No person may drive a vehicle for hire while
drinking from an open container which contains any alcoholic beverage
while driving upon any roadway or in any place to which members of
the public have access as invitees or licensees. No passenger shall
be allowed to drink alcoholic beverages while being transported, taking
into consideration the safety and lives of the general public, the
safety of the driver or damage to the vehicle for hire.
The driver shall seek the assistance of any
police officer, who shall assist the driver in any lawful way and
if, in possession of the necessary evidence of any criminal behavior,
shall prosecute the offending passengers.
No driver shall operate a vehicle for hire recklessly,
or in an unsafe manner, or in disregard to statute law, bylaws and
rules and regulations of the Town of Falmouth governing the operation
of motor vehicles or in disregard for public safety.
A vehicle for hire shall be a nonsmoking motor
vehicle.
No person having charge of a vehicle for hire,
(classified as a taxicab), shall take up or carry any passenger after
the vehicle for hire has been occupied or engaged by a prior passenger
without such consent of such prior passenger. In the event subsequent
passengers are taken up, the first passenger shall pay the metered
fare from the point he/she was picked up to his/her drop point, where
the meter shall be reset and the subsequent passenger shall be responsible
for the metered fare from that point. The first passenger shall not
be obliged, or requested to pay an extra fare or fee for refusing
to share a vehicle for hire.
No driver shall speak in an obscene, boisterous,
loud or abusive manner while he/she is engaged in providing service
to passengers. Nor shall the driver threaten, harass or abuse any
passenger or use or attempt to use physical force against a passenger
except in self-defense.
The driver shall take passenger(s) to his/her
destination by the shortest reasonable route unless the passenger
requests a different route or unless the driver proposed a faster
alternative route which the passenger agrees to. The driver shall
comply with all reasonable and lawful routing requests of the passenger
unless it is impossible or unsafe for the driver to comply.
A driver shall give the correct change to a
passenger who has paid the fare. A driver shall be capable of making
change for a twenty-dollar bill.
Upon completion of a trip, the driver shall,
on request, give a receipt to a passenger for the amount charged,
either by an automatic printed receipt or by a specially prepared
receipt approved by the Examiner. The receipt shall contain:
Should a passenger refuse to pay the fare, the
driver shall proceed directly to the nearest police station, present
the facts and follow the officer's instructions for resolving the
dispute. A complaint can be sought by the driver under MGL c. 159A,
§ 16, for fare evasion.
The driver and/or the owner may be personally
liable for any loss of property suffered by passengers if after a
determination by the Examiner that the loss of property was caused
by the intentional misconduct or negligence of the driver or owner
of the vehicle for hire.
A.
A driver having charge of a vehicle for hire in a
public place shall be hygienically clean and suitably dressed.
B.
Drivers shall have a neat and well-groomed appearance.
C.
A driver shall not use or permit another to use his/her
vehicle for any indecent or unlawful purpose.
D.
A driver shall, upon request, give his/her name and
vehicle for hire operator's license number to a passenger or a prospective
passenger.
F.
A driver shall cooperate with law enforcement officers
in the performance of their duty. He or she shall not conceal evidence
of a crime nor voluntarily aid violators to escape arrest. He/she
shall report immediately to the police any attempt to use his vehicle
to commit a crime or escape from the scene of the crime.
G.
A driver shall not permit anyone who is not a passenger
to sit anywhere in the vehicle. A driver shall not sit in any part
of the vehicle except the front seat, unless obtaining consent from
the passengers to enter the passenger compartment of the vehicle.
A driver shall be courteous to fellow drivers.
I.
Trip log. A trip log may exist in any form so long
as it is bound and readily legible. It shall be neat in appearance
and kept in day and chronological format. It shall contain pick-up
points, destinations and number of passengers transported. It shall
also contain any period of time in which the vehicle was left unattended
and the reason, equipment failures and vehicle maintenance scheduled
during a driver's shift, accidents involving the vehicle, any police
intervention and result of said intervention and the beginning and
ending time of the driver's shift.
J.
A driver shall appear as in his/her photograph displayed
on the vehicle for hire operator license. Where the photograph shows
eyeglasses, hearing aids, mustache, beard, etc., they shall be worn.
New photographs shall be submitted forthwith if the driver's appearance
is changed.
K.
No other vehicle for hire operator's license shall
be displayed other than the driver currently operating the vehicle.
L.
A driver shall not permit any other person to operate
the vehicle in which he/she is dispatched unless such relief is ordered
by the owner or dispatcher.
M.
No driver shall operate a vehicle for hire more than
twelve (12) hours in any continuous twenty-four-hour period.
N.
No driver shall operate a vehicle for hire while his/her
Massachusetts driver's license is expired suspended or revoked.
All complaints shall be reduced to writing, signed under the penalties of perjury and forwarded to the office of the Examiner. All complaints received by the Examiner shall be investigated, except complaints against policy set forth in these rules and regulations and those allegations too trivial to dignify as true complaints. The Examiner will initiate a preliminary investigation to determine if a violation of the these rules and regulations have occurred; if so, the offense, the responsible party (parties), the extent of damages (compensatory, personal injury, property damage) and the appropriate enforcement action. Enforcement action shall not be limited to § 280-24 of these rules and regulations. Any violation of these rules and regulations actionable under state and federal law may result in criminal and or civil prosecution in the appropriate court of jurisdiction. The Examiner shall maintain a vehicle for hire complaint file and shall annually forward said complaints to the Board of Selectmen.
