Rhode Island General Laws 39-14-2. Powers of division
Every person owning or operating a motor vehicle engaged or to be engaged in operating a taxicab or limited public motor vehicle is declared a common carrier and subject as such to the jurisdiction of the division of public utilities and carriers. The division shall prescribe such rules and regulations as it shall deem proper to assure adequate, economical, safe, and efficient service at reasonable charges without unjust discrimination, undue preference or advantages, or unfair or destructive competitive practices. The division may require common carriers to prepare records and to preserve them, and to make such reports to it as shall disclose to the division the character of service rendered, the safety of equipment used, and the safety of operation, the character of the management and conduct of the common-carrier business, and its relation to and control of or by other carriers or other businesses. Upon complaint or upon his or her own initiative, the administrator may investigate or conduct a hearing as to compliance by any common carrier with the provisions of this title or regulations promulgated pursuant thereto, and shall issue orders as his or her findings shall indicate to be necessary or desirable for the public welfare. The findings of the administrator shall be reported in writing and copies thereof shall be furnished to the parties involved.
History of Section.
P.L. 1930, ch. 1552, § 2; G.L. 1938, ch. 100, § 2; P.L. 1956, ch. 3829, § 1; G.L. 1956, § 39-14-2; P.L. 1969, ch. 240, § 16.
Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws 39-14-2
- Common carrier: means any person who holds himself, herself, or itself out to the general public as engaging in the transportation by motor vehicle of passengers for compensation in a taxicab or in a limited public motor vehicle. See Rhode Island General Laws 39-14-1
- Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
- Division: means the division of public utilities and carriers. See Rhode Island General Laws 39-1-2
- in writing: include printing, engraving, lithographing, and photo-lithographing, and all other representations of words in letters of the usual form. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-16
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Limited public motor vehicle: means and includes every motor vehicle for hire, other than a jitney, as defined in § 39-13-1, or a taxicab, as defined in this chapter, equipped with a taximeter used for transporting members of the general public for compensation only from a designated location on private property to such points as may be directed by the passenger. See Rhode Island General Laws 39-14-1
- Person: means and includes any individual, firm, partnership, corporation, company, association, joint stock association, or company, and his, her, or its lessee, trustee, receiver, assignee, or personal representative, and, where the context requires, "driver" as defined in this section. See Rhode Island General Laws 39-14-1
- Taxicab: means and includes every motor vehicle for hire, other than a jitney as defined in § 39-13-1, equipped with a taximeter, used for transporting members of the general public for compensation to any place within this state as may be directed by a passenger on a call-and-demand basis, when the solicitation or acceptance of the passenger occurs within the location named in the certificate; provided, that the vehicle's driver may, if and when solicited on a public highway at any location at which he or she is discharging a passenger, which location is not shown in the certificate, provide transportation from the location only to a place named in the certificate. See Rhode Island General Laws 39-14-1