Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutOrdinance 1997 s+ ORDINANCE NO. 1997. AN ORDINANCE AMENDING ORDINANCE NO. 1759 BY ADDING PROVISIONS SPECIFYING THE RATES 70 BE CHARGED BY ALL TAXICAB OPERATORS; PROVIDING FOR TAXIMETERS AND DEFINING SAME; PROVIDING FOR THE POSTING OF RATES IN ALL TAXICABS; DECLARING THIS ORDINANCE TO BE CUMULATIVE; PROVIDING A SAVING CLAUSE; AND FIXING A PEN- ALTY FOR THE VIOLATION THEREOF. BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT VORTH, TEXAS: That Ordinance No. 1759 be amended in the following respect: SECTION 1. That Section 4 be amended to read as follows: The City Council shall make or cause to be made such investigations as it may consider necessary, including any hearings that it may deem desirable, as to any applications for such certificates ar_d shall deterf mine whether or not the public convenience and necessity require the operation of such vehicle or vehicles and whether or not the applicant is fit and proper to conduct such business, and may investigate the fitness of the officers and stockholders of any corporation making such application; and, in determining whether or not a certificate should be issued, the City Council shall give weight and due regard, among other things, to (1) probable permanence and quality of the serv- ice offered by the applicant, the experience that the applicant has had in rendering such service in the City of Fort Worth, the past ex- perience of the applicant in adjusting claims and paying judgments, if any, to claimants as a result of injuries received from the negligent operation of public vehicles; (2) the financial ability of the applicant to respond in damages to claims or •judgments arising by reason of injury to person or damage to property resulting from the negligent operation of a public vehicle, and (3) the character and condition of the vehicles to be used. The evidence in any investigation, inquiry or hearing may be taken by the City Council or by any councilman, agent or employee to whom such investigation, inquiry or hearing has been assigned by the City Council, and every finding, opinion and order made by the City Council or by such councilman, agent or employee as above specified, pursuant to such investigation, inquiry or hearing, when adopted, approved or confirmed by the City Council, shall be the finding, opinion or order of the City Council. SECTION 2. That the prices to be charged by all taxicab operators in the City of Fort Worth which are hereby declared to be fair and reasonable for such service, shall be as follows: Twenty-five cents (25�) for the first one and one- half mile travelled carrying one, two, three or four people, and ten cents (10�) for each mile or fraction thereof after the first one and one-half mile, and two and one-half cents (2j¢) per minute for waiting time. SECTION 3. TAXIMETERS. (a) Each taxicab operated in the City of Fort Worth shall be equipped with a taximeter which for the purpose of this ordinance shall mean a mechanical instrument or device by which the charge for hire of a taxicab is mechanically calculated on the basis of the mileage trav- elled, plus waiting time and upon which the exact amount to be paid by the passenger or passengers is plainly indicated by means of figures. (b) Each taximeter shall be of a type approved by the Chief of Police or his duly authorized representative, and inspected by the Weights and Measure Department of the City of Fort Worth for accuracy. (c) Taximeters shall be connected to the transmission or main drive shaft of the taxicab, and shall be placed in the driver's compartment on the right hand side of the vehicle with the face of such taximeter upon which the fare is recorded, directed toward the passenger compartment and so positioned as to be wholly visible to, and clearly discernible by a passenger sitting in any part of the rear seat. (d) No person shall operate or permit to be operated or drive for hire any taxicab unless the taximeter shall have been sealed by the owner or his representative or by the sleights and Measure Department of the City of Fort Worth with wire and lead seals as follows: (1) The meter mechanism shall be sealed within its case, (2) the meter shall be sealed to meter bracket, and (3) driving equipment shall be sealed at upper end to meter bracket. (e) The face or dial of each taximeter shall be illuminated by a suitable light arranged so that the figures may be read by any passenger in the taxicab. (f) The height of the numbrals indicating the fare charged shall be not less than one-half (J) inch. (g) No taxicab shall be operated until the taximeter thereon has been first inspected, tested, approved and sealed by the Weights and Measure Department of the City of Fort Worth. All taximeters shall be subject to inspection and test by the Weights and Measure Department at any time and any taximeter found not to conform