Vehicles-for-Hire & Transport · 7 min read · Last updated
A taxi cab owner is the person who owns a taxi cab plate. This is the licence at the centre of Hamilton's taxi system: it puts a specific vehicle on the road as a cab, and the driver and broker licences work around it. The critical point before you read any further is that no new licences are available unless authorised by by-law or council, so for most people the route to a plate is a transfer or the priority list rather than this application.
The City of Hamilton lists this under its “Mobile” category: “Taxi Cab Owner means a person who is the owner of a taxi cab plate. NO NEW LICENCES AVAILABLE (UNLESS AUTHORIZED BY BYLAW/COUNCIL). LICENCE APPLICANT MUST APPLY IN PERSON with government issued photo ID.”
Who needs this licence?
A taxi cab owner is a person who is the owner of a taxi cab plate. The licence is what allows a specific vehicle to operate as a taxicab, and it is held by a person rather than by a brokerage.
Availability is the first hurdle and it is a hard one. No new licences are available unless authorised by by-law or council. The application fee schedule even labels the licence fee as first-time issuance if new licences are authorised by by-law, which tells you how this works: the route only opens when council decides it does.
That leaves two realistic paths to holding a plate. One is a taxi cab owner transfer, where an existing plate is transferred to you. The other is the taxi cab priority list, which is the queue maintained by the Director of Licensing for future owner licences, and the accessible priority list for accessible taxicab owner licences.
Whichever route you take, the qualifications are the same and they are not trivial: completion of Business Skills college for taxi training and proof of involvement in the taxi cab industry for at least one year. This is a licence for people already in the trade. You must also apply in person with government-issued photo ID.
What documents do you need?
The checklist for a new plate is the longest in Hamilton's taxi family, because it covers the vehicle, the applicant and the applicant's standing in the industry all at once.
For the vehicle: ownership, and a Safety Standards Certificate less than 36 days old when submitted, with a commercial safety required for all accessible vehicles. A Certificate of Insurance is submitted directly to the City's taxi licensing email address by your insurance broker rather than by you.
For the applicant: a Criminal Records and Judicial Matters Check dated within 36 days from the police service board where you live, with third party clearances refused, plus a driver abstract dated within 36 days.
For standing in the trade: completion of Business Skills college for taxi training, and proof of involvement in the taxi cab industry for at least one year. These two items are what separate the owner licence from every other licence in this group, and they cannot be assembled at the counter.
The file closes with an inspection of the vehicle by a Licensing Officer.
Zoning and premises requirements
There is no zoning requirement for a taxi cab owner licence. The licence attaches to a plate and a vehicle, and neither has an address.
Zoning applies to where a business physically operates. In the taxi system, that is the brokerage: the taxi cab broker licence requires a Zoning Verification Certificate or an open building permit for its dispatch premises. If you own a plate and dispatch through a brokerage, that zoning obligation belongs to the brokerage.
No Zoning Verification Certificate, addendum or zoning fee appears anywhere on the owner checklist, at application or at renewal.
Inspections and approvals
Two vehicle checks sit on this licence, and both recur.
The first is provincial: a Safety Standards Certificate less than 36 days old when submitted, obtained from a licensed inspection station. A commercial safety is required for all accessible vehicles, which is a distinction worth settling before booking, since an accessible cab certified only to the regular standard will not be accepted.
The second is the City's own: an inspection of the vehicle by a Licensing Officer, required at application and again prior to every renewal. This is what makes the owner licence genuinely different from the driver licence, which carries no inspection at all.
Nothing here inspects premises. There is no parking or fire inspection, because the licence covers a vehicle rather than a place.
How much does it cost?
The application fee structure has two parts: a processing fee, which attracts HST, and the licence fee, which does not. The licence fee is described as applying to first-time issuance if new licences are authorised by by-law, which reflects that new plates are not ordinarily available.
That first-issuance licence fee is the largest single amount in the taxi family, and it is substantially higher than what the same licence costs to renew each year afterwards. Budget for the difference between entering and continuing.
At renewal you pay the licence fee only. The costs of the safety certificate and your insurance are paid to the inspection station and the insurer rather than to the City.
A late renewal carries a licence re-instatement fee. Before any plate transfer, licence renewal or new or renewed lease, all 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 City amounts come from the fee schedule and are confirmed during the application.
How to apply
Confirm first that a route exists. No new licences are available unless authorised by by-law or council, so ask Licensing whether new issuance is open, and if it is not, look at the transfer route or the priority list instead.
Build the qualifications before anything else. Completion of Business Skills college for taxi training and proof of at least one year of involvement in the taxi cab industry are prerequisites, not paperwork.
Prepare the vehicle side: ownership, a Safety Standards Certificate less than 36 days old at submission with a commercial safety for an accessible vehicle, and an instruction to your insurance broker to send the Certificate of Insurance directly to the City.
Order your criminal record check and driver abstract together so both are within 36 days, then attend in person with government-issued photo ID to submit and pay. A Licensing Officer inspects the vehicle before the licence is issued.
Renewals and staying compliant
Renewal is about the vehicle rather than about you. You provide ownership, a Certificate of Insurance sent in by your insurance broker, and a Safety Standards Certificate less than 36 days old when submitted, with a commercial safety again required for all accessible vehicles.
An inspection of the vehicle by a Licensing Officer is required prior to renewal, so allow time to book it rather than leaving the renewal to the last week.
Declarations A and B need to be completed. The renewal licence fee is considerably lower than the first-issuance fee, which is the one piece of good news in this licence's cost structure.
Outstanding fees for service and court fines must be paid before a renewal is granted, and a late renewal carries a licence re-instatement fee on top.
Quick quiz: test what you learned
Three questions, all answered in this guide. Click an answer to check it.
1. Can a new taxi cab owner licence be applied for at any time in Hamilton?
New owner licences are not available unless authorised by by-law or council, which is why the transfer route and the priority list exist.
2. What experience does the owner checklist require?
The checklist asks for both Business Skills college taxi training and proof of at least one year of involvement in the taxi cab industry.
3. Which vehicles need a commercial safety rather than a regular one?
The owner checklist specifies that a commercial safety is required for all accessible vehicles, both at application and at renewal.
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.