[HISTORY: Adopted by the Mayor and Council of the Borough of Palisades
Park 7-8-1976 as Chapter XI of the Revised General Ordinances
of 1975. Amendments noted where applicable.]
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings
indicated:
Licensed in accordance with the appropriate section of this chapter,
unless otherwise stated.
Transporting in a taxicab one or more persons for hire along any
of the streets of the borough. Accepting a passenger to be transported for
hire within this borough or from a point within this borough to a point outside
of the borough limits or discharging a passenger transported for hire from
a point outside of the borough limits to a point within the borough limits
shall be deemed to be operation of a taxicab within the meaning thereof. The
operation of a taxicab in any of the above-described manners by one other
than the owner shall be deemed operation by the owner thereof, as well as
by the person actually driving the same. The transportation of any person
other than the owner or driver in any motor vehicle bearing a sign therein
or thereon using the words "taxi," "taxicab," "cab" or "hack" shall be prima
facie evidence of operation.
Includes any automobile or motor vehicle, 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 within the borough and which particularly accepts and discharges
such persons as may offer themselves for transportation from points or places
to points or places within or without the borough.
No person shall engage in the business of operating taxicabs within
this borough without first having secured a license pursuant to this chapter,
and no person shall be the driver of any taxicab being operated within this
borough without first having secured a license pursuant to this chapter.
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. The license
shall not be transferable.
A taxicab owner's license shall entitle the person named therein
to engage in the business of operating taxicabs in this borough by drivers
duly licensed under this chapter until the taxicab owner's license either
expires or is surrendered, suspended or revoked. The license shall not be
transferable. The taxicabs to be operated by the licensee shall be described
in the license and shall not exceed three in total number. The licensee may,
during the license year, increase the total number of taxicabs to be operated
or change or substitute taxicabs for those previously described in the license;
however, he shall notify the Borough Clerk of any such increase, change or
substitution and, if the total number is increased, shall pay any additional
fee due.
Any licenses issued pursuant to the terms of this chapter shall expire
at 12:00 midnight on June 30 following the date of issue, unless sooner surrendered,
suspended or revoked.
The total number of taxicab owners' licenses that may be issued
and outstanding at any one time is hereby fixed at two. Until the number of
existing taxicab owners' licenses is reduced to less than two, no new
taxicab owners' licenses shall be issued.
A.
All applications for the issuance or renewal of any license
of either class shall be made to the Mayor and Council on forms adopted by
the Mayor and Council and obtained from the Borough Clerk and designed to
elicit information respecting the identification, responsibility and law-abiding
habits of the applicant.
B.
The Borough Clerk is hereby authorized to issue a temporary taxicab driver's license pending the approval by the Mayor and Council of any application for a taxicab driver's license submitted in accordance with the provisions of this chapter, provided that the Chief of Police of the borough shall first certify to the Borough Clerk that, after due investigation, the applicant is not ineligible under the provisions of § 268-16.
Each applicant 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 of the proper fee hereinafter
fixed therefor.
Each applicant for a taxicab driver's license shall file with his
application two photographs, each 3 1/2 inches in size, clearly depicting
the facial features of the applicant, both of which photographs shall thereupon
become the property of the borough and be retained with the application form
unless the application shall be issued, in which event one of the photographs
shall be permanently affixed to the license card in a space provided therein.
Each applicant for a taxicab driver's license shall be fingerprinted
by the Police Department of the borough, which fingerprints shall thereupon
become the property of the borough and be retained with the application form.
Each applicant for a taxicab owner's license shall have a regularly
registered business office and shall therein have a telephone operating.
[Amended 5-10-1988 by Ord. No. 1071]
Every applicant for a taxicab owner's license shall submit the
insurance policy required by N.J.S.A. 48:16-3 covering the taxicab to be licensed
and shall execute and deliver to the Borough Clerk, concurrently with the
filing of the policy aforesaid, a power of attorney, wherein and whereby the
owner shall appoint the Borough Clerk his true and lawful attorney for the
purpose of acknowledging service of any process out of a court of competent
jurisdiction to be served against the insured by virtue of the indemnity granted
under the insurance policy filed in accordance with N.J.S.A. 48:16-3.
