[HISTORY: Adopted by the Township Committee of the Township of Hamilton
3-13-1989 by Ord. No. 988-89. Amendments noted where applicable.]
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings
indicated:
Any person who drives a taxicab within this township.
Of a taxicab, shall consist of transporting in such taxicab one or
more persons for hire along any of the streets in this township, accepting
a passenger to be transported for hire within this township or from a point
within the township to a point outside of the township limits. The operation
of a taxicab as above described 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 the sign therein or thereon using the words "taxi,"
"taxicab," "cab" or "hack" shall be prima facie evidence of operation.
Any person in whose name title to any taxicab is registered with
the New Jersey Division of Motor Vehicles or who appears in such record to
be the conditional vendee or licensee thereof.
Any individual, partnership, limited partnership, association, corporation
or joint-stock company and their lessees, trustees or receivers.
Includes any street, avenue, park, parkway, highway or other public
roadway, whether or not the same is improved.
Any automobile or motorcar, commonly called a "taxi," "cab" or "hack",
duly licensed by the township and 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 Township of Hamilton
and which accepts passengers for transportation from points or places within
the township to points or places within or without said township; provided,
however, that nothing herein contained shall include autobuses or buses on
designated routes, public deliveries or jitneys or such public conveyances
as are by law exclusively subject to state and/or federal regulation.
The Township of Hamilton, Atlantic County, New Jersey.
There are hereby established two classes of taxicab licenses, to be
known as "taxicab owner's license" and "taxicab driver's license."
A.
Taxicab owner's license. A taxicab owner's license shall
entitle the taxicab therein described to pick up passengers within the township
and otherwise to be lawfully operated anywhere within this township by a driver
duly licensed hereunder and by the New Jersey Division of Motor Vehicles until
either of said licenses either expire or are surrendered, suspended or revoked
and shall not be transferable. There shall be no limit to the number of taxicab
owner's licenses issued.
B.
Taxicab driver's license. A taxicab driver's license
shall entitle the person named therein to operate within this township any
taxicab duly licensed hereunder and by the New Jersey Division of Motor Vehicles
until either of said licenses either expires or is surrendered, suspended
or revoked and shall not be transferable. There shall be no limit to the number
of taxicab driver's licenses issued.
[Amended 8-21-2006 by Ord. No. 1570-2006]
A.
Applications for licenses shall be made in writing, upon
forms provided by the Township of Hamilton, signed by the applicant before
a notary public or another person duly authorized to administer oaths and
filed with the Municipal Clerk. Said applications shall be accompanied by
the following:
(1)
The name, date of birth and residence of the applicant.
(a)
If a partnership, the names, dates of birth, ages and
residences of all partners, along with the business address of the partnership.
(b)
If a corporation, the names, dates of birth, and residences
of its president, secretary and treasurer. Application by a corporation shall
be signed in its name by the president and attested by the secretary.
B.
The serial number, type, color, year and make of the
taxicab, the state registration number, number of doors on said vehicle and
number of persons the vehicle can carry as passengers.
C.
A copy of the vehicle's registration card.
D.
Insurance requirements.
(1)
A policy of insurance, with the premium prepaid thereon,
written by an insurance company duly licensed to transact business under the
insurance laws of the State of New Jersey, such policy shall be conditioned
for payment of a sum required to satisfy all claims for damage by reason of
bodily injury to or the death of all persons or property damage as follows:
(a)
Up to six-passenger vehicle: not less than $300,000 combined
single limit.
(2)
The operation shall be permitted only so long as the
insurance policy remains in full force and effect as to the full and collectable
amount of $300,000. Taxicab owners, or anyone on their behalf, shall not undertake
to cancel or have canceled any such policy without giving the Municipal Clerk
10 days' notice of their intention to do so.
(3)
The insurance policy shall provide for the payment of
any final judgment covered by any person on account of the ownership, maintenance
and use of such taxicab upon any public street or any fault in respect thereto
and shall be for the benefit of every person suffering loss, damage or injury
as aforesaid.
(4)
Every person operating a taxicab equipped with seatbelts
who is transporting a child under the age of eight years and weighing less
than 80 pounds on roadways, streets, or highways of this Township shall secure
the child in a child passenger restraint system or booster seat, as described
in Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard Number 213, in a rear seat, in compliance
with N.J.S.A. 39:3-76.2a,
E.
