All of the following requirements herein pertaining to operation of taxis shall apply to both the owners and drivers of taxis:
A. 
Loitering prohibited. No person other than the licensed driver or paying passenger shall sit in the taxi while the taxi is parked at a public taxi stand or providing service to a passenger, and no driver shall encourage or permit loitering near his/her taxi while parked in a public taxi stand, except that nothing shall prohibit the driver from being accompanied by an adult companion for security purposes while on duty between the hours of 8:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.
B. 
Personal appearance. All taxi drivers, when operating a taxi, shall be clean and neatly dressed.
C. 
Smoking prohibited. Smoking shall be prohibited at all times in all taxis licensed by the Township.
D. 
Lost articles. Every taxi driver shall, upon the completion of each and every trip, make a search of said taxi for any property lost or inadvertently left therein, and any such property, unless sooner claimed or delivered to the rightful owner, shall be taken to the Police Department within six hours of the finding thereof.
E. 
Conveyance of passengers in safe and expeditious manner. All taxi drivers shall comply with all reasonable and lawful requests of passengers as to speed and the route to be taken. Where such requests are not made by the passenger, such driver shall use lawful and reasonable speed and the most expeditious route to be taken to such passenger's destination.
F. 
Misinformation to prospective passengers prohibited. No driver of any taxi shall induce any prospective passenger to employ him/her by misinforming or misleading any such prospective passenger, either as to time or place of the arrival or departure of any train or motor bus, or as to the location of any building or place, or as to the distance between any two points.
G. 
Report of accidents. Any motor vehicle accident involving a taxi and causing injury to a person or persons or damage to property in excess of $100 shall be reported immediately by the driver to the Police Department.
H. 
Illegal or immoral use of taxis prohibited. No owner or driver of any licensed taxi shall permit the use of such taxi for any illegal or immoral purpose.
I. 
Reasonable response period required. All taxi licensees or their representatives shall answer all calls received for taxi service inside the Township limits as soon as they can do so. If such services cannot be rendered within a reasonable time, they shall then notify the prospective passenger as to how long it will be before the call can be answered and give the reason therefor.
J. 
Refusal to provide service. No licensee under this chapter or his/her representative shall refuse to accept a call for taxi service anywhere within the Township limits at any time when such licensee has a taxi available. In particular, no licensee under this chapter or his/her representative shall fail to or refuse to accept a call for taxi service from the North Brunswick Police Department. More than one violation of this section in any one calendar year may be cause for the denial of the renewal or transfer of any taxi owner's license or taxi driver's license.
[Amended 11-21-2016 by Ord. No. 16-20[1]]
[1]
Editor's Note: This ordinance provided an effective date of 1-1-2017.
K. 
Restriction on number of passengers; federally approved car seat required.
(1) 
No driver shall permit more than the following passengers in a taxi:
(a) 
Any combination of five adults and children.
(b) 
No more than two passengers shall be permitted to ride in the front seat of any taxi.
(2) 
Each passenger shall have a working seat belt available to him or her.
(3) 
In accordance with the New Jersey Child Restraint Law, no child under 18 months old shall be transported in a taxi unless the child is secured in a federally approved car seat, and no child between the ages of 18 months and five years shall be transported in the front seat unless secured in a car seat. Upon request, the car seat shall be made available to older children.
L. 
Fare receipts. The driver of any taxi shall, upon request of a passenger, render to such passenger a receipt for the fare charged. The receipt shall state the name of the driver, the taxi license number, the amount of the fare, the points of origin and destination, and the date and time of the transaction.
M. 
Recordkeeping by owners. The holder of each and every taxi license shall record in a book kept solely for such purpose the time each licensed vehicle is available for service, the name of the driver thereof, the license number of the driver and the license number of the vehicle.
N. 
Refusal to pay legal fare. It shall be unlawful for any person to refuse to pay the legal fare after having hired the taxi.
O. 
Demand of fare in advance. If the exact mileage from the point of origin to point of destination is known, or if the taxi charges a flat rate for a given trip, the taxi driver may require the passenger to pay the fare before departure.