The Borough Clerk, upon the filing of the required insurance policy
or bond, shall issue a certificate, in duplicate, showing that the owner of
the taxicab has complied with the terms of the New Jersey Statutes Annotated
aforementioned, which certificate shall recite the name of the insurance company,
the number and date of expiration of the policy or bond, a description of
the taxicab insured thereunder and the registration number of the same. The
duplicate certificate shall be filed with the Division of Motor Vehicles before
any car is licensed as a taxicab. The original certificate shall be posted
in a conspicuous place within the taxicab.
[Amended 5-10-1988 by Ord. No. 1071]
The annual fee for each taxicab driver's license hereafter issued
or renewed shall be $5. The annual fee for each taxicab owner's license
issued or renewed shall be $125, plus $30 for each taxicab operated for each
year or a portion of a year for which the license is issued or renewed, and
all of such licenses shall be under the charge and control of the person applying
therefor, and he shall be responsible for the operation of all taxicabs under
such license. Whenever the total number of taxicabs operated by the licensee
shall be increased during the license year, the licensee shall notify the
Borough Clerk of such change and shall pay the additional fee.
The Mayor and Council may, in its discretion, refuse to issue or renew
or may, after notice and hearing, revoke or suspend:
A.
Any license of either class if the applicant or licensee:
(1)
Has been once convicted of a crime in this or any other
jurisdiction or convicted of being a disorderly person or of a violation of
Title 39, Motor Vehicles and Traffic Regulation, of the New Jersey Statutes
Annotated.
(2)
Has been dishonorably discharged from the Armed Forces
of the United States of America.
(3)
Has violated any provision of this chapter.
(4)
Has any judgment unsatisfied of record against him arising
out of an automobile accident.
(5)
Is an alien citizen of any nation between whom and the
United States of America a state of war exists.
(6)
Has made false answers in his application for such license
or any renewal thereof.
(7)
Has failed or fails to render reasonably prompt, safe
and adequate taxicab service.
(8)
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 a 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:
(1)
The motor vehicles licensed or to be licensed, by reason
of unsafe or unsanitary conditions, are dangerous to the safety or health
of the occupants or others.
(2)
The policy of insurance or bond or power of attorney
required by N.J.S.A. 48:16-3, 48:16-4 and 48:16-5 has not been furnished or
kept in force.
(3)
Said owner fails to comply with any terms or conditions
imposed by the Mayor and Council or any law of this state.
Each applicant granted a taxicab driver's license shall be issued
a license card in evidence thereof in a form approved by the Mayor and 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 on
the rear seat of such taxicab, and the license card shall at all times be
and remain the property of the borough and, on direction of the Mayor and
Council, shall at once be surrendered to the Borough Clerk. No taxicab driver's
license card, other than that of the licensee actually operating the taxicab
at the time, shall be displayed therein.
The Mayor and Council shall, at the time the Mayor and Council acts
on any application, pay the fees received therefor over to the Borough Treasurer.
No taxicab shall hereafter be operated in this borough unless and until
there is prominently displayed in the interior thereof, within the full view
and access of any passengers therein, a complete list of fares, charges or
tariff rates charged for transportation of passengers, which fares, charges
or tariff rates so displayed, and no other, shall be those to be charged to
any passenger so transported.
Every person so licensed as aforesaid shall not refuse to carry local
fares or passengers.
Owners and drivers of taxicabs licensed out of the jurisdiction of this
borough may be allowed to enter 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. 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 this 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 taxicabs to remain
unlighted; provided, however, that the same or similar substantial reciprocal
rights are granted to owners drivers of taxicabs licensed in this borough
by the municipalities in which the aforesaid owners or drivers are licensed.
A.
