Arcata Municipal Code Art. 1 Vehicles for Hire

As used in this chapter, the following terms are defined as follows unless a particular provision expressly defines a term otherwise:

(a) The term "taxicabs" shall mean every vehicle for hire used to transport passengers wholly or primarily over the public streets of the City of Arcata. Destination and route of such taxicab transportation is under the direction of the passenger or other person who hired the taxicab. This vehicle is one of an appearance that is commonly used in this state for taxicabs, and is operated at rates per mile, or for waiting time, or both. A taxicab is hired on demand in response to calls from members of the general public. Vehicles shall maintain a Trip Log.

(b) The term "Lift Vehicle" shall mean a vehicle for hire used to transport passengers at a predetermined cost between locations that originate and/or terminate within the corporate limits of the City of Arcata, where said transport is for non medical, non-emergency use only. The route of such lift vehicle transportation shall not be under the direction of the passenger or any other person who hired the vehicle. A lift vehicle is hired by prescheduling at least two (2) hours in advance of pick up by members of the general public. A lift vehicle may provide wheelchair access but it may not provide gurney service. Oxygen assistance equipment shall be permitted on lift vehicles if such equipment is provided and maintained by the passenger or other client and not the lift vehicle operator or driver. Vehicles shall maintain a trip log.

(c) The term "Trip Log" shall mean all vehicles for hire shall carry a trip log when in service. This log shall show, name, time of call, time of pick-up, time of drop-off, origin and destination. All logs will be available for inspection upon request.

(d) All other vehicles or devices, whether motorized or non-motorized, that are in, upon, or by which any person or property is or may be transported or drawn upon a public street or highway, except used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks.

(a) No person owning or leasing a public vehicle for hire shall operate or cause or permit to be operated any such vehicle within the corporate limits of the City of Arcata, unless such person shall hold the appropriate permit as follows:

(1) A vehicle permit shall be required whenever said public vehicle for hire is operated to pick-up and/or drop-off passengers within the corporate limits of the City of Arcata;

(2) A business license shall be required whenever said public vehicle for hire is operated only to drop-off passengers within the corporate limits of the City of Arcata.

(b) Vehicle permits are issued pursuant to this Article. Business licenses are issued pursuant to Title VI, Chapter 1, Article 1 of the Arcata Municipal Code. In no case shall both a vehicle permit and a Business License be required. The vehicle permit or business license is required in addition to a vehicle for hire driver’s permit as Specified in Section 6120.

(a) An application for a vehicle permit may be obtained from the City Clerk’s office on forms provided by the City of Arcata. The City Council shall grant the vehicle permit in writing upon satisfactory showing by the applicant that he/she and his/her vehicle meets the following qualifications:

(1) The vehicle must meet all requirements of the Vehicle Code of the State of California in regard to equipment and mechanical condition specified for vehicles of the appropriate class.

(2) The vehicle must have posted in open view of the passenger an intelligible and legible statement of fares and charges to be made in the use of such vehicle.

(3) The owner or lessee of any public vehicle for hire must procure and maintain insurance against claims for injuries to persons or damages to property which may arise against him/her by the reason of the operation of such vehicle. The coverages, minimum limits of insurance, deductibles, and self-insured retentions, as well as all other insurance provisions, shall be for an amount satisfactory to the City. City reserves the right to require verification of coverage in a form acceptable to the City.

(4) It must appear that public convenience and necessity require the operation of the vehicle. To comply with this provision, the applicant must show that vehicles of the same kind already holding vehicle permits under this section are inadequate in number, unsatisfactory in service, or otherwise unable to provide transportation for hire commensurate with the demand for such transportation in the City of Arcata.

(5) Lift vehicles shall meet all of the requirements of the vehicle code of the State of California specified for vehicles of the appropriate class.

(b) Any vehicle permit issued under this Article shall have a duration of five years provided the annual vehicle permit fee therefore is paid in accordance with the provisions of this Article and subject to the right of the City Council to revoke or suspend each vehicle permit pursuant to the terms of this Article. Unless suspended or revoked, the vehicle permit shall be renewed upon application for renewal made to the Transit Office.

