27:25A-22. Provisions of plan for motorbus services

22. a. If a plan is established under subsection q. of section 7 of this act for motorbus regular route and motorbus charter services, the plan may provide for: (1) the designation of certain routes upon which motorbus regular route and charter services shall be permitted to travel and, with the consent of the affected municipalities, the posting of signs by the authority to this effect. The authority may require the owner or operator of a bus entering Atlantic County to file with the authority a notice, in the form and manner which the authority may direct, indicating the proposed route and destination or destinations and the parking facility at which the motorbus intends to park. The authority may issue a permit without charge to the owner or operator filing this notice; (2) the regulation of the manner in which buses may travel to points of loading and unloading by providing for the interception and dispatching of buses; (3) regulation of the activities of the buses incident to their reception at, and leaving of, places of business, in particular casino hotels; (4) the requirement that the buses entering a municipality in which casino gaming is authorized park at a parking facility which can accommodate motorbus parking situated in Atlantic County and which is owned, operated, leased, licensed or approved by the authority. This shall not apply to those motorbuses, as determined by the authority, which have as their ultimate destination their point of origin, without the necessity of interrupting a continuous journey for the purpose of stopping within Atlantic County, except for the purpose of discharging passengers or those motorbuses whose only destination within Atlantic County is a bus terminal designated by the authority as a public bus terminal. Such a motorbus shall complete its journey by the most direct and expeditious route, as provided by the authority; (5) licensing, including renewals thereof, and regulation of parking, repair and maintenance facilities which can accommodate motorbus parking, repair and maintenance not owned, operated, leased, or approved by the authority, including the regulation of size, location, utilization and operation of, and need for, the facilities. The authority shall notify and request comment from any municipality affected by rules and regulations concerning licensure and regulation of parking, repair and maintenance facilities which can accommodate motorbus parking in accordance with subsection d. of this section. The authority shall regulate repair and maintenance facilities only to the extent necessary to assure that those facilities are not operated as parking facilities and may adopt criteria for determining when the parking of motorbuses at repair and maintenance facilities constitutes operation as a parking facility. This subsection shall not apply to a privately owned parking, repair and maintenance facility in existence at a location in Atlantic County as of February 1, 1983, which exclusively accommodates motorbuses owned by the owner of the parking facility and does not rent or lease the facility or its use to any other motorbus provided there is no increase in the capacity of the facility after the date of enactment of this act, except that any such facility located within the city limits of Atlantic City may provide repair and maintenance service to its motorbuses and other motorbuses and attendant storage and may expand its facility to an adjoining property, subject to municipal planning and zoning ordinances. This subsection shall also not apply to a privately owned parking, repair or maintenance facility located outside the city limits of Atlantic City in existence on February 1, 1983, and in continuous operation thereafter, which exclusively accommodates motorbuses, tractor trailers, and limousines owned directly or through a corporation by an owner or a contract purchaser of the facility, provided there is no increase in the land area of the entire facility after February 1, 1983, the number of buses parked at any one time does not exceed 85, and that on or after January 1, 1992 this exemption shall not transfer with title to the facility.

b. The authority may establish a reasonable service charge to be paid by the owner or operator of each motorbus which shall enter a municipality in which casino gaming is authorized, which service charge shall be collected in a manner as the authority may direct. The fee shall not exceed $2.00 per motorbus, except once the maximum fee is reached, the authority may increase the fee annually by the percentage increase of the Consumer Price Index for the Philadelphia-New Jersey area for the preceding year as determined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This subsection shall not apply to those motorbuses whose only destination within Atlantic County is a bus terminal designated by the authority as a public bus terminal.

The authority is empowered to require casino hotels in a municipality in which casino gaming is authorized to furnish it with information as is necessary to collect the reasonable service charge referred to in this subsection.

c. Rules and regulations promulgated by the authority under this section may include the provision for an assessment of penalties for any violation of these rules and regulations not to exceed $500 for any single violation. Any violation of these rules and regulations shall be prosecuted by the municipality in which the violation occurred. All moneys collected as a result of the imposition of fines in cases prosecuted by the municipality shall be paid to the municipality. However, if in the judgment of the authority, any municipality shall fail to enforce adequately the provisions of these rules and regulations, proceedings to enforce rules and regulations in that municipality shall be prosecuted by the authority, and moneys collected as result of the imposition of fines shall be paid to the authority. Proceedings under this section may be instituted on any day of the week and institution of proceedings on a Sunday or holiday shall be no bar to successful prosecution. Any process served on a Sunday or holiday shall be valid as if served on any other day of the week.

d. The authority shall notify by personal service or registered or certified mail, return receipt requested, the clerk of any municipality to be affected by the rules and regulations to be promulgated under this section at least 15 days prior to their promulgation and request comment from the municipality.

e. All rules and regulations adopted pursuant to this section shall be submitted to the commissioner for review prior to adoption by the authority pursuant to the "Administrative Procedure Act," and the commissioner shall have 30 business days to approve or reject the rules and regulations. If the commissioner rejects the rules and regulations, they shall not be approved. If the commissioner approves the rules and regulations or fails to act within 30 business days after submission, then the authority may adopt the rules and regulations.

f. In order to provide for equitable treatment of all motorbus carriers, including those exempted from this act, and for the proper routing of all carriers, the authority in conjunction with the commissioner or the Board of the New Jersey Transit Corporation, as the case may be, may adopt policies and issue rules and regulations providing for the routing, interception, dispatching, reception and leaving of places of business of exempt motorbuses, in a manner consistent with subsection a. of this section.

g. The Chairperson of the Senate Transportation and Public Utilities Committee, the Chairperson of the Assembly Transportation Authorities, Telecommunications and Technology Committee, or their successor committees, and the director of the Federal Aviation Administration Technical Center shall receive copies of any rules and regulations to be adopted by the authority at the time of submission to the commissioner pursuant to subsection e. of this section or if not submitted to the commissioner, at the time of submission to the Governor as provided in the "Administrative Procedure Act."

L.1991,c.252,s.22.