Green Cab (Boro Taxi) Drivers: Hail Zone Rules & Fines

In short: A green cab is a Street Hail Livery (SHL): a for-hire vehicle that is also allowed to pick up street hails, but only in the Hail Zone. The Hail Zone is all of New York City except Manhattan south of East 96th Street and West 110th Street, and the airports. Picking up a hail in the wrong place is one of the most expensive mistakes a green cab driver can make: $500 and a suspension the first time. You drive on the standard TLC Driver License.

Two zones you must know

TLC defines both zones in its chapter 51 definitions:

• Hail Exclusionary Zone: Manhattan south of East 96th Street and West 110th Street, and the New York City airports. You may not accept a passenger by hail here.
• Pre-Arranged Exclusionary Zone: Manhattan south of East 96th Street and West 110th Street. A green cab may not begin a pre-arranged trip here. The airports are not listed in this zone.

Note the two different streets: the line is 96th Street on the East Side and 110th Street on the West Side (the top of Central Park). TLC's green cab page says the same thing in short: green cabs "may not operate in the Hail Exclusionary Zone, south of West 110th St and East 96th St."

The penalties if you get it wrong

Rule 80-19(b)(1) covers both soliciting in the Hail Exclusionary Zone and accepting a pre-arranged trip that begins in the Pre-Arranged Exclusionary Zone. The penalty climbs fast, and appearance is required, so you cannot simply plead guilty and pay online:

For comparison, when the driver of an ordinary for-hire vehicle picks up a street hail in the same area, the enhanced penalty is under rule 80-19(c)(2). If a summons also alleges unlicensed activity, the stakes rise further.

Other hail rules for green cabs

Inside the Hail Zone you can accept hails or pre-arranged trips through a base (80-19(b)(2)(i)). The other rules look a lot like the yellow taxi rules:

Refusals, overcharges and other passenger rules apply to green cab hail trips just as they do to taxis. See the service refusal rules and the overcharging rules.

The car: inspections and equipment

TLC says green cabs "must be outfitted with the same equipment as yellow taxis" and must be affiliated with a base. Under chapter 82, the Street Hail Livery must be inspected every six months. A missed inspection is written to the SHL licensee under 82-30(b), and an uncorrected defect under 82-31(b). If you lease the car rather than own it, ask the owner for the inspection dates. A suspended SHL license stops the car, whoever is driving.

A small and shrinking fleet

TLC's daily list shows 603 active street hail livery permits (snapshot 2026-10-12). The industry has shrunk sharply:

The same TLC Driver License covers other vehicle types too. If you switch between a green cab and an app-based car, remember that the hail rules change with the car: an FHV may never take a street hail. See our pages for Uber and Lyft drivers and yellow taxi drivers. For the permit itself (fees, renewal and the attached vehicle license), read the green cab SHL permit guide.

Situations that catch green cab drivers

These are general examples based on the rule text, not legal advice about your case:

• The passenger waves you down on Fifth Avenue at 90th Street. On the East Side the line is 96th Street, so 90th Street is inside the Hail Exclusionary Zone. Driving on past is the safe choice.
• You drop a passenger at Penn Station and someone gets in. That is a hail in the exclusionary zone, even if you were already there for a legal drop-off. Decline politely and explain that green cabs cannot take hails there. A passenger in the Hail Exclusionary Zone is one of the listed justified reasons to refuse a green cab trip (80-20(b)(11)).
• Your base sends a pickup at a Midtown hotel. A green cab may not begin a pre-arranged trip in lower Manhattan either, so turn it down.
• You end your shift in the Bronx and a neighbor flags you. You can take a hail while off duty only if you're in the Hail Zone, going home or to your base, the trip is recorded, and the destination is on your way.

Accessible green cabs and paratransit drivers

Some green cabs are Accessible Street Hail Liveries, built to carry passengers who use wheelchairs. Rule 80-05 lets a holder of a Paratransit Driver's License drive only an accessible SHL, and while doing so that driver must follow all of chapter 80 and can be issued chapter 80 summonses (80-02(f)). See our pages for paratransit drivers and WAV drivers.

Got a summons?

Check whether appearance is required, then use the summons deadline calculator. For an exclusionary zone charge, your trip record, GPS data from the technology system and any dashcam video matter most. See evidence for a TLC hearing and what TLC must prove.