Vehicles-for-Hire & Transport · 6 min read · Last updated
The broker is the middle of Hamilton's taxi system. Owners hold the plates, drivers hold personal licences, and the broker is the business that takes the calls and sends a cab. Because dispatching happens somewhere, this is the one licence in the taxi family attached to an address, which is why zoning and a parking inspection appear on a checklist otherwise concerned with people and vehicles.
The City of Hamilton lists this under its “Mobile” category: “Taxi Cab Broker means any person who carries on the business of accepting calls, orders and/or dispatching taxicabs that are used for hire.”
Who needs this licence?
A taxi cab broker is any person who carries on the business of accepting calls, orders or dispatching taxicabs used for hire. If your business answers the phone, runs the app or otherwise sends cabs to customers, you are a broker even if you own no vehicles at all.
The broker licence sits beside the other taxi licences rather than replacing any of them. Drivers still need their own taxi cab driver licences, and the cabs themselves still run on plates held under taxi cab owner licences. A brokerage that also owns plates and employs drivers is holding several different licences at once, one for each role.
It is also worth separating this licence from the Personal Transportation Provider licence. A PTP facilitates prearranged trips through a platform and is licensed under a different schedule with a different checklist; a broker dispatches taxicabs.
What documents do you need?
Three items, and each one reflects a different aspect of running a dispatch business.
Business registration, corporate profile or master business licence documentation dated within one year of application establishes the brokerage as a legal entity. The licence is issued in that name.
For the premises, the checklist accepts either a Zoning Verification Certificate or an open building permit. That second option is a genuine flexibility that most Hamilton licences do not offer, and it helps where a space is being fitted out at the same time as the licence is being sought.
A Criminal Records and Judicial Matters Check dated within 36 days of application, from the police service board in your city of residence, covers the person behind the business. Third party clearances will not be accepted. Notably, the broker checklist does not ask for a completed business licence application form as a separate listed item the way the garage classes do, but you will still be applying on the City's application, so treat the three checklist items as what you attach to it.
Zoning and premises requirements
This is the taxi licence where zoning genuinely matters, because a brokerage operates from a location. The checklist calls for a Zoning Verification Certificate or an open building permit for the address.
The addendum route is available in the usual way: where the same category of business was previously licensed at the address within one year, a Zoning Addendum may be completed instead of a full certificate. Dispatch offices often pass from one brokerage to another with the use unchanged, which is exactly what the addendum is for.
Choose deliberately between the certificate and the open building permit. If you are renovating a unit and already hold a building permit for the work, that may satisfy this item without a separate zoning application, but confirm the position with Licensing before relying on it.
Inspections and approvals
A parking inspection applies to the broker licence, and its fee forms part of the application cost. It is the only inspection in this licence.
The inspection is directed at the premises, not at any taxicab. Dispatch offices attract vehicles, whether drivers attending the office or cabs waiting nearby, so how the property handles parking and vehicle movement is the practical question.
No vehicle inspection appears here, because the broker does not licence vehicles. Safety certification and the Licensing Officer's vehicle inspection belong to the taxi cab owner licence, and driver vetting belongs to the taxi cab driver licence.
How much does it cost?
A new broker application carries a processing fee, the licence fee and a parking inspection fee. HST applies to the processing fee and the inspection fee, while the licence fee is untaxed.
The broker licence fee is among the larger fees in the vehicles-for-hire family, which reflects the commercial scale of a dispatch operation compared with a single driver licence.
At renewal you pay the licence fee. The processing fee and the parking inspection fee do not recur.
A late renewal attracts a licence re-instatement fee. The City sets all amounts in its fee schedule and confirms them when your application is processed.
How to apply
Sort out the premises question first. Decide whether you are relying on a Zoning Verification Certificate or an open building permit, and check whether a Zoning Addendum is available because the same category of business was licensed at the address within the past year.
Order current business registration or corporate profile documentation for the brokerage entity.
Book the criminal record check with the police service board where you live and time it so it is under 36 days old when you submit.
Submit the application with the three checklist items and pay the processing, licence and inspection fees. The parking inspection is arranged from there, and the licence is issued once it is cleared.
Renewals and staying compliant
At renewal, Declarations A and B need to be completed and the licence fee is paid. The zoning documentation and police check are not repeated as a matter of routine.
The parking inspection does not recur at renewal, so the ongoing cost of a broker licence is the licence fee alone.
If the brokerage moves premises, that is a change to the address the licence was granted for, and it should be raised with Licensing rather than left until the next renewal.
Renew before the licence expires. A lapsed licence is reinstated rather than renewed, and reinstatement carries its own late fee.
Quick quiz: test what you learned
Three questions, all answered in this guide. Click an answer to check it.
1. What business does a taxi cab broker licence cover?
A broker is defined as any person carrying on the business of accepting calls, orders or dispatching taxicabs used for hire, which is the dispatch role rather than ownership or driving.
2. What may a broker provide instead of a Zoning Verification Certificate?
The broker checklist accepts a Zoning Verification Certificate or an open building permit, with a Zoning Addendum available where the same category of business was licensed at the address within one year.
3. Why does the broker licence carry a parking inspection when other taxi licences do not?
The broker is the only taxi licence tied to an address, so the premises attracts zoning confirmation and a parking inspection.
Skip the paperwork
Tell Permits2Go about your business and it assembles the licence application for you — document checklists, e-signatures and a guided workspace for Hamilton, with more cities on the way.
This guide is general information, not legal or professional advice. Licensing requirements, by-laws and fees change and vary by municipality — always confirm the current rules with the City before you apply.