(a) No Street Hails Permitted. A Base Owner must maintain and enforce rules and policies preventing Vehicles affiliated with the Base or dispatched by the Base and Drivers of these Vehicles from accepting street hails and preventing Street Hail Liveries from accepting Hail Trips in the Hail Exclusionary Zone. NOTE: Street Hail Liveries are permitted to accept street hails in Hail Zone.
35 RCNY § 59B-25(a) | Fine: Suspension until compliance | Appearance REQUIRED |
(b) Prohibited Use of "Taxi." A Base Owner must not hold himself out for business as a "taxi" or "taxicab" service or in any way use the word "taxi," "taxicab," "cab," "hack," or "coach" to describe the business.
35 RCNY § 59B-25(b) | Fine: $250 | Appearance NOT REQUIRED |
(c) Advertising of Commission License.
(1) A Base Owner must clearly state that the Base is licensed by the Commission in all Passenger-facing advertising, whether print, broadcast, electronic or Internet, and in all handbills, fliers, websites, smartphone applications, or other promotional materials and on all business cards and receipts.
(2) All of the advertising and materials listed in (1) above must include the For-Hire Base License number.
35 RCNY § 59B-25(c) | Fine: $100 | Appearance NOT REQUIRED |
(d) Termination of Affiliation.
(1) Base Owner Termination. A Base Owner can terminate the affiliation of a Vehicle only by:
(i) Giving the Chairperson an agreement signed and dated by both parties in which the Vehicle Owner consents to the termination, or
(ii) Sending notice to the Vehicle Owner's Mailing Address by certified mail, return receipt requested, together with proof of mailing, and sending copies of the notice and proof of mailing mailed to the Commission.
(iii) Termination will become effective either:
A. The date of the Vehicle Owner's signed agreement, or
B. The date notice is mailed to the Vehicle Owner.
(iv) A Base Owner can notify the Commission at any time when a Vehicle is no longer affiliated with Owner's Base; this notification will be a defense to any liability attaching to the Owner for damage to persons or property caused by the Vehicle after the notification.
(2) Automatic Termination of Affiliation.
(i) A Vehicle's affiliation with a Base will terminate automatically when any of the following occurs:
A. The Base License is revoked
B. The Base License is suspended for more than 30 continuous days;
C. The Base License expires
(ii) In addition, a Vehicle's affiliation with a Base will terminate automatically upon expiration or revocation of the Vehicle's License.
(e) Passenger Complaint Notification. Upon receipt of a Passenger complaint related to a Driver, a Base Owner must provide the Passenger with the "311" Commission complaint telephone number and inform the Passenger that only the TLC can suspend or revoke a Driver's TLC License.
35 RCNY § 59B-25(e) | Fine: $250 | Appearance NOT REQUIRED |
(f) Dispatching to Vehicles at Airports. A Base Owner must not dispatch a Vehicle parked or otherwise located at Kennedy Airport or La Guardia Airport unless the Vehicle is parked in an area other than the airport's designated passenger pick up locations.
35 RCNY § 59B-25(f) | Fine: $250 | Appearance NOT REQUIRED |
(g) Base Name and Rates on Booking Tools. If a Base allows a Passenger to request a dispatch through its own publicly available Passenger-facing booking tool without speaking to a dispatcher, the Passenger-facing booking tool must use only the Base Name or the trade, business, or operating name the Base has on file with the Commission pursuant to 35 RCNY § 59B-20(a)(1) and must display the Base's rates or fares within the booking tool.
(h) For Black Car Bases, Luxury Limousine Bases, and High-Volume For-Hire Services: Price Multipliers. If a price multiplier or variable pricing policy is in effect at the time at which a customer requests a Vehicle from a Black Car Base, Luxury Limousine Base, or High-Volume For-Hire Service, such Base must require the customer to affirmatively acknowledge and accept the price multiplier or variable pricing policy prior to dispatching a Vehicle to the customer.
(i) Receipts. If a Base provides a receipt for a trip, the receipt must contain all of the following information:
(1) The Dispatching Base License number;
(2) Vehicle License number;
(3) Vehicle's affiliated Base License number;
(4) Driver's TLC License number;
(5) Total amount due;
(6) Itemized fees charged (if any) including any price multiplier or variable pricing policy in effect for the trip;
(7) The "311" Commission complaint telephone number; and
(8) The public access information the Base has on file with the Commission pursuant to 35 RCNY § 59B-21(c).
(j) Electronic Dispatch Requests to Drivers. If a Base sends dispatch requests to Drivers through an electronic, Driver-facing interface, that interface must be available to a Driver ONLY when the Vehicle is standing or stopped, except that the Driver-facing interface can permit a Driver to accept a dispatch with a single touch using pre-programmed buttons or using voice activation while the vehicle is in motion. All other uses of a Driver-facing interface must be velocity gated to prevent its use while the vehicle is in motion.
(Amended City Record 6/29/2015, eff. 7/29/2015; amended City Record 7/7/2016, eff. 8/6/2016; amended City Record 9/22/2016, eff. 10/22/2016; amended City Record 10/12/2018, eff. 11/11/2018; amended City Record 6/30/2021, eff. 7/30/2021)