WAV Drivers: TLC Rules for Wheelchair Accessible Vehicles

In short: Driving a wheelchair accessible vehicle (WAV), whether an accessible yellow taxi, an accessible green cab or an accessible for-hire vehicle, adds a short list of duties to the normal TLC rules: help passengers in and out, secure them and their mobility device correctly, handle their packages and payment on request, and never back out of an accessible trip you accepted. Several of these rules carry a suspension that you can avoid by taking a remedial course within 60 days. In return, app trips in a WAV pay a higher minimum per mile.

What TLC means by an accessible vehicle

TLC's definitions describe an Accessible Vehicle as a TLC-licensed vehicle designed so people who use wheelchairs can ride in it. There are versions for each industry: accessible taxicabs, Accessible Street Hail Liveries (accessible green cabs) and accessible for-hire vehicles. Accessible FHVs must show TLC's accessible-vehicle signs on both sides, on the C-pillars of a sedan or SUV or the D-pillars of a minivan (59A-29(h)).

TLC's daily for-hire vehicle list marks 9,348 vehicles as wheelchair accessible, plus 412 marked "PILOT" (snapshot 2026-10-12):

Training: everyone takes it

Rule 80-04 requires every applicant for a new or renewal TLC Driver License to complete the Passenger Assistance and Wheelchair Accessible Vehicle Training. TLC lists the cost at $50 to $125 on its license page. The training matters beyond the license: the securement rule below says you must secure passengers "in a manner as specified in an approved TLC Education Provider training course," so what you learned there is the standard a hearing officer will use. Our WAV training guide covers the course itself.

The WAV duties in rule 80-20(a)(6)

The mandatory penalties are the same ladder used for refusals and overcharges: $350 if you plead guilty before a hearing or $500 after for a first violation, up to $1,000 and possible suspension for a second within 24 months, and revocation for a third within 36 months. All refusal-type violations count together. Refusing to carry a wheelchair, crutches or other mobility aid is a separate mandatory-penalty rule for every driver, WAV or not: see 80-20(a)(3).

The remedial course can save a suspension

For the assistance and package rules, the penalty includes a suspension. The rule says the suspension is deferred for 60 days, and you will not be suspended if you complete the Vision Zero and Accessibility Remedial course within those 60 days.

When you may be unavailable

A taxi or green cab driver who has accepted a trip from the accessible dispatch program or an accessible e-hail, and is logged on as unavailable for street hails, has a valid reason to pass a street hail (80-20(b)(15)). Make sure your status in the technology system matches what you are doing.

Pay for app trips in a WAV

Under TLC's minimum pay rule, a trip dispatched to an accessible vehicle by a High-Volume For-Hire Service pays more per mile. From March 1, 2026 (Industry Notice #26-03):

More on how those rates work is on our Uber and Lyft drivers page, and WAV driver pay covers the taxi side, including the $10 that TLC's Taxi Improvement Fund driver program pays for each accessible trip a passenger requests by phone. Owners choosing a vehicle can start with TLC's approved wheelchair accessible vehicles. WAVs also follow their own retirement-age rules: see TLC vehicle retirement age.

Paratransit drivers in accessible green cabs

Holders of a Paratransit Driver License may drive an Accessible Street Hail Livery and nothing else in chapter 80; while they do, every chapter 80 rule on this page applies to them (80-05, 80-02(f)). See our paratransit drivers page.

Habits that protect you

None of these are extra rules. They are practical ways to show you followed the ones above:

• Check the ramp or lift and the tie-downs before each shift. If equipment is broken, tell the vehicle owner or base before you go online, so you never accept an accessible trip you cannot complete.
• Narrate as you help. Saying "I'm going to secure the front straps now" keeps the passenger informed and gives you a clear memory of each step if a complaint comes later.
• Ask, don't assume. Some passengers want help with packages or payment and some don't. The package and payment duties apply "upon a passenger's request," so offer and follow the passenger's answer.
• Keep your training certificate. If a securement charge turns on how you were trained, the certificate shows which course and provider you used.

If you get an accessibility summons

These cases can start with a passenger complaint. Write down what happened as soon as you can: time, place, what the passenger asked for, and what you did. Read service animals and accessibility rules and responding to a passenger complaint, and check your deadline with the summons deadline calculator.