Paratransit Drivers: TLC License, Rules & Revocation Risks

In short: Paratransit vehicles give non-emergency rides, by pre-arrangement, to passengers with disabilities. Driving one takes a separate TLC Paratransit Driver License, a commercial chauffeur's license and active Article 19-A status. Your rules live in TLC rule book chapter 56. Two things set paratransit apart: six key rules carry mandatory penalties that end in revocation, and TLC will automatically revoke a license with five or more summonses left open for a year.

The license

TLC's paratransit license page lists these requirements:

Everything must be finished within 90 days of your application or TLC denies it. The rules add a few fitness standards: a physician's certification, 20/40 vision in each eye (glasses allowed), and the ability to understand, speak, read and write English (56-04). An original license lasts three years.

For how this compares with the commuter van license, see our commuter van drivers page.

The six rules with mandatory penalties

Rule 56-02(d) lists six violations that, alone or in any combination, carry fixed penalties. The hearing officer applies them; they are not open to negotiation in the usual way. All six also require you to appear at the hearing.

The five-open-summons rule

This one surprises people. Under rule 56-02(d)(4), TLC's Chairperson will automatically revoke the license of any licensee who has five or more summonses that remain open and outstanding for 12 months, counting from the date the earliest summons was issued.

So a pile of old summonses you never dealt with is a direct threat to your license, even if each one is small. Look up every summons in your name, answer each one, and keep proof. Our guide to checking a TLC summons status shows how, and TLC license revocation explains what happens next if it comes to that.

Driving rules and fines

Chapter 56 has its own traffic and safety penalties, separate from chapter 80:

• Phone use while driving: $250 if you plead guilty before a hearing, $350 after, plus a required distracted driving course within 60 days of conviction or your license is suspended (56-14(i)).
• Traffic violations: stationary violations $100 / $200; ordinary moving violations $200 / $300; hazardous moving violations, such as speeding, red lights, stop signs, failing to yield and unsafe lane changes, $300 / $400 each (56-13(a)).
• Sexual harassment while working: $1,000 and a mandatory 30-day suspension and/or revocation (56-12(m)).

Fines are due 30 days after you are found guilty, or 30 days after an appeal decision if you appeal in time. If you don't pay, TLC writes to say your license will be suspended in 10 business days until you do (56-02(c)). See paying TLC fines.

Renewal: don't let the license lapse

A renewed license runs three years from the date the old one expired, and a renewal also needs a defensive driving certificate dated within the past three years (56-04(l)). If your license is suspended, you still have to renew on time to keep it, and it can't be used until the suspension ends.

Situations to watch for

These are general examples from the rule text, not advice on a specific case:

• Someone at the curb asks for a ride. Paratransit drivers "must not solicit or respond to hails" (56-19(a)). That is one of the six mandatory-penalty rules, even if the person clearly needs help. Explain that you can only take booked trips.
• A passenger's companion wants to bring a folding wheelchair and you're short on space. Refusing a passenger's wheelchair, crutches or other property is 56-15(k)(1). Talk to your dispatcher before refusing anything.
• You think a heavy power chair should cost more. It can't. Charging or trying to charge any additional fee for a passenger with a paratransit disability, a service animal or a mobility aid is 56-15(g), another mandatory-penalty rule.

Driving an accessible green cab

Your paratransit license also lets you drive one kind of street-hail vehicle. Rule 80-05 authorizes a Paratransit Driver License holder to drive an Accessible Street Hail Livery, and only that kind. While you do, you follow chapter 80 and can get chapter 80 summonses (80-02(f)), including the green cab Hail Zone rules. See our green cab drivers page and WAV drivers page.

The industry

TLC's paratransit page describes service "through pre-arrangement within specified geographic zones throughout the city." TLC lists 24 paratransit bases (snapshot 2026-10-12, NYC Open Data). For the passenger-assistance side of the job, read service animals and accessibility rules.