Power of attorney. No taxicab owner's or driver's
license shall be issued until the applicant has delivered to the Municipal
Clerk, concurrently with the filing of the application and insurance policy
referred to herein, a power of attorney executed by said applicant wherein
and whereby the applicant shall appoint the Municipal Clerk for the Township
as his or her 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.
F.
Each applicant for a taxicab owner's license shall
be required to pay to the Township, along with the application, whatever sum
of money charged by the State of New Jersey to process a name check for any
criminal record. No application for a taxicab owner's license shall be
approved until such time as the applicant has issued a form of consent and
release so as to permit the Hamilton Township Police Department to conduct
such investigation as may be required in order to determine that the applicant
substantially complies with the meaning, intent and purpose of this chapter.
G.
Each applicant shall provide a list of current fares
charged.
H.
The location of the business, if located in the Township
of Hamilton, must be approved by the Zoning Officer prior to the issuing of
the license.
I.
The owner and operator of each taxicab operating in the
Township shall keep the taxicab in good running order so that it makes a presentable
appearance and is in compliance with all current Division of Motor Vehicle
(DMV) regulations. The owner of each taxicab shall have each taxicab presented
to the Chief of Police or his designee prior to the issuance or renewal of
the taxicab owner's license and thereafter upon the request of the Chief
of Police or his designee so that it may be inspected to determine whether
it complies with the provisions of this chapter.
J.
Each taxicab shall have permanently affixed on the outside
of the taxicab, on both sides thereof, the word "taxi," "cab," "hack" or "taxicab"
in letters at least four inches high, as well as the name under which the
owner is operating the vehicle. Every taxicab so licensed shall have a decal
or other form of identification placed on the vehicle in a format, location
and a size to be prescribed by the Township which clearly identifies that
the vehicle is duly licensed in Hamilton Township.
K.
A nonrefundable taxicab owner's license fee of $50
per year. This license is nontransferable and shall be valid from its date
of issue until December 31 of the same year. Thereafter, a renewal license
shall be valid for one year from January 1 until December 31. There will be
no proration of the fee.
[Amended 8-21-2006 by Ord. No. 1570-2006]
A.
Applications for licenses shall be made in writing, upon
forms provided by the Township of Hamilton, signed by the applicant before
a notary public or another person duly authorized to administer oaths and
filed with the Municipal Clerk. Said applications shall contain or be accompanied
by the following:
B.
A valid New Jersey driver's license.
C.
The driver will be responsible for obtaining a certified
driver's abstract directly from the Division of Motor Vehicle. Abstract history
must contain the five years previous to the date of application.
D.
Each applicant for a taxicab driver's license shall
be required to pay to the Township, along with the application, whatever sum
of money charged by the State of New Jersey to process a name check for any
criminal record. No application for a taxicab driver's license shall
be approved until such time as the applicant has issued a form of consent
and release so as to permit the Hamilton Township Police Department to conduct
such investigation as may be required in order to determine that the applicant
substantially complies with the meaning, intent and purpose of this chapter.
E.
A certificate from a licensed physician of the State
of New Jersey, at the applicant's expense, certifying that the applicant
has been examined within the preceding 30 days and that such applicant has
no infirmity of body or mind, or visual impairment or deficiency, which might
render the applicant unfit for the safe operation of a taxicab.
F.
Two recent photographs, being not less than 1 1/4
inches in height by 1 3/4 inches in length, of the applicant.
G.
A nonrefundable taxicab driver's license fee of
$50 per year. This license is nontransferable and shall be valid from its
date of issue until December 31 of the same year. Thereafter, a renewal license
shall be valid for one year from January 1 until December 31. There will be
no proration of the fee.
The licenses herein provided for shall be signed by the Township Clerk
and shall have the Township Seal affixed thereto. The Township Clerk shall
not issue any license until the application therefor has been approved by
the Mayor and Township Committee and the conditions precedent, including but
not limited to compliance with all applicable governmental regulations; the
payment of the license fees and, in the case of a taxicab owner's license,
filing of the policy of insurance herein provided for shall have been complied
with in full.
[Amended 8-21-2006 by Ord. No. 1570-2006]
A.
The fee to be paid for a taxicab owner's license shall
be the sum of $50 per year. The license shall be effective for a period from
January 1 to December 31 of each year.
B.
The fee to be paid for the taxicab driver's license shall
be the sum of $50 per year. The license shall be effective for the period
from January 1 to December 31 of each year.
C.
The Township Committee herewith determines that these
fees are not in any manner designed to be revenue raising, but only to defray
in whole or in part the additional administrative costs imposed upon the municipality
in the administration of this chapter.
