Industry Notice #15-45, #15-46, #15-48, #15-50
TLC PUBLISHES LISTS OF MEDALLIONS
ENTERED INTO ACCESSIBILITY DRAWINGS
The New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) wishes to inform its licensees that it has published the list of medallions that will be entered into accessibility drawings to occur on November 18, 19 and 24 and December 1, 2015. The medallion lists can be seen on the TLC website: >
INDUSTRY NOTICE #15-45
UNRESTRICTED INDEPENDENT MEDALLIONS
http://www.nyc.gov/html/tlc/downloads/pdf/industry_notice_15_45.pdf
INDUSTRY NOTICE #15-46
UNRESTRICTED INDEPENDENT MEDALLIONS
http://www.nyc.gov/html/tlc/downloads/pdf/industry_notice_15_46.pdf
INDUSTRY NOTICE #15-48
UNRESTRICTED INDEPENDENT MEDALLIONS
http://www.nyc.gov/html/tlc/downloads/pdf/industry_notice_15_48.pdf
INDUSTRY NOTICE #15-50
UNRESTRICTED INDEPENDENT MEDALLIONS
http://www.nyc.gov/html/tlc/downloads/pdf/industry_notice_15_50.pdf
This accessibility drawings will be limited to those medallions with vehicles that are scheduled to retire between January 1, 2017 and December 31, 2020.
The medallions selected in the drawing will be required to place an accessible vehicle into service when their current vehicle is retired (first retirement cycle). The medallions not selected in the drawing are not required to place an accessible vehicle into service when their current vehicle is retired. However, each medallion's accessibility requirement will alternate during each subsequent retirement cycle. For example, those medallions not selected in this drawing will be required to hack up an accessible vehicle in the next (subsequent) retirement cycle.
The medallions selected in the drawing will be required to place their first accessible vehicle into service when their current vehicle is retired (first retirement cycle). The medallions not selected in the drawing are required to place their first accessible vehicle into service after their next vehicle retires.
Each medallion's accessibility requirement will cycle so that after the first accessible vehicle retires, every other vehicle must be accessible.
The drawing will be conducted at the NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission offices located at 33 Beaver Street, 19th Floor, New York, NY 10004 at 10:00 A.M. We encourage all interested parties to attend. For those unable to attend, real-time video of the event will be available at http://www.livestream.com/nyctaxi. The TLC will post results of the drawing on its website within twenty four (24) hours. All medallion owners entered into the drawing will then receive a letter detailing the results of the drawing and next steps. The TLC will soon be providing detailed information about funding programs available to eligible licensees to assist with vehicle conversion costs.
Industry Notice #15-40
FOR-HIRE VEHICLE (FHV) DRIVER EDUCATION REQUIREMENT BEGINS DECEMBER 20, 2015
The New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) informs its licensees that For-Hire Vehicle (FHV) Driver Education will be required for Livery, Black Car, and Luxury Limousine Driver license applicants and for FHV drivers who received their licenses on or after March 20, 2015.
With nearly 80,000 licensed FHV drivers performing approximately 500,000 trips per day, well trained drivers are important for a safe, efficient, and active for-hire transportation industry. In January 2015, the Commission approved rules (55-04(j)) requiring FHV drivers to fulfill the FHV Education requirement by completing a 24-hour course at a certified education provider and pass the FHV driver exam in order to get their licenses.
Starting December 20, 2015, FHV driver applicants and conditional FHV drivers (drivers who received their licenses on or after March 20, 2015*) will be required to complete the FHV Education requirement to get or keep their FHV license.
Drivers will be required to complete the course according to the following schedule:
New FHV driver license applicants must complete the course and pass an exam in order to get a license. They will have 90 days from the day they submitted their license application to complete the course and pass the exam.
Current FHV drivers who obtained their licenses on or after March 20, 2015 must complete the course and pass the exam before they renew their licenses. TLC will notify drivers of this requirement by mail at least 90 days prior to their license renewal date.
FHV drivers who obtained their licenses before March 20, 2015 are not required to take the course or pass the exam.
The FHV course will be available in English, Spanish, Bengali, and Urdu at the same Schools that provide Taxi School. For a list of Schools that will offer the required course, please visit our website at:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/tlc/downloads/pdf/taxischool_post_filing.pdf
If you have questions about FHV School, please contact the TLC's call center at 718-391-5501.
*The FHV Driver Education requirement (TLC Rule 55-04(j)) went into effect March 20, 2015.