(c) Permit Fees. The owner or lessee of any vehicle operated with a vehicle permit under this Article shall pay to the City Clerk of the City of Arcata, an annual permit fee, as set forth in the Schedule of Fees adopted by resolution of the City Council, for each vehicle operated pursuant to the permit. No vehicle permit issued under the provisions of this Article shall be valid until the City Clerk of the City of Arcata endorses thereon an acknowledgment of the payment of such permit fee for the current year.

(a) No person shall operate, or cause or permit to be operated, any public vehicle for hire within the corporate limits of the City of Arcata whenever a vehicle permit for such vehicle for hire has been suspended or revoked as provided in this Article.

(b) The City Council may in its discretion, revoke or suspend a vehicle permit if the City Council determines that anyone of the following conditions exists:

(1) The permittee or his/her vehicle no longer meets any of the qualifications required for the vehicle permit; provided, however, that no vehicle permit shall be suspended or revoked upon the sole ground that public convenience or necessity no longer requires the operation of such vehicle.

(2) The permittee has been convicted as owner or lessee of a vehicle for hire of a violation of the restrictions imposed upon him/her under this section; or the permittee has become bankrupt.

(3) The permittee’s vehicle has ceased to be a fit and proper vehicle to be operated as a public vehicle for hire for any other reasonable cause.

(c) For the purpose of ascertaining whether any cause exists for the suspension or revocation of a vehicle permit under this section, the Chief of Police of the City of Arcata, may, and on direction of the City Council or upon complaint, shall investigate the conduct of permittee, the sufficiency and validity of his/her security, and the condition of his/her vehicle.

Under the following circumstances, the City Manager or his/her designee may permit vehicles to be operated as taxicabs within the corporate limits of the City of Arcata without having first obtained a vehicle permit:

(1) An emergency situation exists in which the current permit holder is not able to meet the demand for vehicle for hire service, or

(2) During the interim period between the time an existing permit holder’s permit lapses, is suspended or becomes revoked and the time the existing permit holder obtains a new permit or a new permit is issued to another party.

No person owning, operating or controlling any vehicle for hire shall demand, charge, collect or receive any greater fares or charges than those which shall be determined as fair and reasonable by the City Council of the City of Arcata for licensee under this Article. Said fares shall be set by said Council upon hearing by resolution.

(a) The City Council may from time to time, in its discretion and by resolution, fix, alter, change, amend or revise the charges and rates for vehicles for hire as may then appear to the Council as reasonable. The owner or lessee of any vehicle for hire shall be given an opportunity to show cause why or why not fares should be raised or lowered.

(b) Any owner or lessee of a vehicle for hire may at any time petition the City Council for a change in fares or charges.

No person driving or operating a public vehicle for hire shall, while operating such vehicle:

(a) Refuse without good cause to accept as a passenger any person desiring transportation who shall tender money sufficient to pay his/her fare to his/her stated destination.

(b) Attempt to secure passengers by shouts, cries, or loud noises, or by laying hands upon the person or baggage of any person without the consent of such person; or by obstructing the movements of, or persistently following any person; or by loitering or repeatedly driving his/her vehicle back and forth in the immediate neighborhood of any individual stand set apart for another vehicle than his/her own, or in the neighborhood of any place of especial public resort.

(c) Transport passengers to their stated destination over an unnecessarily circuitous route; provided that this provision shall not apply to sightseeing buses.

(d) Refuse to load and unload for any passenger such hand luggage as may not exceed the reasonable internal capacity of the vehicle, and such other baggage as may not reasonably exceed its capacity in trunk or top; or, after being requested, refuse to carry such baggage to or from such buildings as the passenger may enter or leave.

(e) Make false representations by work, act, conduct, or appearance regarding the name or identity of persons owning or leasing the public vehicle for hire he/she operates, or regarding his/her own identity; or refuse to give his/her name to any person requesting same.

(f) Refuse or fail, after being requested, to give a receipt for any fare paid.

(g) Fail or refuse to allow an appropriate deduction from any fare established by this Article for any time lost through disability or break-down of his/her vehicle, or through any private purpose of his/her own.

(h) Carry more than one person at a time in such vehicle unless every person to be carried in such vehicle consent thereto.

No person owning or leasing any public vehicle for hire shall, while such vehicle so owned or leased is being operated, fail to maintain, as to such vehicles, the qualifications required for a vehicle permit.

The Council may by resolution locate and designate vehicle for hire stands, which stands when so established shall be appropriately designated "Vehicle for Hire only".

