PART 1 N.I.REGULATION OF TAXI OPERATORS

CHAPTER 2N.I.HIRING OF TAXIS AT SEPARATE FARES

Hiring of taxis at separate fares – GeneralN.I.

5—(1) A licensed operator may only operate a taxi service for or in respect of the carriage of passengers at separate fares if—

(a)the licensed operator complies with the provisions of a taxi-sharing scheme made by the Department under section 6; or

(b)the conditions in section 7 are met; or

[F1(c)a service agreement or service permit under the Transport Act (Northern Ireland) 2011 so provides.]

(2) If a person acts in contravention of any provision of or made under this Chapter and the contravention is not made an offence under any other statutory provision, the person is guilty of an offence.

(3) The Department may by order make such modifications of any provisions of this Act as it sees fit for the purpose of supplementing the provisions of this Chapter.

(4) The provisions of this Chapter are without prejudice to any other provision of this Act.

Compliance with a Departmental taxi-sharing schemeN.I.

6—(1) The Department may by order make a taxi-sharing scheme referred to in section 5(1)(a) which shall—

(a)designate the places from which taxis may be hired under the scheme (“authorised places”);

(b)specify the requirements to be met for the purposes of the scheme in relation to the carriage of passengers at separate fares; and

(c)include such other provision as the Department thinks fit.

(2) Any scheme made under this section may, in particular, make provision with respect to—

(a)providing that only taxis of such class as may be specified in the scheme may be hired for the carriage of passengers at separate fares;

(b)rates or fares (including, without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, the maximum rate or fare to be charged for or in respect of each passenger);

(c)the display of any document, plate, mark or sign for indicating an authorised place or that a taxi standing at an authorised place is available for the carriage of passengers at separate fares;

(d)the display of signs, information or fares at such authorised places;

(e)enforcing order at and regulating the use of such authorised places;

(f)providing for persons to manage, and regulating the management of, the use of such authorised places;

(g)the manner in which arrangements are to be made for the carriage of passengers at separate fares

(h)the conditions to apply to such use of a taxi.

Advance bookingN.I.

7  The conditions referred to in section 5(1)(b) are that—

(a)all the passengers carried on the occasion in question booked their journeys in advance; and

(b)each of them consented, when booking their journey, to sharing the use of the taxi on that occasion with others on the basis that a separate fare would be payable by each passenger for their own journey on that occasion.