Industry Notice #15-41
TLC DRIVER APPLICANTS MUST HAVE APPOINTMENT TO FILE APPLICATION IN PERSON STARTING OCTOBER 26TH
Beginning Monday, October 26, 2015, any new driver applicant (Medallion, For-Hire Vehicle, Paratransit or Commuter Van Driver License) who wants to submit his or her application in person must have an appointment. TLC is no longer accepting walk in driver license applicants.
You can get your appointment to file in person through the TLC website. A valid e-mail address is required because this is where your appointment date and time will be sent.
Once you receive the email with your appointment, come to the Long Island City Licensing Facility on the scheduled date and time with the e-mailed appointment confirmation, either printed or on a mobile device, the completed application and all required documents. Or...save time by applying online!
As an alternative to completing the entire process in person, we encourage applicants to file their applications online through the TLC's On Line Transactions System (LARS).Once you have submitted your application through LARS, you will automatically receive an appointment to submit your required documents.
Please call the TLC Call Center at (718) 391-5501 if you have any questions about this process or your appointment.
Industry Notice #15-43
ATTENTION TAXICAB LESSORS AND LESEES:
LEASE CAP RULE CHANGES EFFECTIVE OCTOBER 25, 2015
The lease cap rule changes below go into effect OCTOBER 25, 2015.
For all Taxicab leases - daily, weekly, and DOV:
Records of Leases must be retained by lessors for at least 3 years and available for inspection by the TLC;
At a Driver's discretion, lessors can pay weekly Drivers for non-cash fares on a weekly basis; and
Lessors are no longer required to pay drivers in cash for non-cash fares; however, such payment must be provided at no cost to Drivers and Drivers must have the ability to access these funds at no cost.
For all-in DOV leases:
The existing all in weekly lease caps now include separate caps for the lease of the medallion and the conditional purchase of the vehicle. All in DOV lessors can charge no more than $994 weekly for the lease of a medallion hacked up with a hybrid taxi or $952 weekly for the lease of a medallion hacked up with a non-hybrid taxi. Additionally, all in lessors can charge no more than $275 weekly for the conditional purchase of a vehicle;
All in lease payments can now extend beyond 156 weeks, however total payment for the vehicle cannot exceed $42,900;
Records of conditional purchase agreements must be retained by lessors for at least 3 years and available for inspection by the TLC; and
All in Driver receipts must now include, in addition to all existing receipt requirements, the following information:
The weekly charge for the lease of the medallion;
The weekly charge for the conditional purchase of the vehicle;
The total payments received toward the conditional purchase of the vehicle;
The remaining balance for the conditional purchase of the vehicle; and
The remaining number of payments for the conditional purchase of the vehicle based on the current lease agreement.
If you have any questions, please contact the TLC at 718-391-5501 or tlcexternalaffairs@tlc.nyc.gov.
Industry Notice #15-44
ATTENTION MEDALLION OWNERS AND AGENTS:
INSTRUCTIONS FOR REFUNDING HEALTHCARE FUNDS
Because of a court ruling, on April 17, 2014 the Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) instructed taxicab medallion owners to stop withholding a six (6) cents per-ride fee for the Taxi Driver Healthcare Services Fund. The ruling by the court is now final and the Fund is permanently closed.
For Healthcare Services funds never sent to TLC:
All Healthcare Services funds collected from taxi drivers and kept by either medallion owners or their agents between October 1, 2013 and April 17, 2014 must be returned to the drivers as soon as possible.
For Healthcare Services funds already sent to TLC:
Any Healthcare Services funds previously paid to the TLC will be refunded directly to the current medallion owner by the TLC. This process will begin in several months.
Refund checks will be sent to the current medallion owner's address on record or to their current agent of record on file with the TLC. If you need to update your address or agent information please make certain to do so immediately by completing the appropriate TLC form and submitting it to our Long Island City Facility.
Upon receipt of the refund check, medallion owners and/or their agents must return those monies as soon as possible to the taxi drivers.
Record Keeping Requirement:
Medallion owners must keep a record of all refunds made to taxi drivers. These records must be available to the TLC for inspection upon request.
Questions?
To determine the amount you need to refund to an individual driver, please consult your financial records. If you do not have records of the amount collected from a driver, consult with your TPEP provider for an estimate of the number of trips that you should have collected money for. Neither TPEP providers nor the TLC can provide data about the actual amounts medallion owners collected from individual drivers.
Thank you for your cooperation with this process. If you have any questions, please contact the TLC Call Center at (718)391-5501.
