Every licensed vehicle shall have exhibited to its passengers
in a conspicuous place and manner:
Every driver of a taxicab, immediately after the termination
of any hiring or employment, must carefully search such taxicab for
any property lost or left therein, and any such property, unless sooner
claimed or delivered to the owner, must be reported within 24 hours,
in writing, by the driver or owner of the taxicab to the Police Department,
with brief particulars and description of the property.
The driver of any taxicab shall, upon demand by the passenger,
render to such passenger a receipt for the amount charged, on which
shall be the name of the owner, driver, the taxicab license number,
the amount of the charge, date and time of the transaction and the
point of origin and destination.
No person, other than the licensed driver of the taxicab, shall
ride or sit in the front seat of the taxicab unless the rear is fully
occupied by the passengers, except when, for physical or health reasons,
a passenger must sit in the front seat.
No holder or driver shall knowingly permit his/her taxicab to
be used for any illegal or immoral purposes, under penalty of suspension
or, after hearing, revocation of the holder's or driver's license,
or both, and such other penalty as may be provided.
A.
No driver of a taxicab shall induce any person to employ him/her
by knowingly misinforming or misleading such person either as to the
time or place of the arrival or departure of any train, plane, bus
or boat or as to the location of any hotel, public place or private
residence within the Township or as to the distance between any two
points, nor shall any such driver deceive any person or make any false
representation to him/her or convey any passenger to any other place
or over any route other than that to which such passenger may have
instructed the driver to go. Unless otherwise ordered, passengers
shall be conveyed only over the most practical direct route to their
destination.
B.
No driver shall delay an immediate departure or otherwise accommodate
additional passengers without the permission of the first passenger
to hire the taxicab.
Taxicab drivers, while engaged in the operation of a taxicab,
shall behave in a civil and orderly manner and shall not use any indecent,
profane or abusive language.
Taxicab drivers shall not receive or discharge passengers in
the roadway without pulling their taxicabs as close as possible to
the right-hand sidewalk or, in the absence of a sidewalk, to the extreme
right-hand side of the road and there receive or discharge passengers.
On one-way streets, passengers may be discharged at either the right-
or left-hand sidewalk or side of roadway where no sidewalk exists.
All persons engaged in the taxicab business in the Township
operating under the provisions of this chapter shall render an overall
service to the public desiring to use taxicabs. They shall answer
all calls received by them for services inside the corporate limits
of the Township as soon as they can do so, and if the services cannot
be rendered within a reasonable time, they shall then notify the prospective
passenger how long it will be before the call can be answered and
give the reason therefor. Any licensee or driver who shall refuse
to accept a call anywhere in the corporate limits of the Township
at any time when such licensee has available cab(s), or who shall
fail or refuse to give overall service, shall be deemed a violator
of this chapter, and the license or permit granted to such holder
may, after a hearing, be revoked.
Taxi drivers shall not use the horns of their vehicles to alert
customers of their arrivals. Violation of this provision shall constitute
a violation of this chapter and a violation of N.J.S.A. 39:3-69.
A.
No taxicab, while waiting for employment by passengers, shall stand
on any public street or space other than at or upon a taxicab stand
designated or established in accordance with this chapter, nor shall
any driver of such taxicab seek employment by repeatedly and persistently
driving his/her taxicab 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, railroad station or
other place of public gathering.
B.
No driver shall solicit passengers for a taxicab except when sitting
upon the driver's seat thereof.
C.
No driver shall solicit employment in the transportation of passengers
by driving in or through any public street or public place at a slow
rate of speed, commonly designated as "cruising," except in such areas
and at such times as may be designated by the Business Administrator.
Such areas and times shall only be designated when the Business Administrator
finds that taxicab cruising would not congest traffic or be dangerous
to pedestrians or other vehicles.
D.
No driver shall solicit patronage in a loud tone of voice or in any
manner to annoy any person or obstruct the movement of any person
or to follow any person for the purpose of soliciting patronage.
No taxicab driver shall stand in front of the entrance to any
building within the prohibited space after his/her passengers desiring
to leave have alighted or attempt to stand in a prohibited space waiting
for passengers.
Subject to any rules and regulations of the Business Administrator,
it shall be unlawful for any taxicab to stand in any restricted area
or any area which is controlled by parking meters or at the curb within
15 feet of the entrance to any theater, hotel, restaurant or other
public place.
A.
No driver shall permit any other person to occupy or ride a taxicab
unless the person(s) first employing a taxicab shall consent to the
acceptance of an additional passenger(s); provided, however, that
an additional passenger(s) shall not be accepted if they are of a
different sex than the passenger first employing the taxicab.
B.
No charge shall be made for an additional passenger, except when
the additional passenger rides beyond the previous passenger's
destination, and then for only the additional distance so traveled.
Upon reading the original passenger's destination, the driver
shall collect his/her fare, and the passenger shall be charged as
if the additional distance traveled were a new trip.
No driver shall permit more persons to be carried in a taxicab
as passengers than the number of seat belts available for such passengers.