P. 
Limitation on hours worked by drivers. No taxi driver shall work more than 12 hours in any twenty-four-hour period.
Q. 
Minimum hours of operation. The owner of a taxi owner's license issued by the Township shall operate his/her taxi(s), for a minimum of 40 hours each week.
R. 
Clean taxi required. The interior and exterior of a licensed taxi shall be clean at all times.
S. 
No taxi shall be permitted to leak fluids. Except for trace amounts of fluids and condensation normal to everyday operations, no taxi shall leak fluids such as, but not limited to, gasoline, motor oil, power steering fluid, brake fluid, transmission fluid or antifreeze upon the streets of the Township or upon spaces designated as public taxi stands. Condensation and trace amounts resulting from normal operations shall not be considered a violation of this chapter.
T. 
Acceptance of more than one fare. No driver shall permit any other person to ride in the taxi unless the person or persons first employing the taxi shall consent to the acceptance of additional passengers.
U. 
Horns. No driver shall use the vehicle horn when arriving at a fare destination to alert any person or persons for which the taxicab is waiting. Horns shall only be used in accordance with the provisions of N.J.S.A. 39:3-69, wherein horns may be used when reasonably necessary to ensure safe operation or to give an audible warning.
A. 
The Police Department shall have the right at any time to inspect taxis licensed in the Township of North Brunswick to determine that said vehicles are maintained in a safe and sanitary condition for the transportation of passengers.
B. 
If inspection reveals a taxi to be in an unsafe or unsanitary condition, the Director of Public Safety shall have the authority to immediately suspend without prior hearing the taxi owner's license of any taxi found to be in such condition. The owner shall be entitled to a hearing before the Director of Public Safety within three business days of such action and/or with the Township Council within 15 days of such action.
C. 
Prior to issuing the original taxi owner's license, the police shall inspect the taxi to verify that the taxi possesses a valid motor vehicle inspection sticker. Upon receipt of a new sticker, the taxi shall again be presented for inspection by the police to verify that a valid sticker is in place.
D. 
No taxi shall be put in service or kept in service unless both heat and air conditioning are operational.
The owner of each taxi licensed under the provisions of this chapter shall keep or cause drivers employed by the owner to keep a daily manifest of all trips showing the date, time and place each passenger was picked up, the number of passengers, the time and place each passenger was discharged, the trip distance and the amount of fare charged for each trip. Manifests must also document the number assigned to any public taxi stand that a taxi occupies, occupy, as well as the time it arrives at the stand and the time it departs. Such manifest shall be subject to inspection by the Code Enforcement Office or the Township Director of Public Safety or his or her designated representative, at their discretion. Manifests shall be maintained for three months before they may be discarded.
[Amended 12-15-2014 by Ord. No. 14-13; 12-4-2017 by Ord. No. 17-14; 2-19-2019 by Ord. No. 19-03]
The fare to be charged by a taxi licensed by the Township for any trip with both an origin and a destination in the Township shall not exceed the maximum established herein.
A. 
A base fare of $4.50 shall be charged for the first two miles or part thereof for all passengers, except senior citizens and handicapped persons.
B. 
An additional fare of $1 shall be charged for each subsequent 1/2 mile or part thereof for all passengers, except senior citizens.
C. 
The maximum fares established in this section shall apply to the transportation of one or two persons from the same point of origin to the same point of discharge. The fare for each additional passenger above two shall be $0.50 per person.
D. 
An additional dispatch charge of $0.50 shall be charged for all trips in which the origin of the trip is not a designated public taxi stand.
E. 
Senior citizens of 62 years of age or over and handicapped persons shall be charged a base fare of $3.50 for the first two miles and an additional fare of $0.75 for each subsequent 1/2 mile or part thereof.
F. 
An additional administrative fee of $3 shall be charged for each trip (one-way) provided to a registered participant under the Municipal Senior Transportation Program and for trips scheduled by a municipal official for programs organized and administered by the Municipal Senior Center.
G. 
