V O L U M E 5 9 - City of Somerville

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PUBLIC AUTOMOBILES.
SECTION 37. Owners or drivers of public automobiles shall not solicit
passengers on public ways. In cases where public automobiles are hired
the price shall be agreed upon between the person in charge of the automobile
and the passenger or passengers. Proof of what shall appear to the
Chief of Police to be an extortionate charge for service will be regarded as
reasonable ground for believing that the owner or driver so charging is not
a suitable person to be licensed.
Motor hackney carriages licensed to operate as public automobiles
shall not be operated under the rates and conditions established in the rule
for taxicabs.
If in a calendar year, more than three penalties are imposed by the
Inspector of Hackney Carriages upon a driver or drivers of a particular
public automobile for unlawfully operating for hire in such a manner as to
afford means of transportation similar to that offered by a railway company,
the Inspector of Carriages shall have the authority to suspend the
hackney carriage license of such vehicle for a period not exceeding ten days.
VIOLATIONS AND PENALTIES.
SECTION 38. All complaints and violations of these rules against
hackney carriage drivers and owners by the public or police officers shall
be brought before the officer in charge of the Office of Inspector of Carriages
who shall hear the facts, and if the hackney carriage driver or owner is
found guilty of the complaint or violation, may suspend or revoke the
license of the offending owner or driver. If the owner of any hackney
carriage is found guilty of the offense charged while he is driving the said
hackney carriage, the license of the said hackney carriage shall be suspended
or revoked, in addition to any action that may be taken in regard
to his driver's license, and said hackney carriage shall not be used during
said period of suspension or revocation. If the same hackney carriage is
involved in three separate offenses during any period of twelve months,
regardless of whether the said hackney carriage was being operated by the
same or different drivers, the license of said hackney carriage may be suspended
or revoked, and said hackney carriage shall not be used during said
period of suspension or revocation.
All hackney carriage drivers and owners shall have the right of appeal
to the Chief of Police provided the appeal is made in writing within fortyeight
hours of the date of the finding. Said appeal shall be heard by an
Appeal Board, as defined in Section >l?who shall hold a public hearing. The
appellant shall have the right to be represented by counsel at said hearing,
to introduce such evidence as he may desire, and to cross examine all witnesses.
Said Board of Appeal shall file its report and recommendations with
the Chief of Police within twenty-four hours of the termination of the
hearing. The Police Chief shall take such action on such report as he may
deem advisable and notify the appellant forthwith.
Any person or corporation violating any of the provisions of the foregoing
sections shall forfeit and pay a fine not exceeding twenty dollars for
each offense; and any licensed owner or driver who violates any of the
provisions of the foregoing sections shall, in addition to said penalty, thereupon
become liable to suspension or forfeiture of his license, and may be
disqualified to hold a license thereafter.
RESERVATION OF THE CHIEF OF POLICE
AS TO PRIVILEGES GRANTED.
SECTION 39. The Chief of Police reserves to himself the right to take
away, change, modify or reassign any and all private stands at his
discretion.
WOMEN DRIVERS.
SECTION 40. No women shall drive or be employed to drive a hackney
carriage in the City of Somerville between the hours of 5:00 P.M. and
7:00 A.M. daily.
HORSE-DRAWN HACKNEY CARRIAGES.
SECTION 41. Passengers may at all times engage horse-drawn hackney
carriages by the hour. The rates of fare for horse-drawn vehicles shall be
Two (2) Dollars per hour per person with a minimum charge of One (1)
Dollar per person for any time less than one-half hour. The rates to be
computed on half-hourly basis.
The time shall be so reckoned as to include the time necessarily consumed
between leaving and returning to the place from which the carriage
was hired, whether during any portion of such time it has been empty or
otherwise.
PROVISIONS SEVERABLE.
SECTION 42. If any part, section, or subdivision of these rules and
regulations, or the application thereof, shall be held invalid, unconstitutional
or inoperative as to any particular person, persons or conditions,
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