their taxicab 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 the 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 the municipalities in which the aforesaid owners or drivers are licensed.
Owners, operators, or drivers of vehicles for hire, shall not display the words taxicabs" or other sign thereon which would tend to lead the public to believe the vehicle is a taxicab as herein defined.
The name, trade name or corporate name of the owner and operator of all taxicabs licensed within the Borough shall be prominently displayed on the exterior of all taxicabs so licensed at all times. Additionally, every licensed taxicab shall have the taxicab number which shall be illuminated during darkness and shall be contained in a dome light, or other similar device. The size, color, wording and location on the taxicab and other particulars of the dome light shall be uniformly designated by the Chief of Police.
A decal shall be provided by the Borough for taxicabs licensed to do business in the Borough and the decal shall be prominently displayed on the panel between the left rear door window and rear window of each licensed taxicab.
No taxicab driver or other person shall solicit, attempt to solicit or otherwise seek to engage a passenger on any public street and/or sidewalk in the Borough.
No vehicle covered by the terms of this chapter shall be licensed until proof has been presented that the vehicle has been inspected and approved as required under Title 39 of the Statutes of the State of New Jersey.
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 person 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.
Nothing in this chapter shall apply to any vehicle for hire:
A. 
Which is owned and operated by a mortician and used solely in the conduct of his or her business as a mortician; or
B. 
Which is used solely for the transportation of school children to and from school; or
C. 
Which is regulated by the Public Utilities Commission (N.J.S.A. 48:4-1).
Any person who shall violate any of the provisions of this chapter shall, upon conviction thereof, be subject to the penalties in Chapter 1, Article II, General Penalty.