[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Supervisors of the Village of Port Jefferson as Ch. 70 of the 1970 Code. Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Vehicles and traffic – See Ch. 245.
Unless the language context indicates that a different meaning is intended, the following words shall be given the meanings hereinafter ascribed to them:
OPERATOR
Any individual who is engaged in driving a motor vehicle.
PERSON
Every individual, partnership, association, corporation, joint-stock association, including any receiver, trustee or assignee thereof, owning, controlling or managing one or more taxicabs in the Incorporated Village of Port Jefferson.
TAXICAB
Any motor vehicle for hire, except buses or motor vehicles operating on a fixed schedule or between fixed terminals or over a fixed route, and except motor vehicles used by funeral directors or undertakers to transport deceased persons, or funeral corteges, designed to carry seven persons or less, including the driver, operated on call or demand, accepting passengers for transportation, with or without a taximeter.
A. 
No person shall engage in the business of operating a taxicab without the limits of the Incorporated Village of Port Jefferson without having first obtained a license and unless said license is in full force and effect.
B. 
No person shall operate or permit to be operated any vehicle bearing the words "taxi," "taxicab," "hack" or other designation of similar import, nor shall any person advertise or hold himself out as being engaged in the taxicab business, unless he is licensed pursuant to this chapter.
A. 
No license shall be issued to any person unless he is the owner of each taxicab operated in his name.
B. 
Application for a license shall be made to the Board of Trustees of the Incorporated Village of Port Jefferson on forms prescribed by them and shall be sworn to before a notary public by the person making the application.
C. 
Every person applying for a license must:
(1) 
If he is to operate a taxicab, be the holder of a valid chauffeur's license issued by the State of New York entitling him to drive a taxicab as a chauffeur or, if he is not to operate a taxicab, demonstrate that every operator thereof is the holder of such a license.
(2) 
Produce a birth certificate evidencing that he is of the age of at least 21 years.
(3) 
Produce a certificate from a duly licensed doctor of medicine dated within 30 days of application to the effect that applicant is of sound physique with good eyesight and not subject to epilepsy, vertigo, heart trouble or any other infirmity of body or mind which might render him unfit for the safe operation of a public vehicle.
(4) 
Annex to his application two unmounted, unretouched photographs of himself of a type and size as approved by the Board of Trustees, taken within 30 days preceding the filing of his application. One photograph shall be attached to the license when issued and the other shall be filed with the application.
(5) 
Annex to his application impressions of the fingers of both of his hands, taken under the supervision of the Village Clerk. Applications with photographs and fingerprint impressions attached shall be sent forthwith to the Suffolk County Police Department, and no license shall be issued by the Village Clerk under the provisions of this chapter until the receipt, in writing, from the Suffolk County Police Department of a report showing the results of the investigation and examination of the fingerprint impressions; provided, however, that a temporary license may be issued pending such investigation, not to exceed 20 days.
(6) 
Complete the prescribed application form setting forth, in addition to such other information as the Board of Trustees may deem necessary, his full name; residence; places of residence for five years previous to moving to his present address; age; height, color of eyes and hair; place of birth; length of time he has resided at present address; whether a citizen of the United States; places of previous employment; previous experience, if any, in the taxicab business; the year, type and make of the motor vehicle or vehicles to be used in said business; the motor number, state license number, whether the person applying is married or single; whether he has ever been arrested or convicted of a felony or misdemeanor; whether he has been previously licensed as a driver or chauffeur or previously licensed to engage in the business of operating a taxicab, and, if so, whether his license has ever been revoked and for what cause; and the number of the chauffeur's license issued by the State of New York. If the application is being made by a corporation or association or joint-stock association, the names and addresses of all officers, directors, stockholders and members shall be set forth, if made by a partnership, the names and addresses of all parties shall be set forth.
[Amended 8-3-2009 by L.L. No. 9-2009]
No license shall be issued unless the taxicab or taxicabs to be used by the person applying therefor shall have been found to be in a fit and safe condition, which condition shall be presumptively shown by the presentation of a current certificate of inspection duly issued by a person or entity authorized to issue such certificates. Such certificate of inspection shall not, however, be conclusive against the Village as to the fit and safe condition of the taxicab or taxicabs but shall be evidence merely that the owner of the vehicle has had an inspection made as required by this chapter.