Industry Notice #15-47
TLC APPROVES FIFTH PARTICIPANT IN THE VEHICLE SAFETY TECHNOLOGY PILOT
Today, the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) approved the fifth participant in the Vehicle Safety Technology Pilot: Micronet.
A Vision Zero initiative, the Vehicle Safety Technology Pilot will test and evaluate the efficacy of black boxes, anti-speeding technologies, driver alert systems, and related analytic software in promoting safe driving of TLC-regulated vehicles.
The Pilot began on April 7, 2015 and will last a full year, ending on April 6, 2016. TLC will continue accepting applications throughout the Pilot, and will issue additional industry notices as participants are approved.
TLC would like to remind all industry participants that any use of in-vehicle technology must also comply with New York State Vehicle Traffic Law which is available here:
public.leginfo.state.ny.us/lawssrch.cgi?NVLWO: (scroll down to VAT).
For more information about the Pilot, please visit the Vehicle Safety Technology Pilot webpage: www.nyc.gov/tlc/html/industry/veh_safety_tech_pilot_program.shtml
Industry members, including agents, fleets, bases, taxi, street-hail livery, commuter van and FHV owners, who may be interested in participating in the pilot program using Micronet's technology should reach out to Boaz Bagbag at (212) 244-5466 or bag2bag@aol.com, or visit http://micronet-inc.com/ for more information.
Industry Notice #15-49
WE ARE MOVING!
The New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) is pleased to announce that it has relocated its Licensing Offices at 32-02 in Long Island City.
Our new offices were opened on November 17, 2015 at the Falchi Building, 31-00 47th Avenue, 3rd floor, Long Island City.
The following statement was recently made by the NYC TLC Commission to members of the media. It provides the number of provisions implemented by the Taxi Limousine Commission in New York City to level the playing field across our regulated industries:
TLC Spokesman Allan J. Fromberg:
"The TLC has taken a variety of actions to ensure a level playing field among the TLC regulated industries in New York City. This includes the update of its rules to guarantee additional transparencies and consumer protections for app-dispatched rides that exist in all other TLC regulated services, such as full surge pricing disclosure for passengers.
To further level standards, we've also:
enacted broad new education requirements for for-hire drivers,
implemented across the board trip record requirements,
added leniency to yellow taxi vehicle life spans,
reduced taxi owner/driver shift requirements, and
even created a framework to allow 'Uber-like' shifting flexibility for taxi drivers.
"Unlike in other cities, we've also ensured that app-dispatch providers cannot compete unfairly by using unlicensed drivers and vehicles for-hire. All of their services are fully vetted and licensed, just as are all other TLC regulated industries.
Drivers are drug tested and fingerprinted for criminal background checks;
the vehicles are inspected to the TLC's stringent standards, and insured well in excess of the state's minimum liability and no-fault requirements;
their dispatch bases are held accountable for the behavior and actions of their drivers.
Lastly, we've both welcomed and litigated for the right of taxicabs to be summoned via e-hail apps, so that passengers may choose the same smartphone conveniences for both taxi and FHV services.
As always, the TLC will continue to seek and implement ways to ensure that there is consistency across the board for the industries we regulate."
Industry Notice #15-51, November 19, 2015
ATTENTION MEDALLION TAXI AND SHL LICENSEES: UPCOMING JFK RUSH HOUR SURCHARGES
The New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) recently adopted rules providing a $4.50 rush hour surcharge on JFK Airport flat rate trips beginning February 1, 2016.
Beginning February 1, 2016, this surcharge will apply:
on weekdays, excluding holidays, between 4:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.
on all Medallion Taxicab flat rate trips between Manhattan and JFK, and
on all Street Hail Livery (SHL) flat rate trips from the Manhattan Hail Zone to JFK.
Medallion Taxicab and SHL vehicle owners will receive wireless updates to their TPEP and LPEP equipment to add the JFK rush hour surcharge. If there are any problems making the update to a vehicle's TPEP or LPEP equipment, the TPEP or LPEP provider will contact the vehicle owner directly to provide instructions on how to get the equipment updated.
Unless instructed otherwise by the TPEP or LPEP provider, owners will not need to visit a meter shop to receive this update.
Drivers of Medallion Taxicabs and SHLs may not charge passengers a $4.50 rush hour surcharge prior to February 1, 2016. The $4.50 rush hour surcharge will automatically apply to all JFK flat rate trips beginning on this date. Charging passengers a $4.50 rush hour surcharge prior to February 1, 2016 will be considered a passenger overcharge.