There shall be no additional charge for up to two grocery bags, laundry bags or packages. Each grocery bag, laundry bag or package in excess of two shall be an additional $0.25. Suitcases shall be an additional $0.25 per suitcase.
H. 
Nothing in this chapter shall prohibit any licensee from establishing flat rates for service between designated points as long as such flat rates do not exceed the mileage rates established by this chapter.
A. 
No taxi driver shall cruise any public road, private road or commercial facility located in the Township of North Brunswick at any time for the purpose of soliciting passengers, regardless of whether the taxi holds a license issued by the Township of North Brunswick. While on duty, taxis licensed by North Brunswick Township shall be permitted to park only in designated public taxi stands or at their central place of business.
B. 
While on duty, all taxis, regardless of whether they are licensed by the Township of North Brunswick, shall be prohibited from parking to await calls in residential driveways, in commercial parking lots or on public or private streets in the Township.
C. 
All taxis must comply with the provisions of § 205-43.1, Parking and storage of commercially registered vehicles, which provides, in part, that there shall be no parking on any street, in any residential zone, between the hours of 7:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m.
A. 
The Township Council is authorized to designate by ordinance or by resolution such places in the Township where the location of public taxi stands is permitted.
B. 
Picking spaces may be delineated as public taxi stands in the following commercial centers, subject to approval of the location and signage by the Township Planner:
(1) 
North Brunswick Shopping Center.
(2) 
Walmart Shopping Center.
(3) 
North Village Shopping Center.
(4) 
Carolier Lanes Shopping Center.
(5) 
Pathmark Shopping Center.
(6) 
Commerce Center.
(7) 
The Shoppes of North Brunswick.
(8) 
Main Street North Brunswick.
C. 
Spaces designated as public taxi stands shall be designated by metal signs that contain wording provided by the Code Enforcement Office. The cost of fabrication and installation shall be borne by the property owner.
D. 
Public taxi stands are reserved exclusively for use by taxis licensed by the Township of North Brunswick for soliciting business, and there shall be no parking of any other vehicles therein.
E. 
No taxi shall be left unattended by the driver while the vehicle is standing at a designated public taxi stand. Drivers shall remain in or within 50 feet of the vehicle while it is standing at a designated public taxi stand.
F. 
No taxi that is not licensed in the Township of North Brunswick shall stand at any public taxi stand.
G. 
Spaces at public taxi stands shall be occupied on a first-come, first-served basis. Passengers approaching a public taxi stand for service shall be referred to the driver who has been stationed at the stand for the longest period of time. However, nothing in this article shall be construed as preventing a passenger from boarding the vehicle of his or her choice that is parked at said stand. If a passenger selects another taxi other than the taxi that has been stationed at the stand for the longest period of time, the taxi driver of the chosen taxi must get out of the taxi and indicate to the other taxi driver that the referral policy was explained to the passenger and that the passenger declined to occupy the referred taxi.
H. 
Any driver who intentionally violates this specified procedure of referring passengers to the driver who has been at a public taxi stand for the longest period of time shall be fined and subject to disciplinary action, including suspension of his/her taxi driver's license in accordance with § 311-30F.
I. 
Nothing herein shall require the owner of property where the delineation of public taxi stands is permitted to actually designate spaces as a public taxi stand; nor shall anything herein prohibit the removal of spaces previously designated as a public taxi stand.
J. 
The hours that public taxi stands shall be permitted to be occupied for the purpose of soliciting passengers shall be 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., unless the owner of a commercial property has received approval of different hours of operation from the Township Planner.
K. 
Parking spaces designated as public taxi stands shall continue to be counted as off-street parking spaces.
L. 
The owner of a commercial property applying to designate space as a public taxi stand shall be permitted to establish reasonable regulations for the operation of taxis, subject to approval of such regulations by the Township Planner.
M. 
No loud music or other loud noise shall be permitted to emanate from a taxi parked at a public taxi stand.
N. 
Taxi drivers and/or taxi owners may lose the right to park at designated public taxi stands for violation of regulations in accordance with the penalty provisions of § 311-30.