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(a) Each private ambulance service licensee shall:
(1) be available to provide private ambulance service at least Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., except on legal holidays; and
(2) have a working, publicly-listed telephone that must be physically answered by the licensee or an employee 24 hours a day.
(b) A licensee shall provide the director with not less than 10 days’ written notice prior to any change in the business address or telephone number of the private ambulance service.
(c) A licensee who experiences interruption of telephone service to the place of business shall notify the director immediately. (Ord. 21861)
(a) A licensee shall specify and require an item of apparel or an item placed on the apparel to be worn by ambulance personnel employed by the licensee, which item must be of such distinctive and uniform design as to readily identify the licensee’s service and must bear the name of the licensee’s service. The item specified by each licensee must be approved by the director to ensure that ambulance personnel of one licensee may be easily distinguished from ambulance personnel of another and to ensure the neat appearance of ambulance personnel.
(b) While on duty, ambulance personnel shall wear the item specified by the licensee who employs the ambulance personnel and shall comply with such other identification regulations prescribed in the private ambulance service license. (Ord. 21861)
(a) A person commits an offense if he:
(1) intentionally follows any police car or fire apparatus that is traveling in response to an emergency call with red or white lights and siren or intentionally follows any ambulance to or near the scene of an emergency call;
(2) by word or gesture, solicits on a public street within the city the business of transporting a sick, injured, or deceased person for compensation;
(3) intentionally informs the fire alarm dispatcher, police dispatcher, or other fire or police official that an ambulance or more than one ambulance is needed at a location or address when the person knows that such a statement is false; or
(4) operates a private ambulance or uses any equipment in providing private ambulance service that fails to comply with all minimum safety and equipment standards required for a basic life support vehicle by the Emergency Medical Services Act (Chapter 773, Texas Health and Safety Code), as amended, or by any rule or regulation promulgated under that act.
(b) A licensee or permittee commits an offense if he:
(1) causes, induces, or seeks to induce, without good cause, a change of destination to or from a hospital or other place specified by the person requesting private ambulance service; or
(2) operates or permits the operation of a private ambulance on an emergency run or in response to an emergency call or with the use of red or white lights and sirens, without obtaining permission from the fire alarm dispatcher. (Ord. Nos. 21861; 32703)
(a) A licensee shall only provide private ambulance service with vehicles designed and constructed to transport sick and injured persons in comfort and safety. A licensee shall maintain vehicles in safe mechanical condition and shall maintain the interior and exterior of the vehicles in good repair and in a clean, sanitary condition.
(b) A licensee or applicant for a license shall have each vehicle to be used in private ambulance service inspected in a manner approved by the director before issuance of a license and at such other times as may be ordered by the director. Inspection must determine safety of the vehicle, condition of maintenance, and compliance with state and federal laws.
(c) The fee for each inspection of each vehicle to be operated under a private ambulance service license is $131.
(d) If a vehicle is involved in an accident or collision during the term of the license, the licensee shall notify the director within five days after the accident or collision. Before operating the vehicle again under the license, a licensee shall have the vehicle reinspected for safety and shall send to the director a sworn affidavit that the vehicle has been restored to its previous condition.
(e) The director shall designate the time and place for annual inspection of vehicles operated under a license. If the director designates someone other than a city employee to perform the inspection, the applicant or licensee shall bear the reasonable cost of inspection.
(f) A licensee may contract for maintenance but shall be responsible for maintaining all vehicles operated under the license in safe operating condition. (Ord. Nos. 21861; 25048; 30215)
(a) The licensee, owner, or permittee of a private ambulance shall provide and maintain in the vehicle all equipment required by the director, which shall be specified in the private ambulance service license.
(b) Each vehicle must have:
(1) a paint scheme that has been approved by the director;
(2) the trade name of the company and the equipment number permanently affixed in a manner and location approved by the director; and
(3) a decal complying with Section 15D-9.33.
(c) Each private ambulance must be licensed as an emergency medical services vehicle with the Texas Department of Health. Each private ambulance and all private ambulance equipment must comply with all applicable federal and state motor vehicle safety standards and with the standards for emergency medical services vehicles set forth in the Emergency Medical Services Act (Chapter 773, Texas Health and Safety Code), as amended. All safety mechanisms on each vehicle must be operative and in good repair, including, but not limited to, headlights, taillights, turn signals, brakes, brakelights, emergency lights, windshield wipers, wiper blades, handles opening doors and windows, tires, and spare tires.
(d) Each private ambulance, while on an ambulance call, must be accompanied by at least two ambulance personnel permitted under this article. One of the ambulance personnel shall serve as the driver while the other remains in attendance on the sick or injured patient.
(e) Clean and sanitary bed linens must be provided on each private ambulance for each patient carried. Bed linens must be changed as soon as practical after the discharge of a patient, but before picking up another patient. (Ord. 21861)
(a) A licensee shall obtain from the director a decal indicating a private ambulance’s authority to operate in the city. The decal must be attached to each vehicle in a manner and location approved by the director.
(b) The director may cause a decal to be removed from a private ambulance that at any time fails to meet the minimum standards for appearance, condition, age, or equipment. The fee for reissuance of a decal to a private ambulance from which a decal has been removed by the director is $10. The fee for a duplicate decal for one lost, destroyed, or mutilated, is $5.
(c) A person commits an offense if he:
(1) operates a private ambulance in the city with an expired decal or with no decal affixed to it; or
(2) attaches a decal to a vehicle not authorized to operate as a private ambulance in the city. (Ord. 21861)
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