TLC Hits Local Livery Services With New Restrictions

Livery cab services citywide will come under closer scrutiny from the city’s Taxi & Limousine Commission once a new set of rules go into effect in September.
A TLC representative presented the new rules at a CB1 Transportation Committee meeting last week. Adrian Gonzalez, the representative, said under the new rules community complaints would become more reportable, and passenger rights would be more strictly protected.
The new rules call for more frequent car inspections, higher visibility of base and license information on all cars, a clearly posted copy of the livery passenger’s bill of rights and stricter regulations regarding car storage.
Board members praised TLC’s efforts, saying that the new rules would exponentially cut down on continual community complaints regarding idling cars, specifically Northside Car Service, which operates in Williamsburg and Greenpoint.
TLC has heard these complaints in spades, Gonzalez said, and the new rules are a reaction to them. TLC also met with station owners and other community boards and transportation committees. Since TLC recently opened a phone service for complaint testimony (previously, complaints had to be filed in person), reports of nuisance cars have spiked dramatically, he said.
Community members have long said that unmarked car services use public space as if it were company storage, crowding private parking spots near community gathering locations like public parks. Car services are considered private vehicles, so they can park in any private parking space in the city legally, Gonzalez pointed out. But the new rules will make nuisance cars that loiter in residential areas more reportable.
Each existing livery service base will be required to provide off-site parking for 25 percent of all their vehicles, within 1.5 miles of the registered base; new bases will be asked to provide off-site parking for 25 percent of the total number of cars they estimate they will be using.
The rules mandate all TLC-licensed services post information about the car’s base on the outside of each vehicle. The base name, license number and base phone number must be posted on stickers on both sides of the vehicle, and the backside. Inside the car, a TLC “livery passenger’s bill of rights” must be posted, including information about required driver conduct, and what each passenger can expect from their livery service.
Gonzalez provided explanatory print-outs showing what each of these stickers will look like. TLC employees will travel to bases personally to hand out stickers, he said, providing an extra opportunity to perform ad hoc unofficial inspections. Under the new rules, TLC inspections off livery service cars will be increased to once every two years, in addition to yearly DMV inspections.
Currently many unmarked cars serve Brooklyn, and some are suspected to be working for multiple companies, making their infractions harder to report. The new rules also require that cars be affiliated with only one base, which establishes a “clear line of responsibility,” Gonzalez said.
After the rules go into effect in September, the TLC will expect full compliance from livery services by sometime in “October, November,” Gonzalez said.

Find the livery passenger’s bill of rights here: http://nyc.gov/html/tlc/downloads/pdf/livery_rider_rights.pdf