Passenger Transportation Online Licence Application Tutorial

Accessible taxi: a motor vehicle that accommodates a driver and 9 or fewer passenger and that is designed and manufactured or converted for the purpose of transporting persons who use mobility aids in accordance with Division 25.20 and Division 44 of the Motor Vehicle Act Regulation.

Act: the Passenger Transportation Act (established in British Columbia June 2004).

Applicant: a person who has made application to the Registrar of Passenger Transportation for a licence.

Authorization: a general or special authorization.

Auxiliary Passenger Vehicle: a commercial passenger vehicle when it is being operated for the transportation of persons if

• the operator of the commercial passenger vehicle is a business enterprise,
• the arrangement or provision of that transportation is not a primary business of that enterprise, and
• no compensation is directly charged or collected for the provision of transportation.

Board: the Passenger Transportation Board (established under section 6 of the Passenger Transportation Act) and includes a member or panel of the Board.

Board application: refers to an application relating to special authorization for the operation of passenger directed vehicles or inter-city buses; all such applications are submitted to the Registrar and decided by the Board.

Board Staff: includes the Director and Secretary to the Board, the Policy and Communications Manager, Appeals and Operations Coordinator, the Research and Administrative Coordinator, other officers and employees required to allow the Board to perform its functions, and persons contracted on behalf of the Board to provide services to the Board.

Branch: the Passenger Transportation Branch and includes the Registrar and officers and employees of the Registrar.

Bulletin: the Passenger Transportation Board Bulletin.

Bus: A motor vehicle designed to carry more than ten persons.

Care and control: refers to the obligation of a licensee under section 6 of the Passenger Transportation Regulation to do all things necessary to ensure that the Passenger Transportation Act and Regulation are complied with by drivers, operators, officers, agents and employees of the licensee.

Chair: refers to the chair of the Passenger Transportation Board established under section 6 of the Passenger Transportation Act, and when used in relation to a panel of the Board established under section 26 of the Administrative Tribunals Act, “chair” refers to the chair of the panel.

Charitable Association: an entity registered as a charity with the Canadian Customs and Revenue Agency.

Commercial Passenger Vehicle: a motor vehicle operated on a highway by or on behalf of a person who charges or collects compensation for the transportation of passengers in that motor vehicle.

Compensation: includes a rate, remuneration or reward of any kind, payable or promised, or received or demanded, directly or indirectly.

Connector Bus: a commercial passenger vehicle which is operated exclusively between one fixed terminating point (the "base") and another terminating point (the "facility") that is

• - a port (as defined in section 5 of the Canada Marine Act))
• - an airport (as defined in section 3 of the Aeronautics Act)
• - a terminal operated by a ferry operator (as defined in part 1 of the Coastal Ferry Act)

To qualify as a connector bus, all passengers picked up at or after the base are dropped off only at the facility. Likewise, all passengers picked up at the facility are dropped off at or before the base. The commercial passenger vehicle operator must have written authorization from the facility operator to pick up passengers at the facility

Corporation: an incorporated association, company, society, municipality or other incorporated body, where and however incorporated, and includes a corporation sole other than Her Majesty or the Lieutenant Governor.

Day: means calendar day.

Decision: includes a determination, an order or other decision.

Delegated Signing Authority: person(s) who are not the applicant owner, a partner or an officer of a corporation, but have been given authorization, delegated by the applicant owner, partners or officers of a corporation, to sign applications and documents and communicate with the Passenger Transportation Branch and the Passenger Transportation Board with regard to all Passenger Transportation matters

Financial Responsibility Certificate: All persons or firms entering B.C. under an extraprovincial undertaking (commercial enterprise) are required by law to do one of two things.

1. One option is to file proof of insurance coverage (Financial Responsibility Certificate – Form MV23) with the Inter-jurisdictional Licensing Department of ICBC at a cost.

   For information regarding filing Financial Responsibility, contact:

   ICBC Tel: 604-443-4450
   Financial Responsibility Section Fax: 604-443-4451
   
   PO Box 7500, Stn Main Toll Free in B.C.
   Vancouver, BC V6B 5R9
   1-800-665-4336
   

2. The other option is to obtain the compulsory insurance coverage from the nearest Inspection Station upon the purchase of a Non-Resident Commercial Vehicle Permit.

   Inspection Station Website: http://www.th.gov.bc.ca/cvse/inspection_stations.htm

General Authorization: when used in relation to a motor vehicle, means an authorization to operate the motor vehicle as a general passenger vehicle. (Applications for general authorization are made to the Registrar of Passenger Transportation not the Board.)

General Passenger Vehicle: a commercial passenger vehicle when it is not operated as an inter-city bus or as a passenger directed vehicle.

