P.R. Laws tit. 23, § 6813
(a) Every enterprise, concessionaire or operator shall comply with all the laws of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, municipal ordinances and traffic regulations in force.
(b) Every enterprise or concessionaire shall be responsible for any noncompliance with a law, order or regulation, when it has been caused by its own acts or omissions, or by the acts or omissions of its officers, employees or operators within the company’s frame of operations.
(c) Every enterprise or concessionaire shall be solely responsible for any violation against this chapter or its regulations committed by any of its employees or operators.
(d) Enterprises that request franchises or authorizations to offer tourist ground transportation services, operators who apply for a license, and enterprises that apply for permits to offer service or to sell taximeters, shall pay the fees that to such effect, and from time to time, may be determined by the Tourism Company.
(e) The practice of soliciting passengers directly in areas in which there is a terminal shall be illegal for concessionaires and operators. In said terminals, the operators shall remain near the vehicle and in the order of their corresponding turn. Operators shall only approach passengers when their services are required.
(f) No operator may walk away more than six (6) feet from his motor vehicle to offer his services. The operator who does not comply with this norm shall [lose] his turn.
(g) Every enterprise, concessionaire or operator shall carry all the documents related to the tourist ground transportation services rendered or of the selling and servicing taximeters he provides and show them when so required by any duly identified officer or employee of the Tourism Company or the Puerto Rico Police and, shall also assist same, and receive any subpoena or related document issued by or on behalf of the Tourism Company or the Puerto Rico Police.
(h) Every enterprise, concessionaire or operator shall appear for any summons made by any officer authorized by the Tourist Company or the Puerto Rico Police.
(i) No concessionaire or operator shall use or allow the authorized vehicle to be used to teach a person how to drive a motor vehicle.
(j) Every enterprise, concessionaire or operator shall establish and observe, in relation to tourist ground transportation services, sale, service and repair of taximeters and equipment, reasonable practices leading to a fair competition within the authorized activity. The same shall render its services to those who request them, without establishing unfair or discriminatory differences among them.
(k) No concessionaire or operator shall allow a person to drive an authorized vehicle, unless said person is an operator to whom the Tourism Company had issued a license, which at the time, is in force.
(l) Every concessionaire shall be bound to require from those interested in working as operators to submit themselves to anti-drug testing, observing the corresponding legal procedures for such.
(m) No concessionaire or operator of an authorized motor vehicle shall change, destroy or otherwise alter the franchise, authorization or license, the vehicle’s permit or the certificate of inspection issued by the Tourism Company.
(n) Every enterprise, concessionaire or operator of an authorized motor vehicle shall be bound to observe respectful and courteous behavior toward those using their services, other concessionaires, operators, officers or employees of the Tourism Company and the general public. Noncompliance with the duties and obligations mentioned herein shall be sufficient cause for the imposition of an administrative fine and/or suspension or cancellation of the franchise, authorization, permit or license.
(o) After finishing every trip, the operator shall examine his/her vehicle to ensure that no package or object has been left behind. Every enterprise, concessionaire or operator of an authorized motor vehicle that finds inside the vehicle, after finishing the trip, a lost object or package, shall return it to its owner. If not found, he/she shall consign it in the offices of the Tourism Company. It shall be the operator’s duty to notify to the concessionaire what was found within a twenty-four (24)-hour period.
(p) The concessionaire, in turn, shall notify the Tourism Company in writing within the following forty-eight (48) hours the details of the object left behind, the operator’s name and license number, the vehicle’s authorization number, the name of the person who found the object, the final known destination of the passenger, the person who consigned same at the Tourism Company and the officer or employee who received it.
(q) If an operator has a contagious disease, severe cardiac or mental condition, or has been declared legally disabled, the concessionaire shall notify same to the Tourism Company within a term of forty-eight (48) hours after having learned about it, and shall not allow that person to drive the assigned tourist transportation vehicle until after the Tourism Company has made a final decision on the matter. The Company may hold a hearing in which it shall be discussed if the operator’s license should or should not be cancelled or suspended.
(r) Every concessionaire or operator that renders tourist ground transportation services shall comply with every internal regulation or applicable operating rules issued by the Ports Authority or any agency concerned.