It shall be a violation of this chapter for any driver of a
taxicab to solicit business for any hotels, motels, rooming houses,
bars, taverns, restaurants, theaters and the like or to attempt to
divert patronage from one such place to another. Neither shall such
driver engage in selling intoxicating liquors or solicit business
for any house of ill repute or use his/her vehicle for any purposes
other than the transporting of passengers.
Each taxicab owner shall establish a dress code for the operators
of his/her taxicabs. Each operator of a taxicab shall conform to the
dress code as established by the owner of the taxicab. The establishment
of a dress code shall include the wearing of a clean, pressed shirt
or blouse and trousers or skirt and, in cooler weather, a uniform-type
blazer or a jacket and chauffeur's cap. Each licensed taxicab
driver, while on duty, shall be clean in person and free from offensive
odors. Each driver shall maintain the vehicle in a repaired condition,
free of debris and offensive odors and safe for the transportation
of passengers. Each driver shall refrain from smoking while transporting
passengers, unless permission of all passengers has been obtained.
A driver shall not refuse a passenger because such passenger objects
to the driver smoking tobacco. Each driver who objects to the smoking
of tobacco by passengers shall have conspicuously posted a notice
of such prohibition as required by N.J.S.A. 20:33-13.
A.
Every licensee shall require the driver to keep a daily record, identified
by the cab number of the cab used that day and the license number
of the driver, of the time and place when and where the passenger
was accepted, as well as the time and place of the discharge of the
passenger, together with the fare received for the trip, which record
the licensee shall keep intact for 180 days from the date thereof
and shall be kept open at all times for inspection by a duly authorized
representative of the Police Department or Business Administrator.
B.
Every licensee shall record in a book kept solely for such purpose
the time of departure from the garage or cab stand of every licensed
vehicle, giving the name and address of the driver thereof, his/her
license number, the license number of the vehicle and the time of
the return to the garage or cab stand of each such vehicle, which
book shall be kept open for inspection at all times to a duly authorized
representative of the Police Department or Business Administrator.
A taxicab driver shall cooperate with law enforcement officers
in the performance of his/her duty. A taxicab driver shall not conceal
evidence of a crime, nor voluntarily aid violators to escape arrest.
A taxi driver shall report immediately to the police any attempt to
use his/her vehicle to commit a crime or escape from the scene of
a crime.
A.
Every driver licensed under this chapter shall comply with all Township,
state and federal laws, the violation of which reflects unfavorably
upon the fitness of such driver to engage in public transportation.
Failure to do so will justify the Business Administrator in suspending
or, after hearing, revoking the license.
B.
If, at any time within the licensed year, a taxicab driver has been
found guilty of a high misdemeanor, misdemeanor or has permitted his/her
taxicab to be used for any illegal or immoral purpose, the Business
Administrator may immediately suspend or, after hearing, revoke the
driver's license.
A.
Every vehicle operating under this chapter shall be periodically
inspected, at such intervals as the Business Administrator may direct,
to insure the continued maintenance of safe operating conditions.
B.
Every vehicle operating under this chapter shall be kept in a clean
and sanitary condition.
C.
Any vehicle on the streets of the Township in violation of this section
may be removed from the streets by the Police Department. If the vehicle
is not returned to service in accordance with the provisions of this
section within 90 days, the Business Administrator may suspend or,
after hearing, revoke the taxicab license.
Side curtains or shades shall not be permitted on any taxicab
licensed in the Township.
A.
No vehicle covered by the terms of this chapter shall be licensed
if, in a manner which is misleading or tends to deceive or defraud
the public, its color scheme, name, monogram or insignia shall be
in conflict with, or, in the opinion of the Business Administrator,
imitates, any color scheme, name, monogram or insignia used by any
other person operating a taxicab(s). Any taxicab license issued under
the terms of this chapter shall be subject to suspension or revocation
by the Business Administrator if any change is made with regard to
the color scheme, name, monogram or insignia of any vehicle, in any
manner tending to deceive or defraud the public, which, in the opinion
of the Business Administrator, imitates any color scheme, name, monogram
or insignia used by any other person operating a taxicab(s).
B.
It shall be unlawful and a violation of this chapter for any person
to operate any vehicle not licensed under this chapter in such a manner
as to be misleading or tending to deceive or defraud the public into
believing the vehicle is a licensed taxicab or is being operated as
a licensed taxicab.
Any change of address of any owner or driver licensed under
the provisions of this chapter must be reported, in writing, to the
Township Clerk's office within 72 hours of such change. The loss
of the license badge or any other book or document required to be
kept by any licensed owner or driver must be reported to the Township
Clerk's office, in writing, within 24 hours of such loss. In
the event any licensed driver terminates his/her employment as such
driver, he/she shall return the license, badge or any other paper
or documents in his/her possession furnished to him/her by the Township
Clerk to the Clerk's office within 72 hours of such termination.
It shall be unlawful for any person owning or operating any
taxicab in the Township, licensed under the provisions of this chapter,
to permit such taxicab to be operated by any person who does not hold
a valid driver's permit as required by this chapter.