General Authorization Vehicle Identifier: means the passenger transportation licence number (e.g. PT 70000) that is assigned in respect of, and is to be displayed on, a motor vehicle in respect of which a licence that includes a general authorization has been issued.

Highway: includes all public streets, roads, ways, trails, lanes, bridges, trestles, ferry landings and approaches, and any other public way.

Holiday: includes

• Sunday, Christmas Day, Good Friday and Easter Monday,
• Canada Day, Victoria Day, British Columbia Day, Labour Day, Remembrance Day and New Year's Day,
• December 26, and
• a day set by the Parliament of Canada or by the Legislature, or appointed by proclamation of the Governor General or the Lieutenant Governor, to be observed as a day of general prayer or mourning, a day of public rejoicing or thanksgiving, a day for celebrating the birthday of the reigning Sovereign, or as a public holiday.

ICB: an abbreviation for inter-city bus.

Inter-City Bus: a commercial passenger vehicle when it is operated

• on a set time schedule between any prescribed municipality or regional district in British Columbia and any other location, whether in British Columbia or not,
• for individual fares,
• over a regular route, and
• between fixed terminating points, picking up or dropping off passengers at intermediate points as necessary, and includes or excludes any commercial passenger vehicle or class of commercial passenger vehicles prescribed by regulations.

International Registration Plan (IRP): The province of British Columbia is a member of the following interjurisdictional licensing (prorate) agreement:

International Registration Plan (IRP)

For information regarding International Registration Plan please contact:

(604) 443.4450
Toll Free 1 800.665.4336

Job Title: the title of the office held by a person who is an officer of the applicant's company or firm (i.e. president, secretary)

Licence: a licence issued under section 25(1) or 29(1) of the Passenger Transportation Act. (A licence may be referred to as a “passenger transportation licence.”)

Licensee: a person who holds a valid licence that has been

• issued to that person, or
• transferred to that person in accordance with section 30 of the Passenger Transportation Act.

Limousine: refers generally to a class of passenger directed vehicle that are advertised by the operator as a limousine and which, except for sedan limousines, accommodate a driver and 6 or more passengers, and further to section 23 of the Passenger Transportation Act, is not equipped with a top light and taxicab meter and is not used to carry passengers who hail or flag the vehicle from the street.

Member: a person appointed by the Lieutenant Governor in Council to the Passenger Transportation Board. (A member may also be referred to as a “Board Member.”)

Motor Vehicle: a vehicle, not run on rails, that is designed to be self propelled or propelled by electric power obtained from overhead trolley wires, but does not include a motor assisted cycle (as defined in the Motor Vehicle Act).

Municipality: as applicable,

• the corporation into which the residents of an area are incorporated as a municipality under the Local Government Act, the Vancouver Charter or any other Act, or
• the geographic area of the municipal corporation.

NSC: an abbreviation for National Safety Code.

National Safety Code: a set of national standards supported by provincial regulations which establish minimum safety standards for commercial vehicles and drivers.

Newspaper: a printed publication in sheet form, intended for general circulation, published regularly at intervals of not longer than a week, consisting in great part of news of current events of general interest;

No Direct Compensation: no compensation or reward is charged or paid expressly for the transportation service at any time by or on behalf of the passengers who use the transportation service. In cases where the transportation is optional, the person who uses the transportation will not pay any more than the person who does not use the transportation

Non-accessible taxi: to a motor vehicle that is not designed and manufactured or converted for the purpose of transporting persons who use mobility aids.

Operate: when used in relation to a motor vehicle, includes the driving or managing of the motor vehicle.

Operating Costs: Vehicle operating costs include:

• gasoline
• tolls
• ferry fares
• insurance
• maintenance

Vehicle operating costs do not include depreciation.

Owner: a person who is the sole owner of a business; also known as "sole proprietor". A proprietorship may, or may not, be registered as a "firm" with the BC Companies directory.

Passenger Transportation Board: the Passenger Transportation Board (established under section 6 of the Passenger Transportation Act) and includes a member of panel of the Board.

PDV: an abbreviation for passenger directed vehicle.

Panel: a member or members appointed by the Board Chair to exercise some or all of the powers and duties of the Passenger Transportation Board.

Participant: any person who will make a submission at a hearing, and includes an applicant and a submitter, but does not include a witness or a “Guest of the Board” under Passenger Transportation Board Rule 19.

Partner: the Partnership Act [RSBC 1996] Chapter 348 defines "partner" as follows: "Partnership is the relation which subsists between persons carrying on business in common with a view of profit

Passenger Directed Vehicle: a commercial passenger vehicle where that vehicle

• can accommodate a driver and not more than the number of passengers prescribed by the regulations, and
• is operated to and from locations determined by the passenger or group of passengers or by a person acting on behalf of the passenger or group of passengers, and includes or excludes any commercial passenger vehicle or type of commercial passenger vehicle prescribed by regulation.

