Monday, May 15, 2017

From the Editor: New proposed by laws for the Taxi Industry

699 Alfred St.
Kingston, ON K7K 4K1

What follows is a few suggestions or proposals to make taxi operators more competitive with Uber or other TNC operators as well as a means to generate more income for the Taxi Commission ..   so that it can enforce more effectively any new regulations pertaining to TNC's and to current taxi operators.    These proposals have been discussed with a number of brokers and a survey has been created for more industry feedback.

New proposed by laws for the Taxi Industry
  1. Creation of a new taxi license called a taxi operator's license
  2. Vehicle, Insurance, License and broker's fees in the name of the operator of the taxi
  3. Must be operated by original licensee
  4. Will not be able to be leased out and must be returned to commission if vehicle taken out of service or upon death of the license holder (executors have  60 days to comply)
  5. Acquisition of license is by the following means:
    1. Any licensed taxi operator (driver or plate holder) at the end of a 3 year lease of a plateholder license may then petition commission for an operators license (automatically granted to a limit of two (2) per year as long as there are no outstanding issues that the commission is aware of..)
    2.  Any Plateholder may return a plateholder license and acquire two (2) taxi operator's licenses (twice in a calendar year)
  6. Fees:
    1. Initial fee for Taxi Operator's License will be $3,000.00 with an annual renewal fee of $250.00
    2.  Initial fee for Taxi Operator's License in the case of a Plate Holder turning a plate in will be $3,000.00 for both Operator's licenses with an annual renewal of fee of $250.00 for each Operator License obtained.
  7. Taxi Plate holder renewal fee will be $500.00 per annum
  8. Each individual is limited to obtaining  Operator's licenses under the following formula Operator Licenses – Plate Holder plates returned must be equal to or less than two (2)
  9. Taxi Plate Holders can continue to lease their plate(s) under the following restrictions:
    1. They cannot lease to the same person for more than two (2) terms
    2. They can only lease their plate(s)  for three (3) consecutive terms after which they must operate the plate themselves for a period of two (2) years or return them to the commission.
  10. Vehicle Age:
    1. Vehicles plated with a Plate Holder plate must be less than 10 years old
    2. Vehicles plated with an Operators plate must be less than 7 years old
Submitted by Steve Marskell on behalf of Modern City Taxi and brokers/drivers  affliated with same.