Rhode Island Code of Regulations
Title 815 - Division of Public Utilities and Carriers
Chapter 50 - Common Carriers
Subchapter 10 - Motor Carriers of Passengers
Part 2 - Rules Governing Transportation of Passengers via Taxicabs and Limited Public Motor Vehicles (815-RICR-50-10-2)
Section 815-RICR-50-10-2.1 - Definitions
Universal Citation: 815 RI Code of Rules 50 10 2.1
Current through September 18, 2024
A. Terms used herein shall be construed as follows unless another meaning is expressed or is clearly apparent from the language or content.
1. "Administrator" means
the Administrator of the Division of Public Utilities & Carriers or his
duly appointed designee.
2.
"Business address" means the location where the certificate holder stores the
taxicabs authorized under the certificate, at which all records concerning the
taxicab business are kept and available for Division inspection and where the
drivers report to obtain a vehicle for use as a cab.
3. "Business day" means each and every day on
which the Division of Public Utilities and Carriers is open for business.
Business day does not include any day that is a Saturday, Sunday or legal
holiday.
4. "Cab" means taxicab or
limited public motor vehicle.
5.
Call and Demand" means the solicitation or acceptance of a fare occurring only
within the location specified in the certificate; provided, that the vehicle's
driver may, if and when solicited on the public highway at any location at
which he or she is discharging a passenger, which location is not shown in the
certificate, provide transportation from the location only to a place named in
the certificate. This definition shall not exclude a pre-arranged round trip
requested by the passenger so long as all the following conditions are
satisfied:
a. The round trip must begin in
the certificate holder's authorized territory;
b. The round trip must be completed within a
24-hour period;
c. When a passenger
requests a round trip, the driver shall make a notation on his log sheet next
to the record of that initial trip, indicating the passenger's name and the
time at which the driver is to return to retrieve the passenger for the
pre-arranged return leg of the round trip;
d. The driver must give a passenger
requesting a round trip a receipt, to be called a "round trip confirmation
receipt", at the completion of the first leg of the round trip that clearly
contains the following information:
(1) the
date, time and location of initial drop off,
(2) the cab number,
(3) the passenger's name,
(4) the name and telephone number of the
certificated cab company,
(5) the
driver's name, and
(6) the time
the cab is scheduled to return to complete the round trip service. The driver
must retain a copy of this receipt (See Appendix C "Round Trip Confirmation
Receipt" §
2.18 of this Part.);
e. The driver may only retrieve the passenger
for such prearranged round trip at the location at which the passenger was
originally discharged;
f. In the
event that the original driver in such a prearranged round trip is unavailable
to retrieve the passenger as arranged, the certificate holder may dispatch a
different driver/cab, but the subsequent driver/cab must carry, attached to the
driver log, a copy of the "round trip confirmation receipt" described in
§
2.1(A)(5)(D) of this Partabove. Certificate holders are not mandated to
provide round trip services to their customers/passengers. However, if a
certificate holder and/or driver agrees to provide a round trip cab service, as
evidenced by the issuance of a "round trip confirmation receipt," that
certificate holder shall be required to complete the round trip service, unless
unable to complete the service for good cause.
6. "Certificate" means a certificate of
public convenience and necessity issued to a common carrier.
7. "Common Carriers" means any person who
holds himself, herself, or itself out to the general public as engaging in the
transportation by motor vehicle of passengers for compensation in a taxicab or
in a limited public motor vehicle.
8. "Division" means the Division of Public
Utilities and Carriers.
9. "Driver"
means any person operating a cab for the purpose of transporting passengers for
hire.
10. "Fleet Owner" means a
certificate holder who owns and operates more than five taxicabs and/or limited
public motor vehicles.
11. "Hackney
Operator's License" means a special license, commonly referred to as a "Blue
Card," issued by the Division, authorizing the holder thereof to operate a
taxicab or limited public motor vehicle upon the highways of the State of Rhode
Island and any subdivision thereof.
12. "Limited Public Motor Vehicle" means and
includes every motor vehicle for hire, other than a jitney as defined in R.I.
Gen. Laws §
39-13-1 or a taxicab as defined in
R.I. Gen. Laws §
39-14-1, equipped with a taximeter
used for transporting members of the general public for compensation only from
a designated location on private property to such points as may be directed by
the passenger.
13. "Motor Carriers
Section" means the Motor Carriers Section, Division of Public Utilities and
Carriers.
14. "Out of Service"
means and includes a vehicle ordered by the Division and/or State Inspection
Facility not to be used as a taxicab. Additionally, the term refers to a
taxicab that the certificate holder has removed from service to the
public.
15. "Paratransit Services"
means flexible transportation services provided on a demand responsive and
advance reservation basis, for any destination within the scope of a service
program provided by a state, or municipal agency, the fee for which is
determined pursuant to a contract between the service provider and the state or
municipal agency. Paratransit includes single or group trips or trips made on a
recurring basis such as for work, school, medical, nutrition, and sheltered
workshops.
16. "Person" means and
includes any individual, firm, partnership, corporation, company, association,
joint stock association or company and his, her or its lessee, trustee,
receiver, assignee or personal representative, and, where the context requires,
"driver," as herein defined.
17.
"Personal use" means the use of a taxicab for any use not regulated pursuant to
R.I. Gen. Laws Title 39.
18. "Rate
Card" means a card issued by the Division which is required to be posted in
each vehicle that reflects authorized rates, vehicle information, authorized
territory, the taximeter's serial number, certificate information and a
telephone number for complaints.
19. "Suspension" means an order of the
Division, after hearing, requiring that a taxicab or a number of taxicabs
operated under a certificate, not be operated as taxicabs for a set period of
time.
20. "Taxicab" means and
includes every motor vehicle for hire, other than a jitney as defined in R.I.
Gen. Laws §
39-13-1, equipped with a
taximeter, used for transporting members of the general public for compensation
to any place within this state as may be directed by a passenger on a
call-and-demand basis.
21. "Taxicab
Stand" means, for the purposes of these rules and regulations, any area
designated by a sign posted by a local government or the owner of the property
on which the sign is posted, as an area where taxicabs may wait for the purpose
of accepting passengers.
22.
"Taximeter" means any instrument or device by which the charge for
transportation in any taxicab or limited public motor vehicle is mechanically
calculated and indicated by means of figures, either for distances traveled or
for waiting time, or for both.
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