Cruising (TLC): Looking for Hails, and Where It's Banned

Cruising: a word TLC uses in two different ways. For a yellow or green cab, it means driving around looking for people to hail you; rule §80-19(a)(4) uses it that way. For a for-hire vehicle (Uber, Lyft and other FHVs), TLC's Chapter 51 defines Cruising as "the time a For-Hire Vehicle spends available to receive dispatches from a Base or High-Volume For-Hire Service while not transporting a passenger," including "the time … driving to pick up a passenger on a trip dispatched by a Base or a High-Volume For-Hire Service" (TLC Chapter 51). Rules current as of October 12, 2026.

Meaning 1: taxis looking for hails

Rule §80-19(a)(4) says a taxi driver "must not solicit or cruise for the purpose of soliciting Passengers" in four places (TLC Chapter 80):

The fine for all four is $100 if you plead guilty before a hearing or $150 after one. Counts are first-listed charges in OATH data on NYC Open Data, queried October 12, 2026; a summons is an allegation, not a finding. Each place is explained in where are taxis not allowed to cruise.

Green cabs

A green cab (street hail livery) may cruise for hails in the Hail Zone: all of NYC except Manhattan south of East 96th and West 110th Streets and the airports. It has its own 100-foot rule near taxi stands, §80-19(b)(2)(ii), with the same $100 / $150 fine. In the Hail Exclusionary Zone it may not take hails at all.

Meaning 2: app cars waiting for trips

For FHVs, "cruising" is not about hails; FHVs may never take a street hail. It is the empty time between trips while the app is on. TLC wrote this definition to limit how many empty app cars circle the Manhattan core. Rule §59D-21, still printed in TLC Chapter 59, says the share of time a high-volume service's available vehicles spend Cruising in the Congestion Zone (Manhattan south of and excluding 96th Street) may not exceed 36% from February 1, 2020 and 31% from August 1, 2020, from 6 AM to 11 PM on weekdays and 8 AM to 11 PM on weekends.

There is a catch. On December 23, 2019, a New York State Supreme Court justice found the cruising rule "arbitrary and capricious" and annulled it, according to the law firm that brought one of the challenges (Skadden). The City said it would appeal. We could not find an official source on the appeal's result or on whether TLC enforces the cap today, so do not rely on it either way.

Where you will see this term

• On a taxi summons for 80-19(a)(4), with a sub-code (i) to (iv).
• In TLC rules and reports about app companies and the Manhattan core.
• In TLC trip data, which records trips, not cruising time; empty time between trips is not in the public trip files.

Common mix-ups

1. "Cruising" ≠ "driving slowly." For taxis, the rule is about the purpose: looking for passengers. Driving through a stand's block to a drop-off is not cruising for a fare.
2. The FHV meaning is not a hail permission. An app driver who is "cruising" under Chapter 51 is still banned from taking street hails (80-19(c)(1)).
3. Relief stands are not for cruising or fares. They are for parking on a break; see relief stand.

Summons-level detail: 80-19(a)(4)(ii) and 80-19(a)(4)(iv). Data: taxi stand and cruising summonses and green cab pickups by zone. Taxi markings that show when you're available are covered in decals and trade dress. More on the places hub.