First reading of that ordinance came at City Council’s June 21 meeting with second reading to be given next month.
“We want taxicabs in Oxford. We need taxicabs in Oxford,” Alan Kyger, the city’s economic development director, said. “We want to insure safety.”
Licenses are varied, he said, and the city needs to regulate both companies and individual drivers.
“Under the old system, you were a company if you said you were a company,” Kyger said.
The new ordinance requires such things as photo licenses on display in taxicabs, background checks, window stickers identifying vehicles as licensed cabs and other markings indicating the vehicle is a cab such as rooftop signs, which are not now required but would be under the new ordinance.
“We need a quick and easy way for patrons to know if it is legitimate or not,” Kyger said.
During the public comment period, taxi operator James Buis Jr. questioned a provision in the proposed ordinance not allowing convicted felons to be taxi drivers.
“I’m a convicted felon and I’m proof people can change,” Buis Jr. said. “By putting this in, you are saying people cannot change.”
He said adding such a limitation would be good for violent offenders but some distinction should be made.
“Everywhere we go, society does not want us. So where do we go. I’m trying to support my family,” Buis said.
The city’s insurance requirements for taxicab operation currently do not meet the state’s standards, according to Kyger, and that is one area of the new ordinance that may prove controversial.
“It is quite a bump,” Kyger said.
He outlined a requirement for insurance coverage of either $500,000 for combined coverage or individual policies for $200,000 for injury or death of one person, $500,000 for injury or death of more than one person and $100,000 for property damage.
Speaking to the insurance issue during the public comment part of the discussion, taxi operator James Buis Sr. said he would like to see insurance requirement placed at $100,000 because of the cost of the insurance.
“This will affect the fees (for rides) for Miami students and force them back into drunk driving,” Buis Sr. said.
By comparison, cities such as Hamilton, Middletown and Cincinnati require liability insurance of $100,000 per person for bodily injury and property damage per occurrence.
The problem, Kyger said, is that most of the taxi operators are using their personal insurance coverage and the new ordinance would require them to purchase commercial insurance.
City Law Director Steve McHugh said personal insurance is not really a realistic option.
“The problem with using personal insurance and not commercial is that claims are likely to be denied,” McHugh said.
Another new requirement of the proposed ordinance is that the city would be named as a certificate holder for insurance so that the company would notify them if insurance is canceled, assuring passengers of insurance coverage.
Also required would be twice-yearly vehicle inspections by either a certified mechanic, the Ohio Highway Patrol or a taxicab licensing official.
City Manager Doug Elliott said the city staff would take a further look at the insurance issue and the felony issue for possible additional recommendations to council before second reading of the ordinance.
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