(s) No concessionaire shall allow any of its operators to drive an authorized motor vehicle for more than twelve (12) hours in a continuous schedule of twenty-four (24) hours.
(t) No enterprise, concessionaire, operator or person shall offer rewards or gifts to officers or employees of the Tourism Company, nor grant them any kind of loan. Every enterprise, concessionaire, operator or person shall be responsible for reporting any request for gifts or rewards demanded by officers or employees of the Company. Any violation of these two (2) rules shall be cause for severe sanctions and may provoke the cancellation of the franchise, authorization, permit or license, without limiting any other penal or administrative consequences.
(u) Before beginning the trip, the concessionaire and the operator shall make sure that the passengers do not exceed the authorized passenger capacity.
(v) When an operator does not complete the trip begun for reasons that could have been foreseen and under his control, or if the rate charged is higher than the maximum rate approved by the Tourism Company, this shall be enough cause for revoking the franchise, authorization and/or license, as applicable, through the adjudicative proceeding approved by the Company.
(w) No concessionaire shall allow a vehicle to begin to operate or to offer tourist ground transportation services until after having been inspected by the Tourism Department in order to ensure that it is in adequate physical and mechanical conditions to travel.
(x) No person carrying out duties that could be in conflict with possessing a franchise, authorization, permit or license shall request it, including without limitation, officers or employees of the Tourism Company and the Puerto Rico Police.
(y) All concessionaires who have obtained a franchise must own the motor vehicles they put into service. The concessionaires may only use vehicles that are not their own with prior consent from the Tourism Company.
(z) Every concessionaire that wishes to use a vehicle leased to a leasing enterprise, long or short term, for the operation of the franchise shall request so and obtain a prior authorization from the Tourism Company.
(aa) No concessionaire or operator shall lease the authorized vehicles without having first requested and obtained the authorization of the Tourism Company. The concessionaire shall file the lease contract before the Tourism Company and cannot execute it until after having its approval. The contract shall contain the effectiveness and the terms and conditions that shall govern the contractual relationship, it being understood that the conditions established by the Company by law or regulation shall be included in all agreements.
(bb) At the beginning of each trip, the operator shall ensure that the taximeter has no amount registered and it shall be his/her duty to put it to work while the tourist taxicab is being used by a user, and that the metered rate is the applicable one.
(cc) With the exception of the fixed rates, the metered rate to be charged shall be the one indicated in the taximeter. The operator shall refrain from charging a rate different from the metered rate established by the Tourism Company, and from negotiating or trying to agree or impose any other charge for the tourist ground transportation services rendered.
(dd) No operator shall allow his vehicle to be used for immoral purposes, nor shall same participate and/or help to commit a crime, or voluntarily give transportation to those involved who abandon the scene of a crime. If the operator has knowledge of a crime being committed he/she shall immediately notify same to the authorities.
(ee) Upon a passenger’s request, the operator shall remit a receipt stating his/her name, license number, and the time and place where the trip began and ended, as well as the amount charged. To fulfill this requirement, the operator shall keep a receipt book in his vehicle at all times.
(ff) Every operator shall visibly exhibit his license in the place so established by the Tourism Company through regulations.
(gg) Every operator may use his discretion when a passenger requests tourist ground transportation services accompanied by an animal, with exception of the following circumstances:
(1) When the animal is in a cage that would not damage the interior of the vehicle, and
(2) when it’s a guide dog for blind persons, and the animal is wearing the corresponding muzzle. In this case, no charge will be made for transporting the animal.
(hh) Every operator shall keep a record of the daily operations, which shall include the following:
(1) Operator’s license number;
(2) authorization number and description of the vehicle;
(3) mechanical conditions of the vehicle at the beginning of the day;
(4) damages and repairs, if any, made to the vehicle;
(5) date, time and place where each the trip began and ended;
(6) number of passengers in each trip, and
(7) rate charged for each trip.
Said record shall be subject to inspection, at any time, by personnel of the Tourism Company.
History —Dec. 19, 2002, No. 282, § 40, eff. 180 days after Dec. 19, 2002.