DEPARTMENT: Police
DEPARTMENT HEAD: William McManus, Police Chief
COUNCIL DISTRICTS IMPACTED: City-wide
SUBJECT:
Ordinance amending Article I and Article VIII to Chapter 33 of the City Code (Vehicles for Hire) by defining "Owner/Operator" and providing for single taxicab owner/operator permits.
SUMMARY:
At the direction of City Council, City staff, the taxicab industry and a group of independent driver representatives have worked over the last 15 months to evaluate and discuss potential modifications to the Chapter 33 Vehicle-for-Hire ordinance. After over a year of effort, City Council is being presented with recommended changes to Chapter 33:
* Create independent operator taxi permits and delete the requirement for a holder to have at least three taxicabs to be considered a company.
* Issue 75 permits to new single taxicab companies in 3 different distributions. 32 permits to be released by October 1, 2018, 25 Permits shall be released on October 1, 2019, and 18 permits shall be released on October 1, 2020. The director has the authority to release permits ahead of schedule if demand requires after October 1, 2019.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
In recent years there have been various changes made to the Chapter 33 Vehicle-for-Hire ordinance. During the latest planning proceedings for these revisions, a group of approximately 200 independent taxicab drivers submitted a petition to SAPD requesting the creation of an owner/operator permit category for drivers within Chapter 33.
At the November 30, 2016 B-session with City Council, SAPD presented the independent taxicab driver's petition and outlined their request. As a result, City Council directed staff to investigate the owner/operator permit concept. After researching the matter, staff formed a recommendation that would both allow single permit taxicab companies to operate and remove the permit issuance ratio for taxis from Chapter 33.
In March 2017, staff presented their proposal to the Tr...
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