§ 46-35. Required operation; taking vehicles out of service generally.

(a)

Permittees shall pick up or accept delivery of any permit(s) initially granted under division 2 of this article and place the taxicab(s) into service as follows:

(1)

The permittee shall pick up or accept delivery of the permit(s) and place the taxicab(s) into service within 180 days subsequent to the date of the granting of the permits; and

(2)

If any permit is not obtained or any taxicab is not placed into service as provided herein, the permit shall be automatically revoked, and the director shall cause the permittee to surrender any certification decals or other permit indicia that have been issued.

(b)

Permittees shall operate or cause their taxicabs to be operated whenever public convenience requires that the taxicabs be in operation. The director may order any or all permittees to put into operation any taxicab not then in operation whenever public convenience requires that all permitted taxicabs be in operation.

(c)

Permittees may take out of service those taxicabs that require repairs or that need to be taken out of service for any other reason, with the exception that permittees having ten or more taxicab permits must have not less than 60 percent of their taxicabs in operable condition and in service at all times. Permittees having fewer than ten taxicab permits must have not less than 50 percent of their taxicabs in operable condition at all times. Permittees shall furnish the director with quarterly reports demonstrating the percentage of their taxicabs in operable condition and in service at all times.

(d)

The director may, upon the request of a permittee and the surrender of one or more taxicab permits to the director, hold surrendered permits for the permittee for a period not to exceed one year without revoking the permits for nonuse. The director may hold permits for a permittee as herein provided when the circumstances causing their non-utilization are beyond the control of the permittee and when the holding of the permit(s) by the director would not adversely affect public convenience. Only permittees who hold ten permits or fewer may use illness as a reason to request the holding of permits. The permittee must provide to the director verifiable proof/documentation of the circumstances, and the circumstances must be specifically related to the permittee's illness. The director may hold permits as herein provided once in a five-year period commencing on the date the surrender is accepted by the director. Once any of a permittee's permits are surrendered to the director for holding, no other permits held by the same permittee may be surrendered for holding during the five-year period. Permits surrendered by the permittee must be redeemed by the end of the surrender period by payment of all fees due, plus interest. The applicable interest rate shall be based on the rate of interest for variable rate demand obligations as fixed by the city's financial underwriting firm and shall be the average of that rate current as of the date of acceptance of surrender of the permits by the director and that rate current as of the date of redemption of the permits. Permits not redeemed within 30 days following the surrender period will automatically be revoked. A permittee who has paid the requisite fee is not entitled to a refund of the fee under the provisions of section 46-68(b) of this Code.

(Ord. No. 2014-754, § 2(Exh. A), 8-6-2014; Ord. No. 2015-997, § 14, 10-14-2015)