D.
All licenses are nontransferable.
The Township Clerk shall keep a register of all licenses granted under
the provisions of this chapter, which register shall show the character of
the license, its number, date of issue, name of person licensed and any other
information pertaining thereto.
Each applicant granted a taxicab driver's license as required by this
chapter shall be issued a license card in evidence thereof in a form approved
by the Mayor and Township Committee of the Township of Hamilton and signed
by the Township Clerk on its behalf. Said license card shall at all times
be carried by the driver while operating a vehicle as provided in this chapter.
In addition, the owner of the vehicle shall furnish a card with the name of
the driver, which shall at all times be prominently displayed and adequately
posted in the interior of any vehicle 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 vehicle, and there shall be
affixed to such card in full view of such passengers a photograph, of a size
not less than 1 1/4 inches in height and 1 3/4 inches in length,
of such licensed driver, together with a photograph of the licensed owner
of such vehicle of the same size, and each of such photographs shall have
indicated thereon the words "licensed taxicab owner" or "licensed taxicab
driver," as the case may be.
No vehicle as provided for in this chapter shall hereafter be operated
in this township unless and until there is prominently displayed in the interior
thereof, within full view and access of any passengers therein, a copy of
the taxicab owner's license and a complete list of fares, charges or tariff
rates charged for transportation of passengers, which fares, charges or tariff
rate so displayed, and no other, shall be those charged any passenger so transported.
No owner or driver of any taxicab shall induce any person to employ
him by knowingly misinforming or misleading any such person as to time and
place of arrival or departure of any airplane or other regularly scheduled
mode of transportation or as to the location of any hotel, motel, public place
or private residence within this township, nor shall any owner or driver deceive
any person or make false representations to any person or convey any passenger
to any other place or over any street other than that to which the passenger
may have instructed the driver to go. Every owner and/or driver shall be responsible
to see to it that all passengers are carried in a safe and responsible manner
and by using a reasonable and direct route from point of origin to point of
destination.
Owners and drivers of taxicabs licensed out of the jurisdiction of this
township may be allowed to bring their taxicabs into this township, but on
specific call only, whether transporting a passenger within this township
to a point outside the limits or discharging a passenger transported from
a point outside of the township limits to a point within the limits, and the
name of the passenger so calling him shall be given to the owner or driver
when requested by the township police or other lawful persons. Such taxicabs
shall not be parked in this township, nor shall the drivers thereof cruise
on the streets of this township at any time for the purpose of soliciting
passengers, nor shall they, in the nighttime or other periods of darkness,
when in this township, permit any advertising lights on the taxicab to remain
lighted; provided, however, that the same or similar substantial reciprocal
rights are granted to owners and drivers of taxicabs licensed in this township
by the municipalities in which the aforesaid owners or drivers are licensed.
The Township Committee may, in its discretion, refuse to issue or renew
or may, after notice and hearing, revoke or suspend:
A.
Any taxicab owner's license, if the motor vehicle licensed
or to be licensed, by reason of unsafe or unsanitary conditions, is dangerous
to the safety or health of the occupants or others, or if the policy of insurance
referred to in this chapter has not been maintained at all times.
B.
Any taxicab owner's license or driver's license, if the
license or applicant has in any degree contributed to any injury to persons
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 or taxicab driver's license,
if a licensee has failed or fails to render reasonable, prompt, safe and adequate
taxicab service or has not complied fully with all requirements of this chapter
or such class of license.
Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to exempt any person, firm
or corporation owning or operating a taxicab from complying with the laws
relating to the ownership, regulation and operation of automobiles in the
State of New Jersey.
In the event that a taxicab is being operated by a party who does not
have a taxicab driver's license as defined in this chapter, both the driver
and the owner of the taxicab shall be subject to the penalty provisions as
set forth in this chapter.
Every person or persons, firm or corporation found guilty in the Municipal
Court of violating any of the provisions of this chapter shall be liable to
pay a fine of not less than $50 nor more than $500 and/or be imprisoned for
a period not to exceed 30 days. A continuation of such violation for each
successive day shall constitute a separate offense, and the person or persons,
firm or corporation allowing or permitting the continuation of a violation
may be punished as provided above for each offense.
All ordinances or parts of ordinances inconsistent herewith are hereby
repealed, which shall include by description but not limitation, Ordinance
No. 112, adopted June 17, 1946, and previously cited this chapter.