All vehicles herein required to be licensed, used or
operated for the carrying of passengers within the scope of this chapter shall
be automobile sedans with a minimum of three doors, and at least two of the
doors shall be for the exclusive use of the passengers. The automobiles shall
at all times be clean and in good repair and shall be subject to inspection
by the Police Department or by the Mayor and Council.
B.
Each and every taxicab operating in the borough shall
have installed therein a taximeter or the equivalent thereof, of standard
make, by which the fare or charge for hire of the taxicab is mechanically
and accurately calculated and registered and on which taximeter the charge
is plainly indicated. The taximeter is to be so placed in the taxicab that
the charge thereof may be plainly seen by the passengers.
C.
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.
D.
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 the taxicab is 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.
E.
Every taxicab shall be equipped with a top light or dome
light which shall be so connected with the taximeter that, while the taxicab
is in operation and carrying a passenger, the top light or dome light shall
be extinguished.
F.
The taximeter shall be sealed, and a colored paster,
different in color at each inspection, shall be placed on the taximeter after
inspection.
G.
No person shall use or permit to be used or drive for
hire a taxicab equipped with a taximeter, the case of which is unsealed or
the seal broken.
Any dispute as to the fare shall be determined by the officer in charge
of the police station at the time of the dispute.
No person, other than the licensed driver of a passenger of the taxicab,
shall ride or sit in the compartment of the taxicab reserved for the driver.
A.
Every vehicle licensed hereunder shall have fastened
in a conspicuous place therein a printed card showing the rates provided for
in this chapter in letters and figures of not less than 1/2 inch in height.
B.
Every vehicle licensed hereunder shall have posted on
both front doors or both rear doors of the vehicle the rates provided for
in this chapter in figures of not less than 2 1/2 inches in height and
letters of not less than one inch in height.
[Amended 7-25-1978 by Ord. No. 890; 2-22-1979
by Ord. No. 898; 3-27-1980 by Ord.
No. 916; 5-10-1988 by Ord. No. 1071]
No taxicab or hack owner or driver shall permit any licensed taxicab
or hack to be used for any illegal or immoral purposes.
Immediately after the termination of any hiring or use by the public
of any taxicab or hack, the driver of the taxicab or hack shall carefully
search the taxicab or hack for any property lost or left therein, and any
such property, unless sooner claimed or delivered to the owner, shall be reported,
in writing, by the driver or the owner of the taxicab or hack to the Police
Department, with brief particulars and a description of the property, within
24 hours after the finding thereof.
Every licensed owner or driver shall record, in writing, the time and
place when and where each passenger was accepted, as well as the time and
place of the discharge of the passenger, which record shall remain intact
for 90 days from the time thereof and which record shall be kept open at all
times for inspection by a representative of the Police Department or the Mayor
and Council.
Every licensed owner shall record, in a book kept solely for such purpose,
the time of departure from the garage of every licensed vehicle, giving the
name and address of the driver thereof, his license number and the license
number of the vehicle, and the time of return to the garage of such vehicle,
which book shall be kept open for inspection at all times by a representative
of the Police Department or the Mayor and Council.
Every driver of a taxicab or hack shall, when requested, give a passenger
a receipt for the fare paid.
While engaged in operating a taxicab or hack, the driver of the vehicle
shall behave himself in an orderly manner and shall not use indecent, profane
or insulting language while engaged in such operation.
At all times, the driver of a taxicab or a hack shall be clean-shaven
and present a neat and orderly appearance.
A.
Public taxi stands are hereby established at such places
as may be designated by the Chief of Police with the approval of the Mayor
and Council. The location and capacity of any such public taxi stand shall
be indicated by a sign substantially as follows:
|
Public Taxi Stand. Capacity ________ Vehicles.
|
B.
No vehicle other than one licensed hereunder and prepared
to accept passengers upon request shall stand at any such public taxi stand.
The owner of each taxicab licensed under this chapter shall file with
the Borough Clerk on February 1 and August 1 of each year a certification
from the manufacturer of each meter that it has been inspected and that it
is in proper working order.
