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.
[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.
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.
[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.