to the tolerances estab- lished in subsections (i) and (j) of this Section, may be ordered out of service. (h) Taxicab owners shall be held responsible for the accuracy of taximeters installed on their taxicabs within the tolerances allowed by Section 1. Inspection and test shall be made regularly by the owner at least once every six months, and more often if necessary to insure con- tinued accuracy of the taximeter. A record shall be kept by the owner of each test of a taximeter, which record shall be available for inspection by the Veights and Measure Department of the City at any time. (i) On mileage bench tests, errors in registration, either to the prejudice of the passenger or the owner, shall not exceed two per cent (2%) of the interval under test, with an added tolerance of one hundred (100) feet whenever the initial interval is included in the interval under test. On mileage road tests, errors in registration shall not exceed four (4%) per cent of the interval under test with an added tolerance of one hundred (100) feet whenever the initial interval is included in the interval under test; provided, however, that on a road test, if the ve- hicle tires are obviously worn, an additional tolerance of one per cent (1%) to the prejudice of the passenger shall be allowed. (j ); On time tests on individual time intervals, errors in regis- tration shall not exceed five per cent (5%) to the prejudice of the owner or more than ten per cent (10%) to the prejudice of the passenger, provided that on the initial time interval the tolerance to the prejudice of the passenger shall not be in excess of fifteen per cent (15%). On time tests on average time intervals (computed after excluding the ini- tial interval) errors in registration shall not exceed five per cent (5,%) either to the prejudice of the passenger or the owner. SECTION 4. If the City Council finds that the public convenience and necessity require the operation of a greater or lesser number of vehicles than that for which the certificate has been applied and the applicant is fit to conduct the business and that the other requirements herein have been complied with, it shall notify the applicant of its findings. If it finds that public convenience and necessity do not require the oper- ation of any such vehicles or that the applicant is not fit to conduct such business, it shall forthwith refuse such application, and no certif- icate or license shall issue to such applicant. Such certificate shall not be transferable without the consent and approval of the City Council had after application and hearing as pro- vided upon original application by the person to whom the certificate is issued, but the applicant may, by appropriate endorsement made on such certificate under the direction of the City Council, substitute another vehicle or vehicles in the place of that for which the certificate was granted. SECTION 5. Every taxicab operator shall post in each taxicab operated by him in a conspicuous place and in view of the passengers to be conveyed, a schedule of rates to be charged for such service; same to be printed on a card in not less than twenty-four (24) point black face type, letter spaced, giving the rates and distances for which said rates apply. SECTION 6. This ordinance shall be and is hereby declared to be cumulative of all other ordinances of the City of Fort Worth affecting traffic on its streets and shall not operate to repeal or affect any such ordinance or ordinancesbexcept in so far as the provisions of such ordinance or or- dinances are inconsistent or in conflict with the provisions of this ordinance, in which instance or instances those provisions shall be and they are hereby repealed. SECTION 7. Should any section, provision or part of this ordinance be declared to be unconstitutional and void by a court of competent jurisdiction, such decision shall in noway affect the validity of any of the remaining parts of this ordinance, unless the part held unconstitutional or void is in- separable from and indispensable to the operation of the remaining parts. The City Council hereby declares that it would have passed those parts of this ordinance which are valid and omitted any parts which may be uncon- stitutional if it had known that such parts were unconstitutional at the time of the passage of this ordinance. SECTION S. Any person violating any of the provisions of this ordinance shall, upon conviction thereof, be fined in any sum not to exceed Two Hundred Dollars ($200.00), and each violation thereof shall be and is hereby declared to be a distinct and separate offense and punishable as such. SECTION 9. This ordinance shall take effect and be in full force and effect from and after the date of its passage and publication as provided by law. APPROVED AS TO FORM AND LEGALITY: PlIFY Attorney ORDINANCE No. Title Ua;e Filed. -_� day of 19--- ---- City Secretary ti ,5