§ 25-2. Classification of vehicles for hire.

For the purpose of construing and applying the terms of this chapter all motorized vehicles which operate over and upon the streets and driveways of the city for the transportation of person(s) for compensation shall be classified and defined as follows:

(1)

Bus. Any bus, omnibus or other vehicle designed and constructed to comfortably transport seven (7) or more persons, which is not used for regularly conducted amusement rides or sight-seeing tours, and is not operated by another governmental agency.

(2)

Cruising car. Any vehicle for hire based upon a pre-established schedule of flat charges rather than by taximeter calculation, with an open touring or sedan body, designed and constructed to comfortably transport not more than six (6) persons, including the driver.

(3)

Limousine. A vehicle for hire only by pre-arrangement at a rate charged per hour, or fixed in advance, and is a chauffeured, luxury class passenger vehicle that is built or modified for the purpose as a limousine.

(4)

Shuttle vehicle. Shuttle vehicle means a vehicle for hire with a capacity of at least four (4) persons, including the driver, which is not equipped with a taximeter and is not used as a taxicab or for cruising, except:

a.

Sight-seeing cars and buses;

b.

Ambulances and funeral home shuttle vehicles;

c.

Motor vehicles operated exclusively by private contract carriers under written contracts for the transportation solely of employees of one (1) or more business concerns; and operating to and from fixed points of pickup and discharge for a fixed rate or fare. Excluded from this definition is a vehicle which is a luxury motor vehicle equipped to carry not more than four (4) persons, including the driver, wherein the vehicle is hired for a fixed period of time and at a fixed contractual rate or charge. A vehicle which is held out to be a shuttle vehicle or which has an appearance deceptively similar to a shuttle vehicle is a shuttle vehicle for the purposes of this chapter;

d.

School buses and church buses meeting the following requirements:

1.

School buses used for the transportation of pupils to and from school or to and from school activities, and which are owned, operated, rented or leased by the Duval County School Board or any private school in Duval County; and

2.

Church buses used for the transportation of persons to and from church or to and from church activities, and which are owned, operated, rented or leased by any church in Duval County.

(5)

Sight-seeing cars. A vehicle for hire designed and constructed to seat seven (7) or more persons used in regularly conducted sight-seeing trips, which originate from and terminate at a single specified point, the destination or route of which is not under the direction of the passenger or passengers transported therein; which is not used as a means of local transportation within the city; and which neither receives, nor discharges passengers along its routes.

(6)

Taxicabs. Any vehicle which is rented from a stand in the street or from a private station or garage, the destination and route of which is under the direction of the passenger or passengers transported therein, and fitted with a taximeter or other mechanical device by which the charge for hire is mechanically calculated by measuring and recording either the distance traveled with such vehicle or the waiting time or both.

(7)

Van. Any vehicle recognized as either a full-size passenger van or a passenger vehicle on a van or truck chassis. The term shall not include a cargo or panel van.

(Ord. No. 2011-08, § 2, 5-2-11)