Person: includes a corporation, partnership or party, and the personal or other legal representatives of a person to whom the context can apply according to law.

Principal: Each business owner or person with a leading ownership or management role in a company. Other terms which mean the same thing are "owner", "partner", "director" or "officer".

Published: means published in a Bulletin that has been posted on the Passenger Transportation Board’s website.

Regional district: a regional district as defined under the Local Government Act.

Rates: includes charter and individual, metered rates, discount fares, deadhead charges, round trip fares, point-to-point fares, minimum charges, and any other fees or charges.

Registrar: the Registrar of Passenger Transportation appointed under section 2 of the Passenger Transportation Act. (The Registrar manages the Ministry of Transportation’s Passenger Transportation Branch.)

Ridership: refers to the number of charter trips that are provided with respect to a party of one or more persons with exclusive use of a vehicle, or to the number of individual passengers carried by an operator providing and charging passengers on a per-person basis.

Rules: any practice or tariff of the licensee in reference to “rates” charged for providing the service in relation to the operation of a passenger directed vehicle service.

Safety Certificate: has the same meaning as in section 37.01 of the Motor Vehicle Act Regulations.

Scheduled Services: Motor Vehicles (e.g. Buses) which charge individual fares, and operate on a regular route on a set schedule.

School Bus: a motor vehicle used to convey children to or from school by or under a contract with the authority in charge of the school.

Secondary transportation service: a service provided by using a commercial passenger vehicle that does not meet the definition of “auxiliary passenger vehicle” because compensation is charged or collected directly for the provision of transportation.

Shuttle van: refers generally to a class of passenger directed vehicles that have a van-style body, accommodates a driver and not less than 6 and not more than 11 passengers, and is not a taxicab or limousine.

Signing Authority: the applicant owner, partners or officers of a corporation; or person(s) who have been authorised by the applicant owner, partners or officers of a corporation, to sign applications and documents and communicate with the Passenger Transportation Branch and the Passenger Transportation Board with regard to all Passenger Transportation matters.

Society: has the same meaning as in the Society Act.

Special Authorization: when used in relation to a motor vehicle, means an authorization to operate the motor vehicle as

• an inter-city bus, or
• a passenger directed vehicle.

Special Authorization Vehicle Identification Certificate (see also Special Authorization Vehicle Identifier): Vehicle Identification certificates issued to Passenger Transportation licensees with Special Authorization, to certify that the vehicle is covered by a Passenger Transportation licence. Certificates include information about the licence holder, type of authorization, identifier number, vehicle registration number, vehicle year and make, date of issuance and expiry date of certificate.

Special Authorization Vehicle Identifier: a uniquely numbered sticker, decal, tag or plate that is issued in respect of, and is to be attached to, a motor vehicle in respect of which a licence which includes a Special Authorization has been issued.

Submissions: refers to a written submission respecting an application that was received by the Board which was made by a person other than an applicant in accordance with section 27(2) of the Passenger Transportation Act, or to ‘applicant submissions’ when further information is required by the board and received from an applicant in accordance with section 27(1)(b) of the Passenger Transportation Act.

Submissions: refers to a written submission respecting an application that was received by the Board which was made by a person other than an applicant in accordance with section 27(2) of the Passenger Transportation Act, or to ‘applicant submissions’ when further information is required by the board and received from an applicant in accordance with section 27(1)(b) of the Passenger Transportation Act.

Submitter: a person, other than the applicant, permitted by the Passenger Transportation Board, pursuant to Section 27 of the Passenger Transportation Act, to make submissions on an application.

Taxicab (taxi): a class of passenger directed vehicle that accommodates a driver and not more than 7 passengers, and further to section 23 of the Passenger Transportation Act, is equipped with a top light and taxicab meter and is used to carry passengers who hail or flag the vehicle from the street.

Three-part test: refers generally to the mandate of the Board as set out under section 28(1) of the Passenger Transportation Act (i.e. public need, applicant fitness/capability, and sound economic conditions).

Transferee: is the person who is applying to have an existing licence transferred from another person (the transferor) and issued in the name of the transferee.

Transferor: is the person who holds a current passenger transportation licence and is applying to have that licence transferred to and issued in the name of another person (transferee).

Type: when used in relation to commercial passenger vehicles, means

• general passenger vehicles,
• inter-city buses, or
• passenger directed vehicles.

Vehicle: means a device in, on or by which a person or thing is or may be transported or drawn on a highway, but does not include a device designed to be moved by human power, a device used exclusively on stationary rails or tracks or a motor assisted cycle (as defined in the Motor Vehicle Act).