Chapter 5.36
TAXICABS
Sections:
5.36.020 Permit – Requirements.
5.36.030 Permit – Revocation or suspension.
5.36.040 Permit – Cause for revocation or suspension.
5.36.050 Permit – Duration and renewal.
5.36.070 Fares and charges – Determination.
5.36.080 Fares and charges – Changes.
5.36.090 Standards of conduct.
5.36.010 Permit – Required.
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 Mt. Shasta, unless he shall hold a permit, known as a vehicle permit, for such vehicle as provided in this section; and no such person shall operate, or cause or permit to be operated, any such vehicles within the corporate limits of the City of Mt. Shasta under or by virtue of any vehicle permit which has been suspended or revoked as provided in this chapter. (Ord. 407 § 39(a), 1983)
5.36.020 Permit – Requirements.
Such vehicle permit shall be granted in writing by the City Council upon application in writing, and upon satisfactory showing by the applicant that he and his vehicle are possessed of the following qualifications, and that public convenience and necessity as hereinafter in this section specified make expedient the apportion of his/her vehicle:
(A) The vehicle must meet all requirements of the Vehicle Code of the State of California in regard to equipment and mechanical condition;
(B) 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;
(C) The owner or lessee of any public vehicle for hire must secure his/her ability to answer to any claim for damage to person or property which may arise against him by reason of the operation of such vehicle to the extent determined and set by resolution of the City Council. Such security may be by insurance policy, or by surety bond issued by a licensed bonding corporation. In either case, the form of the security and the reliability of the company issuing it shall meet with the approval of the City Council;
(D) 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 Mt. Shasta. (Ord. CCO-99-01, 1999; Ord. 407 § 39(b), 1983)
5.36.030 Permit – Revocation or suspension.
The vehicle permit required by this section may be revoked or suspended by the City Council, as its sound and reasonable discretion may determine, if it shall appear to the City Council that any of the following conditions exist:
(A) That any of the qualifications required for the granting of the vehicle permit are no longer met by permittee of his vehicle; provided, however, that no vehicle permit shall be suspended or revoked upon the ground that public convenience or necessity no longer require the operation of such vehicle;
(B) That permittee has been convicted of any violation of restrictions imposed upon him as owner or lessee under this chapter; or that he has become bankrupt;
(C) That for any other reasonable cause the permittee’s vehicle has ceased to be a fit and proper vehicle to be operated as a public vehicle for hire. (Ord. 407 § 39(c), 1983)
5.36.040 Permit – Cause for revocation or suspension.
For the purpose of ascertaining whether any cause exists for the suspension or revocation of a vehicle permit under this chapter, the Chief of Police of the City of Mt. Shasta may, and on direction of the City Council or upon complaint shall, cause strict inquiry to be made into the conduct of permittee, the sufficiency and validity of his/her security, and the condition of his/her vehicle. (Ord. 407 § 39(d), 1983)
5.36.050 Permit – Duration and renewal.
Any permit issued under this chapter shall have a duration of five years, provided the annual license fee therefor is paid in accordance with the provisions of this chapter and subject to the right of the City Council to revoke or suspend each vehicle permit pursuant to the terms of this chapter. Unless suspended or revoked, it shall be renewed upon application for renewal. (Ord. 407 § 39(e), 1983)
5.36.060 Permit – Fees.
The owner or lessee of any vehicle obtaining any permit under this chapter shall pay unto the City Clerk of the City of Mt. Shasta an annual license fee of $30.00 for each vehicle operated pursuant to this chapter and holding a vehicle permit. No vehicle permit issued under the provisions of this chapter shall be valid until the City Clerk of the City of Mt. Shasta shall endorse thereon an acknowledgment of the payment of such license fee for the current year. Such fees shall be paid unto the City Clerk on or before the first day of January of each year. (Ord. 407 § 39(f), 1983)
5.36.070 Fares and charges – Determination.
No person owning, operating or controlling any taxicab 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 Mt. Shasta for franchise holders under this chapter. Said fares shall be set by said Council upon hearing by resolution. (Ord. 407 § 40, 1983)
5.36.080 Fares and charges – Changes.
(A) Any owner or lessee of any taxicab may at any time petition the City Council for an alteration of fares or charges, and upon such petition or upon its own motions, the City Council may by resolution and its sound discretion establish at any time such other or altered fares or charges as may then appear to it just and reasonable.
(B) 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 taxicabs as herein or hereinafter established and fixed. The owner or lessee of any taxicab must be given opportunity to show just cause why or why not fares should be raised or lowered.
(C) Any person collecting or receiving more than the fares or charges which now are or hereafter may be established under this section shall be bound to return the excess of such fare or charge to the person from whom it was collected. (Ord. CCO-96-07 § 41, 1996; Ord. 407 § 41, 1983)
5.36.090 Standards of conduct.
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 fare to his 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 vehicle back and forth in the immediate neighborhood of any individual stand set apart for another vehicle than his own, or in the neighborhood of any place of especial public resort;
(C) Transport passengers to their stated destination over any 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 word, act, conduct, or appearance regarding the name or identity of persons owning or leasing the public vehicle for hire he operates, or regarding his own identity; or refuse to give his 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 chapter for any time lost through disability or breakdown of his vehicle, or through any private purpose of his own;
(H) Carry more than one person at a time in such vehicle unless every person to be carried in such vehicle consents thereto. (Ord. 407 § 42, 1983)
5.36.100 Maintenance.
No person owning or leasing any public vehicle for hire shall, while such vehicle so owned or leased is being operated:
(A) Fail to maintain as to such vehicles the qualifications required for a vehicle permit;
(B) Violation of this chapter shall constitute an infraction, and shall follow code enforcement procedures and penalties set forth in Chapter 1.03 MSMC. (Ord. CCO-20-04 §§ 2, 3, 2020; Ord. CCO-95-04, 1995; Ord. 407 § 43, 1983)