DIVISION 1
Generally
All holders of business licenses shall keep daily records of drivers who are on duty, and such records shall show their hours of duty and shall be made available to any officer of the Department of Public Safety upon request.
All holders of driver's licenses shall keep on file with the Department of Public Safety their address, and shall, within three days after changing residences, register such change of address with the Department of Public Safety.
[Amended 9-30-1996 by Ord. No. 1623]
Drivers shall be clean in appearance while engaged in transporting a passenger.
[Amended 9-30-1996 by Ord. No. 1623]
No driver shall have in his or her possession a lighted cigarette, cigar or pipe while any passenger is within that driver's vehicle for hire.
No driver shall use any intoxicating liquor, drug or beer or any other malt drink while on duty.
Drivers shall not receive or discharge passengers in the roadway, but shall pull up to the right-hand sidewalk as nearly as possible, or in the absence of a sidewalk, to the extreme right-hand side of the road and there receive or discharge passengers, except on one-way streets where passengers may be discharged at either the right-or left-hand sidewalk or side of the roadway, in absence of a sidewalk.
[Amended 9-30-1996 by Ord. No. 1623]
No driver shall permit any person to sit or ride in his or her vehicle for hire while there is a passenger in said vehicle for hire unless said person is an employee of the person or entity holding the business license under which the vehicle for hire is operated.
No driver shall permit more persons to be carried in a vehicle for hire than the seating capacity of the passenger compartment, plus two passengers in the front seat, plus the driver. The front seat may only be occupied by a passenger if the passenger compartment is filled to capacity.
[Amended 9-30-1996 by Ord. No. 1623]
No driver shall refuse to convey any orderly person, upon request, unless previously engaged or unable or forbidden to do so by the provisions of this chapter.
No driver shall deceive or attempt to deceive any passenger who may ride in his or her vehicle for hire or who may desire to ride in such vehicle for hire, as to his or her destination or the rate of fare to be charged, or convey any passenger, to a place other than directed by such passenger.
[Amended 8-5-1991 by Ord. No. 1516]
A. 
No driver shall solicit passengers for a vehicle for hire except when sitting in the driver's compartment of such vehicle for hire or while standing immediately adjacent to the curb side thereof. The driver of any vehicle for hire shall remain in the driver's compartment or immediately adjacent to his or her vehicle at all times when such vehicle is on a public street, except that, when necessary, a vehicle for hire driver may be absent from his or her vehicle for not more than 30 consecutive minutes, and provided further, that nothing herein shall be held to prohibit any driver from alighting to the street or sidewalk for the purpose of assisting passengers into or out of such vehicle.
B. 
No driver shall solicit patronage in a loud or annoying tone of voice or by sign or in any manner annoy any person or obstruct movement of any person, or follow any person for the purpose of soliciting patronage.
C. 
No driver shall seek employment by repeatedly and persistently driving his or her vehicle for hire to and fro in a short space before or by otherwise interfering with the proper and orderly access to or egress from any theater, hall, hotel, public resort, railway station or other place of public gathering, or in any other manner obstructing or impeding traffic. Any driver may, however, solicit employment by driving through any public street or place, without stops other than those due to obstruction of traffic, and at such speed as not to interfere or impede traffic, and may pass or repass before any theater, hall, hotel, public resort, railway station or other place of public gathering.
D. 
No driver shall solicit patronage of persons assembled at the termini of any common carrier, nor at any intermediate points along any established route of such carrier, when such persons have assembled for the purpose of using the service of such common carrier. Nothing herein shall be construed to prohibit or interfere with response to any call for a vehicle for hire made by a signal from a pedestrian.
E. 
Soliciting will not be permitted at any time on airport property. At no time shall any driver participate in any activity or conduct on the airport premises which would be detrimental to the health, safety, and welfare of the general public.
F. 
All taxicabs operating from the airport shall be parked only in places where the parking of taxicabs is designated by signs except when actually loading or unloading passengers or baggage.
Any article of value which has been left in a vehicle for hire by a passenger shall be returned to the passenger, if known, otherwise it shall be deposited with the owner of the vehicle for hire at the conclusion of the driver's tour of duty.
DIVISION 2
Taxicab Drivers
[Amended 9-30-1996 by Ord. No. 1623]
A. 
When driver's license is issued to a taxicab driver under Article IV of this chapter, there shall, at the same time, be furnished the driver an identification card on which shall appear the driver's name and a photograph of the driver, which shall be attached to the identification card so that the photograph cannot be removed and another photograph substituted, without detection. Such identification card must, at all times, be displayed in the card frame of the taxicab which is being driven. When the driver is off duty, he shall remove the identification card from the taxicab.
B. 
Except as provided above, it shall be unlawful for any person to remove, alter or deface an identification card issued under this section.
[1]
Editor's Note: Former § 37-111, which pertained to a requirement that taxicab drivers wear a metal badge, was repealed 9-30-1996 by Ord. No. 1623.
[Amended 9-30-1996 by Ord. No. 1623]
A. 
Every taxicab driver shall maintain a daily manifest upon which is recorded all trips made each day, showing the time and place of origin and destination of each trip and the amount of fare charged for each trip. Such manifest shall also show the date thereof, the time that the driver begins work and the time that the driver leaves duty, and shall be signed by such driver and returned to the owner by such driver at the conclusion of his tour of duty. Such manifest shall be shown by the driver or the owner to any officer of the Department of Public Safety upon request. The forms for such manifest shall be furnished to the driver by the owner and shall be of a type approved by the Chief of Public Safety.
B. 
Every owner shall retain and preserve all taxicab drivers' manifests in a safe place for at least the calendar year next preceding the current calendar year, and such manifests shall be available to the City Manager or Chief of Public Safety upon request.
A taxicab driver shall transport passengers by the shortest route between the point or points of origin and destination, unless otherwise directed by the passenger.
No taxicab driver, while awaiting employment by passengers, shall stand his or her taxicab on any public street or place other than in a taxicab stand designated or established in accordance with § 36-180 of this code.
[Added 9-30-1996 by Ord. No. 1623]
Any violation of any provision of this chapter shall be a misdemeanor, punishable by not more than 90 days in jail and/or a $500 fine.