The following rules and regulations shall be observed by all persons operating taxicabs or automobiles for hire, and no person shall operate any taxicab or automobile for hire in violation of any of the following rules. (The term "taxicab" wherever used in this section shall include automobile for hire.)
(A) Any person operating 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 permit has been issued. This division shall not apply to any individual to whom a permit has been issued when driving his or her own car.
(B) No taxicab shall remain standing upon any portion of any public street within the city except for loading and unloading passengers and then for a period of not more than five minutes, excepting at a stand authorized by the Council. This subsection shall not apply to any taxicab while the same is engaged by a passenger.
(C) No operator or owner of a taxicab shall solicit or pick up any passenger after such taxicab has been engaged by another, without the latter’s consent.
(D) The operator of a taxicab shall carry passengers to their destination by the most direct and accessible route.
(E) No owner or operator of a taxicab shall solicit patronage for the same from the vehicle or within 100 yards therefrom, upon any public street or sidewalk, save and except at railroad or bus stops.
(F) All taxicabs shall be kept in good mechanical condition and operated in a careful and prudent manner.
(G) (1) No person shall operate a taxicab in the city without first having obtained a Corona taxicab driver’s permit, issued in writing by the Chief of Police.
(2) Each applicant for a Corona permit shall file an application therefor with the Police Department, accompanied by the fee established by resolution of the City Council. No permit shall be issued to any driver or operator under the age of 18 years, to any person who has been convicted of a felony, to any person who within a period of two years immediately preceding such application has been convicted of reckless driving or of driving a vehicle upon a highway while under the influence of intoxicating liquor or drugs or to any person who is for any reason whatever unable or incompetent to safely operate an automobile.
(3) Each applicant must demonstrate his or her skill and ability to operate a motor vehicle under such conditions as the Chief of Police may prescribe. Each applicant for a permit shall also be examined by a person designated by the Chief of Police as to his or her knowledge of the provisions of this chapter, traffic regulations and the geography of the city, and if the result of the examination be unsatisfactory, a permit shall be refused.
(4) The Chief of Police may refuse a permit to any person if after investigation it appears to him or her that the issuance thereof would not be compatible with the public interest and welfare.
(5) A permit may be issued to any person holding a valid taxicab driver’s permit issued by the City of Riverside, provided that the procedures and requirements in force at the time of issuance were substantially equivalent to the requirements of this chapter. Acceptance of a City of Riverside taxicab driver’s permit for any purpose by the Chief of Police shall not excuse compliance with any additional or more stringent requirement of this chapter for issuance of a taxicab driver’s permit.
(6) Upon obtaining a permit as required in this chapter, the holder thereof shall be entitled to a badge of such design and having such number as the Chief of Police may prescribe; also, an identification card and a card to be posted in the passenger compartment of the vehicle operated by him or her, as required by subsection (1). The badge and cards shall be the property of the city and must be returned to the Police Department upon termination of employment in the city as an operator of a taxicab.
(7) Approved permits shall be valid from the date of issuance to the date of exit from the company by the respective driver.
(H) No owner or operator of a 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 Council shall be the sole judge of what constitutes fraud or unfair competition under the provisions of this section. (Complaints to the Council of violations of this section shall be heard upon written statements specifying the acts complained of, sworn to before an officer authorized to administer oaths.)
(I) Every taxicab shall have posted in the passenger’s compartment a schedule of rates and charges for the hire of the vehicle and a copy of this section, also a card bearing the driver’s name and address and another card bearing the owner’s name, address and telephone number and the Police Department phone number, all contained in a metal container or holder and placed in a conspicuous place in the passenger compartment.
(J) Every taxicab shall be equipped with a light of not less than two candlepower so arranged as to illuminate the whole of the passenger compartment. The light shall be constantly lighted while any passenger is in such vehicle (except when the same is in motion) from one-half hour after sunset until one-half hour before sunrise of the next day, and no shades or blinds shall be drawn over the windows while any passenger is in such vehicle.
(K) No charge shall be made by any operator or owner of a taxicab in excess of the rates approved by the Council and posted in the passenger compartment.
(L) No taxicab shall be operated unless the passenger compartment is kept in a clean and sanitary condition.
(M) Every taxicab operated in the city shall be equipped with a meter in good working order, in plain sight of the passengers, which shall constantly show the charge made for the hire of the vehicle.
(`78 Code, § 5.50.080.) (Ord. 1787 § 1, 1986; Ord. 1713 § 3, 1984.)