341.290. - Overall service required.
(a) Generally. Companies, associations and individuals licensed under this chapter shall render an overall service to the public desiring to use taxicabs. They shall answer all calls received by them for services within the City of Minneapolis within one-half (½) of an hour of receiving such call and, if services cannot be rendered within such time, they shall then notify the prospective customer as to how long it will be before the call can be answered and give the reason thereof.
(b) Additional conditions. In order to maintain overall service to the public, every firm or individual holding a taxicab vehicle license shall be a member of a company, cooperative, or association which consists of at least five (5) licensed taxicabs operated under a common color scheme with common dispatching facilities.
(c) [Exceptions.] Notwithstanding the other provisions of this section, a firm or individual holding a taxicab vehicle license or having applied for transfer of a taxicab vehicle license on or before January 21, 1985, which was not a member of a company, cooperative, or association of at least fifteen (15) taxicabs or which was not equipped with two-way radio dispatch equipment may continue to operate after the effective date of this subsection without complying with subsections 341.290(b)(1) and (2), provided every such licensee shall maintain twenty-four (24) hour telephone or electronic communication services.
(d) [Failure to comply.] Failure of the taxicab licensees operating under a common color scheme to maintain the minimum number of licensed taxicabs, or comply with any of the other requirements for overall service set forth in this section, shall be grounds for suspension, revocation, or nonrenewal of all of the taxicab licenses operated under that common color scheme. However, if by reason of revocation or expiration of license, or death or incapacity of a licensee, or other substantial hardship not including a voluntary transfer, a group of taxicab licensees operating under a common color scheme fails to comply with the required minimum number of licenses in this section, the licensees shall be allowed a maximum of ninety (90) days to cure such noncompliance by obtaining the necessary number of additional licenses. Further extensions of time for compliance may be granted only by the city council upon a finding of special hardships or circumstances justifying an additional extension of time. (83-Or-081, § 2, 4-8-83; 85-Or-016, § 4, 1-25-85; 85-Or-087, §§ 1, 5, 4-26-85; 2014-Or-036, § 10, 7-18-14)
