Get Paid for Classes: BCF Earn While You Learn ($400 DDC)

In short: if you drive for a Black Car Fund member base (this includes Uber and Lyft), the Fund will pay you to take three of its classes: $400 for its 6-hour defensive driving course (DDC-6), $250 for the Wellness STEP class, and $250 in person or $125 online for the RIDE Course. Each payment is available once every three years, and only at two locations. Being late, even back from a break, cancels the payment.

The Black Car Fund (BCF) calls this program "Earn While You Learn." The BCF says its driver benefits are funded by its passenger surcharge, which passengers pay, not drivers. This page puts all three classes, the timing rules and the common mistakes in one place. Figures were read on the BCF website on October 12, 2026.

The three paid classes

The defensive driving payment went up on April 1, 2026. The BCF drivers page says: "As of April 1st, 2026, Eligible Drivers are eligible to receive $400 once every three years upon completion of our DDC-6. DDC-6 courses completed prior to April 1st, 2026, are compensated at the previous level of $300." The BCF's older FAQ page still says $300, so don't be confused if you see both.

Who can get paid

Payments are for Eligible Drivers: drivers affiliated with a Black Car Fund Member Base. The BCF FAQ lists the categories: franchise and co-op black car bases, luxury limousine bases, high-volume for-hire bases, transportation network companies, and non-emergency medical transportation. Bases, not drivers, are the members. If your base is on the member list at nybcf.org/members, you are an Eligible Driver.

Yellow taxi and livery bases are not among those categories, so a driver who only drives a yellow taxi or for a livery base is not an Eligible Driver unless they also work through a member base. See does the Black Car Fund cover yellow taxi drivers for the details.

The BCF also asks for your Social Security Number when you register. It explains why: payments are sent by check, and if a check is never cashed, after three years the money goes to the New York State Comptroller as unclaimed funds. The SSN is how the money can be traced back to you.

Once every three years, and the 100-day window

Each class has its own three-year clock. The clock starts on the date you last completed that class. Taking Wellness STEP does not reset your DDC clock, and the reverse is also true.

The defensive driving course has one special rule. You may take it up to 100 days before your three-year anniversary and still be paid. This matters because TLC also cares about the date of your DDC.

What Wellness STEP and RIDE actually teach

These two classes are less known than the DDC. According to the Wellness STEP page, the class covers hands-only CPR (what to do if a passenger suddenly collapses, practiced on a dummy, no mouth-to-mouth), a Share the Road / Vision Zero discussion about bike lanes, pedestrians and vendors, breast and prostate cancer education from the New York State Breast and Prostate Cancer Peer Education Program (listed with NY Presbyterian), with referrals to free testing, and a segment on the physical and mental strain of driving taught by a licensed professional, including stretches you can do yourself.

The RIDE Course, formerly called the Driver Education Course, walks through every benefit the BCF offers eligible drivers, such as dental, vision and disability coverage you have to enroll in, plus extra safety training. If you have never enrolled in Drivers Benefits, this class is a paid way to learn what you are missing.

How DDC relates to TLC's course requirements

TLC requires a New York State DMV-certified defensive driving course to get and to renew a TLC driver license. TLC's renewal page says the certificate cannot be older than three years before your license expiration date. The BCF says its DDC-6 satisfies the licensing requirements of the Taxi and Limousine Commissions in New York City, Westchester, Nassau and Suffolk.

So for many app drivers, the BCF class does two jobs at once: it meets the TLC requirement and it pays you. The trick is timing. If your TLC license expires in, for example, 14 months and your last BCF DDC was more than three years ago, you can take it now, get paid, and have a fresh certificate for renewal. Our TLC defensive driving course guide explains the TLC side, including the point reduction that the DMV decides.

The BCF is careful about what it promises: point reduction is "at the discretion of the DMV" and an insurance discount is "at the discretion of your vehicle insurance provider." Don't count on either until you see it.

Only two locations count

The BCF warns that some defensive driving schools have claimed otherwise, but only two locations qualify for Earn While You Learn payments:

• The Black Car Fund Driver Education Center, 37-10 Skillman Avenue, Long Island City, NY 11101.
• The Independent Drivers Guild Center (IDG Center), which offers the BCF courses to drivers of member bases.

A DDC from another school can still be valid for the DMV and for TLC. It just won't be paid by the BCF.

Before class: what to bring and what not to do

If you are disqualified for being late, the BCF says you must register for, attend and complete a new session.

Mistakes that can cost you the payment

• Taking DDC somewhere else because it was cheaper or closer, then expecting the BCF payment.
• Retaking too early. Except for the DDC's 100-day window, a class taken before your three-year anniversary is not paid again.
• Doing RIDE twice. Online plus in person within three years only pays once.
• Not cashing the check. An uncashed check eventually goes to the State Comptroller.
• Assuming you are eligible without checking your base on the member list.

Other Black Car Fund benefits

These classes are one part of what the Fund offers. The BCF is a workers' compensation insurer: if you are hurt on a dispatched trip, see how to file a Black Car Fund workers' comp claim. It does not pay for damage to your car; see does the Black Car Fund pay for car damage. Street hails are a separate question: am I covered on a street hail. For a short definition, see the Black Car Fund glossary entry, and for all rights topics, the driver rights hub.