Vehicle for hire stands established hereunder shall be in operation for twenty-four (24) hours every day.

Only two (2) vehicles for hire belonging to any one company or owner shall be permitted in any vehicle-for-hire stand at any one time.

It shall be unlawful for any vehicle for hire to remain standing in any established stand unless said vehicle for hire is attended by a driver or operator, except when said driver or operator is assisting passengers to load or unload, when answering his/her telephone, or when situated at a stand abutting the principal place of business of said vehicle for hire company.

No driver of any vehicle for hire shall park his/her vehicle for hire on any of the streets of this City, except for the purpose of loading and unloading passengers as it is herein provided, unless in a regularly established vehicle for hire stand.

The parking of vehicles other than vehicles for hire in regularly established vehicle for hire stands is prohibited.

No person shall operate a vehicle for hire for hire upon the streets of the City of Arcata, and no person who owns or controls a vehicle for hire shall permit it to be so driven, and no vehicle for hire licensed by the City of Arcata shall be so driven at any time for hire, unless the driver of said vehicle for hire shall have first obtained and shall have then in force a vehicle for hire driver’s permit issued under the provisions of this Article.

(a) An application for vehicle for hire driver’s permit may be obtained from the City Clerk’s office and shall be filed with the Chief of Police on forms provided by the City of Arcata; and such application shall be verified under oath and shall contain the following information:

(1) The names and addresses of four residents of the City of Arcata who have known the applicant for a period of one (1) year and who will vouch for the sobriety, honesty and general good character of the applicant.

(2) The experience of the applicant in the transportation of passengers.

(3) The educational background of the applicant.

(4) A concise history of his/her employment.

(5) Two I.D. photos and a driving record obtained from the California Department of Motor Vehicles.

(b) Each application shall be accompanied by a certificate from a reputable physician certifying that, in his/her opinion, the applicant is not inflicted with any disease or infirmity which might make him/her an unsafe or unsatisfactory driver. (Certificate form is provided with the application packet provided by the City.)

(c) At the time the application is filed, the applicant shall pay to the City Clerk such fee as may be established from time to time by resolution of the City Council.

(d) During the interim period between the time of application and the final approval, the Public Transportation Manager may issue a temporary drivers permit.

Before any application for a driver’s permit is evaluated by the Chief of Police, the applicant shall be required to pass a satisfactory examination as to his/her knowledge of the City of Arcata streets, including their layout and design. Said applicant must further show that he/she has a current motor vehicle operator’s permit issued by the State of California. Said examination shall be given by the Chief of Police.

The Police Department shall conduct an investigation of each applicant and a report of such investigation and a copy of the traffic and police record of the applicant, if any, shall be attached to the application for the consideration of the Chief of Police.

The Chief of Police shall upon consideration of the application and reports and certificate required to be attached thereto shall approve or reject the application.

If the application is rejected, the applicant may request a personal appearance before the Chief of Police to offer evidence why his/her application should be reconsidered.

Upon approval of an application for a driver’s permit the Chief of Police shall issue a license to the applicant which shall bear the name, address, age, signature and photograph of the applicant.

Such permit shall be in effect for the remainder of the calendar year. A permit for every calendar year thereafter shall issue upon the payment of a fee, as set forth in the Schedule of Fees adopted by Resolution of the City Council, unless the permit for the preceding year has been revoked. (Ord. 1193, eff. 7/31/1992)

Every driver licensed under this Article shall post his/her vehicle for hire driver’s permit in such a place as to be in full view of all passengers while such driver is operating a vehicle for hire.

The Chief of Police is hereby given the authority to suspend any driver’s permit issued under this Article for a driver’s failing or refusing to comply with the provisions of this Article, such suspension to last for a period of not more than 30 days. The Chief of Police is also given authority to revoke any driver’s permit for failure to comply with the provisions of this Article. However, a permit may not be revoked unless the driver has received notice and has had an opportunity to present evidence in his/her behalf.

Every driver permitted under this Article shall comply with all City, State and Federal laws. Failure to do so will justify the Chief of Police suspending or revoking a permit.

Any person who shall violate any of the provisions of this Article shall be guilty of an infraction.

Any person aggrieved by the suspension or revocation of a permit issued pursuant to this Article may appeal that decision to the Arcata City Council, whose decision shall be final. Every such appeal must be filed in writing with the City Clerk within 10 days of the action being appealed.