§ 4-43. Definitions.

For the purposes of this article, the following definitions shall apply:

(a)

Chauffeur means a driver registered with and authorized by the Consumer Services Department to operate a nonemergency medical vehicle.

(b)

Commission means the Board of County Commissioners of Miami-Dade County, Florida.

(c)

Applicant or person means any natural person(s), firm, partnership, association, corporation, or other business or governmental entity.

(d)

Director means the Miami-Dade County Consumer Services Department Director.

(e)

CSD means the Miami-Dade County Consumer Services Department.

(f)

Fares or rates means the charges established pursuant to this article to be paid for the transportation services provided by an operator.

(g)

Trade name means the name under which any person(s), firm, partnership, association or corporation operates its business.

(h)

Operate means provide transportation services utilizing a nonemergency vehicle.

(i)

Operator means any person who has been issued a certificate in accordance with the provisions of this article.

(j)

Certificate means a certificate of public convenience and necessity authorizing the holder thereof to engage in providing the transportation services described thereon.

(k)

Nonemergency medical transportation service or nonemergency service means the transportation of persons while on stretchers or wheelchairs, or whose handicap, illness, injury or other incapacitation makes it impractical to be transported by a regular common carrier such as bus or taxicab service, and neither need nor expect to need medical attention enroute. The definition of nonemergency medical transportation service or nonemergency service shall also include service provided by any vehicle operating under a Miami-Dade County certificate of public convenience and necessity received under this article which is designed to accommodate no more than eight (8) passengers, exclusive of the driver and which is equipped to transport passengers confined to a wheelchair, where such vehicle is provided by Miami-Dade County to an operator approved by resolution of the Board of County Commissioners to participate in Miami-Dade County's Prototype Paratransit Vehicle Project, as defined in Section 31-81 of the Code of Miami-Dade County. Excluded therefrom are hospitals exclusively transporting their patients in hospital vehicles where no fee is charged for this service; ambulance service operating under a Miami-Dade County certificate of public convenience and necessity, public bus transportation systems, school bus service operated by the Miami-Dade County Public School Board, and taxicab services operating under a Miami-Dade County license.

(l)

Nonemergency medical transportation vehicle or nonemergency vehicles means any motor vehicle that is specially designed, constructed, reconstructed and equipped to provide nonemergency medical transportation service, excluding any motor vehicle engaged solely in providing special transportation services for the Miami-Dade Transit Agency pursuant to a contract with Miami-Dade County, or any vehicle which is used solely by its owner for self transportation or for transportation of immediate family members. Nonemergency medical transportation vehicles engaged in providing MDTA special transportation services pursuant to a contract with Miami-Dade County are subject to the regulations contained in Chapter 31, Article IV.

(m)

Paratransit services mean any transportation services provided for compensation to passengers with disabilities by motor carriers between specific origins and destinations selected by an individual user at a certain time that is agreed upon by the user an the service provider.

(n)

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 or the ADA means the civil rights act signed into law on July 26, 1990 as Public Law 101-336, 104 Stat 327, as the same may be amended from time to time.

(o)

The ADA-defined area of Miami-Dade County means the complementary paratransit service area as required by the ADA or any federal regulations established pursuant to the ADA. The service area includes an area with a width of three-fourths of a mile on each side of Miami-Dade County's fixed bus routes and an area consisting of a circle with a radius of three-fourths of a mile around each Metrorail station.

(p)

Paratransit passenger means an individual receiving paratransit services who has a physical or mental impairment as defined by the ADA that substantially limits one or more the major life activities of such individual, has a record of such impairment or has been regarded as having such an impairment.

(Ord. No. 80-145, § 3, 12-18-80; Ord. No. 87-10, § 1, 3-17-87; Ord. No. 88-124, § 2, 12-20-88; Ord. No. 91-130, § 1, 11-5-91; Ord. No. 95-221, § 1, 12-5-95)