Vehicles-for-Hire & Transport · 7 min read · Last updated
The full taxi cab driver licence is what a probationary driver moves on to and what most drivers hold long term. Compared with the 90-day licence, the difference is training: a one-day customer service class and an online eight-hour course are both required. Complete a third course, the accessible training, and the licensing fee is waived for your first year.
The City of Hamilton lists this under its “Mobile” category: “Taxicab Driver means a person who is licensed as such or required to be licensed as such under this Schedule and includes a taxicab owner who drives a taxicab.”
Who needs this licence?
A taxicab driver means a person who is licensed as such or required to be licensed as such under Schedule 25, and the definition expressly includes a taxicab owner who drives a taxicab. If you own a plate and drive the cab yourself, you need this licence as well as the owner licence.
The licence is personal. It is yours rather than the brokerage's, and it travels with you if you change who you drive for, although the checklist requires a completed and signed Broker or Taxi Cab Owner Application Form connecting you to an operation.
There is a route in for drivers who are not yet trained. The 90-day probationary licence lets a new driver work while completing the required courses, and at the end of that period the requirements for the full licence are what must be submitted. Read this page as the destination and the probationary page as the on-ramp.
What documents do you need?
Eight items sit on the taxi cab driver checklist, and the training certificates are the ones that set your timeline.
You start with the completed business licence application form and a completed and signed Broker or Taxi Cab Owner Application Form. The second of those has to come from the operation you will drive for.
A Criminal Records and Judicial Matters Check dated within 36 days, issued by the police service board in your city of residence with third party clearances refused, and a driver abstract dated within 36 days cover your background and your driving record. Your driver licence class is recorded from your provincial licence.
Then come the courses. A Certificate of Completion for the one-day customer service training class and a Certificate of Completion for the online eight-hour training course are both required. A Certificate of Completion for the Accessible Training course is expressly not mandatory, but providing it waives the licensing fee for the first year, which makes it the only item on any Hamilton licence checklist that pays you back for doing it.
Zoning and premises requirements
Zoning does not apply to this licence. It is attached to you as a driver, and a person has no zoning designation.
Zoning applies to premises, and in the taxi system that means the brokerage. A dispatch office has to satisfy zoning through the taxi cab broker licence, which requires a Zoning Verification Certificate or an open building permit for its address. That obligation belongs to the brokerage, not to the drivers it dispatches.
Nothing on the driver checklist involves an address, and no zoning fee forms part of your application.
Inspections and approvals
The driver licence carries no inspection. There is no premises and no vehicle attached to it, so nothing is examined in person.
What stands in for an inspection is the currency requirement on your documents. The police check and the driver abstract must both be dated within 36 days of application, and a fresh abstract is required at every renewal, so your record is re-examined each year rather than once at the start.
The cab you drive is inspected under a different licence. Taxi cab owner licences require a Safety Standards Certificate and an inspection of the vehicle by a Licensing Officer, both at application and before each renewal, so vehicle condition is the plate holder's responsibility.
How much does it cost?
A new driver application carries a processing fee, the licence fee and a photo fee for the municipal ID card. HST applies to the processing fee and the photo fee, while the licence fee is not taxed.
The accessible training waiver applies here. If you provide a Certificate of Completion for the Accessible Training course, the licensing fee is waived for the first year, which changes what a first application actually costs.
At renewal you pay the licence fee, and the photo fee only in the years a new picture is required, which is every three years. The processing fee does not recur.
A late renewal brings a licence re-instatement fee. Before any plate transfer, licence renewal or new or renewed lease, outstanding fees for service and court fines must be paid, and the Issuer of Licences may refuse to issue a licence where they have not been. All amounts come from the City's fee schedule and are confirmed when you apply.
How to apply
Book the training first. The one-day customer service class and the online eight-hour course are both required, and course scheduling usually sets the date you can apply. Consider adding the accessible training, since its certificate waives your first-year licensing fee.
Ask the brokerage or plate owner for a completed and signed Broker or Taxi Cab Owner Application Form.
Order your criminal record check and driver abstract together so both are inside the 36-day window on the day you submit, and bring your provincial driver licence so your class can be recorded.
Submit the application with the full package, pay the processing and licence fees, and have your photograph taken for the municipally issued ID card. That card, reprinted annually, is what identifies you as a licensed driver.
Renewals and staying compliant
Each renewal requires a fresh driver abstract dated within 36 days. This is the item drivers most often forget, because nothing else about the licence changes year to year.
The municipally issued photo ID card is printed annually with an updated expiry date, and a new picture is required every three years, which is when the photo fee reappears.
Declarations A and B need to be completed at renewal, confirming that the information the City holds about you remains accurate.
Renew before your card expires. A late renewal carries a licence re-instatement fee, and any outstanding fees for service or court fines will need to be cleared before the renewal can be issued.
Quick quiz: test what you learned
Three questions, all answered in this guide. Click an answer to check it.
1. Which training is mandatory for a full taxi cab driver licence?
Certificates of Completion are required for both the one-day customer service class and the online eight-hour course, while the accessible training is expressly not mandatory.
2. What does completing the accessible training course achieve?
Providing a Certificate of Completion for the Accessible Training course waives the licensing fee for the first year, even though the course itself is optional.
3. What must be provided at every taxi cab driver licence renewal?
The renewal requirements list a driver abstract dated within 36 days, alongside the annually reprinted photo ID card and Declarations A and B.
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.