HCC §18-1
Definitions for County Transportation Rules
Read the official text at hawaiicounty.gov ↗This section defines key terms used in the county's transportation rules, such as carrier, taxi, handicapped, senior citizen, and student. It explains who is considered a carrier and who is exempt, and what counts as public highways and safety glass. These definitions apply to the rest of the chapter.
The ordinance, as written (Hawaiʻi County) — Definitions
A copy, taken August 21, 2026. The version published by Hawaiʻi County is the one that governs, and it may have changed since. Check it before relying on anything here.
As used in this chapter: “Carrier” means every person, individual, corporation, joint stock company, firm, association, lessee, trustee, receiver, or trustee appointed by any court, who or which owns, controls, operates, or manages a passenger-carrying motor vehicle, such as a sampan bus, taxi or other vehicle exempted from chapter 271, Hawai‘i Revised Statutes, operated in the transportation of the general public, over a prescribed route on a regular schedule over any public street or highway within the County, but not including: (1) Persons transporting passengers without charge in motor vehicles owned or operated by such person, where such transportation is provided in conjunction with and in furtherance of a related primary business purpose or enterprise of that person, except that this exemption shall not apply to persons making any contract, agreement, or arrangement to provide, procure, furnish, or arrange for transportation as a travel agent or broker or a person engaged in tour or sightseeing activities, nor shall this exemption apply where the transportation is undertaken by a person to evade the regulatory purposes of this chapter; (2) Sightseeing buses; (3) Private transportation services of churches and employers; (4) Student transportation; and (5) Any mass transit system owned, maintained, and operated by the County including, but not limited to, motor buses, street railroads, and fixed rail facilities. “Commission” means the County transportation commission. “Director of finance” means the director of finance or a person designated by the director of finance. “Handicapped” means any individual meeting one or more of the following standards and guidelines: (1) Any individual who by reason of illness, injury, advanced age, congenital malfunction, or other incapacity or disability, is unable to compete in the open job market for a period of more than one year. (2) Any individual unable to perform one or more of the following functions necessary to effectively utilize public transportation facilities without significant difficulty: (A) Negotiate a flight of stairs; (B) Boarding or alighting from a public transit vehicle; or (C) Walking more than two hundred feet. (3) Any individual unable without special facilities, special assistance, and special planning or design to utilize the public transit system as effectively as persons who are not so affected. Supporting evidence of the handicap shall be required by a licensed physician or agency involved in physical or mental handicap programs. The handicap identification card issued by the County transportation agency shall be recognized for certified handicapped individuals. “Public highways” mean the same as the definition of public highways in section 264-1, Hawai‘i Revised Statutes, including both State and County highways, but operation upon rails is not transportation on the public highways. “Safety glass” means any product composed of glass, manufactured, fabricated, or treated so as to substantially prevent shattering and flying of the glass when struck or broken or any other or similar product as may be approved by the director of finance. “Senior citizen” means any individual age sixty and over who maintains a senior citizen identification card issued by the County department of parks and recreation, elderly activities division. “Student” means any individual currently attending an educational institution certified by the State and maintains supporting evidence of present enrollment such as a student identification card. “Taxi” or “taxicab” means a vehicle designed to carry not more than eight passengers operated by a taxicab driver, which is used in the movement of passengers for hire on the public highways and which is directed to a destination by the passenger for hire or on the passenger’s behalf and which operates on call or demand. 18-1
Published by the County of Hawaiʻi Office of the County Clerk.
LawTrove is not legal advice. The summary above is a computer-generated restatement — the authoritative text is the official version linked above.