[Amended 8-3-2009 by L.L. No. 9-2009]
A. 
Upon presentation to the Village of the certificate of inspection referenced in the preceding section, and upon payment of the fee hereinafter set forth, a license shall be issued by the Village Clerk to the person applying therefor for a period of one year following the date thereof. The license so issued shall contain the official license number of the taxicab, together with the date of inspection of the same, and the name of the owner and shall be signed by the Village Treasurer and countersigned by the Village Clerk. The license card shall be conspicuously posted in the taxicab for which issued. If a taxicab shall be disabled, disqualified for service or sold, the Mayor may, at his discretion, permit the use of a license granted for such taxicab to be transferred and used for another, provided that such taxicab and the purchase thereof comply with the provisions of this chapter. Should the state license number of a taxicab be changed during the life of the taxicab license, such change and number shall be immediately reported by the licensee to the Village Clerk.
B. 
Such license may be renewed from year to year by endorsement thereon upon:
(1) 
Payment of the renewal fee; and
(2) 
Production of another medical certificate, as described in § 229-3C(3) of this chapter, dated within 30 days of the renewal date of the license.
[Amended 5-9-1973; 6-4-2001 by L.L. No. 10-2001; 8-3-2009 by L.L. No. 9-2009]
The fee for the license provided for in this chapter shall be the sum of $125 for one year or part thereof for each taxicab used or permitted to be used in the taxicab business by the person to whom the license is issued. The licensing fee is not refundable. The Board of Trustees shall have the right to increase the fee from time to time, without further amendment to this section. In the event of any such increase, the amount thereof can be ascertained by inquiry to the Village Clerk/Administrator.
A license issued pursuant to this chapter may be suspended at any time for cause by the Mayor if a taxicab shall be used for immoral or illegal purposes or shall be used in violation of this chapter or any ordinance or state law respecting the operation of motor vehicles. Such suspension shall continue until the next meeting of the Board of Trustees, and at said hearing said license, after due notice to the person affected and an opportunity afforded to him to be heard, may be revoked or the suspension vacated and the license continued.
No transfer of stock or change of stock ownership which will result in a transfer or change in the control of the corporation holding a license will be effective to transfer the license unless a new application pursuant to this chapter is made. No license issued pursuant to this chapter shall be assignable.
No operator, unless then engaged or employed, shall refuse to carry any person who applies to him for carriage and who is willing to tender him the fare therefor to the place of his destination, nor shall any operator, having undertaken to convey any passenger, omit or neglect to do so, provided that such passenger is in such condition of health, sobriety and cleanliness that his carriage in such taxicab would not be a violation of any law, ordinance or rule relating to health and safety, and provided further that the origin or destination or the immediate approach to said origin or destination is not impassable or dangerous to pass by reason of conditions of the road over which the taxicab must necessarily proceed.
A. 
No taxicab shall carry more persons, including the operator, than the number designated as its seating capacity by the manufacturer of such vehicles. A child in arms will not be counted as a passenger.
B. 
Whenever any taxicab is occupied by a fare-paying passenger or by members of the party of a fare-paying passenger, the operator shall permit no other person to occupy or ride in said taxicab except at the request or consent of said fare-paying passenger.
C. 
Each taxicab shall be operated over the most direct and reasonable route from point of pickup of a passenger or passengers to the point of destination of such passenger or passengers.
The standing or parking on Main Street (Route 25A) at the same time of more than one taxicab operated and licensed in the name of any person is hereby prohibited.
[1]
Editor's Note: See Ch. 245, Vehicles and Traffic, for a complete listing of Village vehicle and traffic regulations.
[Added 6-11-1992 by L.L. No. 4-1992; amended 1-5-2015 by L.L. No. 1-2015]
Any person who violates this chapter or fails to comply with any of its requirements shall, upon conviction thereof, be subject to the penalties provided in § 1-2 of the Code of the Village of Port Jefferson.