Exeter Municipal Code Ch. 5.28 For Hire Vehicles

Footnotes:

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State Law reference— For statutory provisions authorizing cities to license and regulate vehicles for hire, see Vehicle Code §§16501, 21100 and 21112; for provisions on the financial responsibility requirements of vehicles for hire, see Vehicle Code §16500.

For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings, respectively, as follows:

A. "Highway contract carriers," as used in this chapter, means every highway carrier, except a highway common carrier subject to regulation as such by the Railroad Commission under the Public Utilities Act of the state of California.

B. "Taxicab," as used in this chapter, includes every automobile or motor-propelled vehicle by means of which passengers are transported for hire upon any public street in the city, and not over a regular or defined route and irrespective of whether or not the operations extend beyond the boundary limits of the city, excepting vehicles of highway contract carriers as defined in this chapter.

(Ord. 149 §1(1), 1946)

Before any license for the operation of any taxicab or taxicabs shall be issued by the license collector, the applicant therefor shall file with the city council an application therefor which application shall set forth the following information:

A. The name and address of the applicant, and if the same is a corporation, the names of its principal officers, or if the same is a partnership, association or fictitious company, the names of the partners or persons comprising the association or company, with the address of each;

B. The trade name of each vehicle;

C. The motor and serial number of each vehicle;

D. State license number of each vehicle;

E. Seating capacity of each vehicle;

F. The street number and exact location of the place or places where the applicant proposes to stand each such automobile;

G. The schedule of rates or fares proposed to be charged for carrying passengers in such automobile;

H. The distinctive insignia, which shall be used on each such automobile.

(Ord. 149 §1 (4), 1946)

A. The city council shall within ten days after the filing of each application, either approve the same as made or they may, if deemed necessary by them in the public interest, change, or modify the same and authorize the issuance of such license upon the application as thus changed or modified.

B. Neither the insignia nor the schedule of rates or fares, as so approved, shall be thereafter changed or altered, except with the written consent of the city council first obtained.

(Ord. 149 §1 (5), 1946)

Before commencing the operation of any taxicab or taxicabs for which a license shall be issued hereunder, the licensee shall present to the city clerk evidence of his ability to respond in damages resulting from the ownership or operation of the vehicle and arising by reason of personal injury to, or death of, any one person of at least fifteen thousand dollars; and, subject to the limit of fifteen thousand dollars for each person injured or killed, of at least thirty thousand dollars for such injury to, or the death of, two or more persons in any one accident; and for damages to property, of at least five thousand dollars resulting from any one accident. Ability to respond in damages may be maintained by either:

A. Being insured under a motor vehicle liability policy against such liability;

B. Obtaining a bond of the same kind, and containing the same provisions, as those bonds specified in Section 16434 of the Vehicle Code of the state of California;

C. By depositing with the department thirty-five thousand dollars, which amount shall be deposited in a special deposit account with the State Controller for the purpose of this section;

D. Qualifying as a self-insurer under Section 16053 of the Vehicle Code of the state of California.

(Ord. 149 §1 (6), 1946; Ord. 379 §1, 1978)

For the business of operating any taxicab or taxicabs within the city, the license tax shall be as follows:

A. For each taxicab operated not exceeding five in number, three dollars and seventy-five cents per taxicab, payable quarterly;

B. For each taxicab in excess of five, two dollars per taxicab, payable quarterly.

(Ord. 149 §1 (3), 1946)

No taxicab shall be operated within the city unless it shall have permanently and conspicuously displayed upon the exterior thereof the word "Taxicab" or "Taxi," in letters at least four inches in height and so illuminated that the same shall be at all times clearly legible, both in the day and night time, or in lieu thereof, some other equally conspicuous and distinctive insignia approved by the city council.

(Ord. 149 §1 (2), 1946)

The following rules and regulations shall be observed by all persons operating any taxicab or taxicabs in the city and it is unlawful to operate any taxicab or taxicabs in the city in violation of any of the rules and regulations:

A. Every driver of a taxicab shall wear a distinctive hat or cap with a badge in plain sight inscribed with the name of the person to whom the license therefor has been issued, and shall at all times when operating or driving a taxicab have conspicuously displayed upon his person a suitable badge bearing his photograph, his registration number provided for in subsection H of this section, and his name in clearly legible type.

B. No more than one passenger shall be carried within the driver's compartment of any taxicab.

C. No taxicab shall remain standing upon any portion of any public street within the city except for loading and unloading passengers, and then not for a period of more than five minutes, excepting at such stand as may have been assigned to licensee pursuant to the provisions of this chapter.

D. No operator or owner of any taxicab shall solicit or take on or carry any passenger or passengers after such taxicab shall have been engaged, or while in use for another passenger, without the consent of the passenger first engaging the same, having been first obtained. A passenger or passengers engaging such taxicab shall have the exclusive right to full and free use of the passenger compartment and the whole thereof, if he desires the same.

E. The operator of any taxicab shall carry any passenger engaging the same safely and expeditiously to his destination by the most direct and accessible route.

F. No operator or driver of a taxicab shall solicit business within the city unless such taxicab shall have been duly licensed as provided in this chapter.

G. All taxicabs shall be kept in good mechanical condition.

H. No taxicab shall be operated by any person under the age of eighteen years, or by any person who does not possess a validly issued California state drivers license of a class which permits the operation of a vehicle for hire, or by any person who has not registered as a taxicab driver with, and been photographed and fingerprinted and provided with a registration number, by the police department, or by any person under the influence of intoxicating liquor, or by any person who is for any reason whatever unable or incompetent to safely handle such taxicab or by any person in violation of any law or ordinance now in force or that may hereinafter be enacted.

I. No owner or operator of any taxicab shall indulge in unfair competition with competitors or shall commit any fraud upon the public or other persons engaged in the same business, and the city council shall be the sole judge of what constitutes fraud or unfair competition under the provisions of this section.

J. Every taxicab shall have conspicuously posted in the passenger's compartment, the approved schedule of rates and charges for the hire of said vehicle, and the license issued therefor.

K. No shades or blinds shall be drawn over the windows of any taxicab while any passenger is in such vehicle.

L. No charge shall be made by any operator or owner of a taxicab for hire in excess of the approved rates posted in the passenger compartment of the car.

M. No taxicab shall be operated unless the passenger compartment be kept clean and in sanitary condition.

N. No taxicab shall be used for lewd or immoral purposes or for carrying passengers to or from houses of prostitution or assignation.

(Ord. 149 §1 (7), 1946; Ord. 438, 1981)

It is unlawful for any person to refuse to pay the legal fare for the hire of any taxicab in the hiring of the same, with the intent to defraud the person from whom it is hired.

(Ord. 149 §1 (9), 1946)

Any license issued under the provisions of this chapter may be revoked by the city council for violation of any of the rules and regulations set forth in this chapter.

(Ord. 149 §1 (8), 1946)

Any person, firm, or corporation violating any of the provisions of this chapter shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. For each vehicle for hire operated in violation of this chapter, the person operating the same shall be guilty of a separate offense.

(Ord. 149 §2, 1946)