FHV Base Affiliation: Rules, Base Transfers & Risks

In short: Every NYC for-hire vehicle (FHV) must be affiliated with exactly one TLC-licensed base. The base decides what kind of FHV your car is: black car, livery or luxury limousine. You can switch bases for a $25 fee. Your car can sometimes take trips from other bases, but only under set conditions. The biggest risk: if your car goes 60 days without a valid base, for example because your base was suspended and you didn't move, TLC must revoke the vehicle license.

A base is a TLC-licensed business that dispatches for-hire vehicles. App companies like Uber and Lyft are licensed as High-Volume For-Hire Services, which count as a type of base under TLC rules.

Your base sets your vehicle type

TLC rule 59A-03 defines the four kinds of base and what they make your car:

This matters for three practical reasons:

• Insurance. Luxury limousines under 8 seats need much higher liability limits than black cars or liveries. See FHV insurance requirements.
• Markings. Livery cars must show the base's name, license number and phone number in contrasting letters on both doors (at least 1½ inches high) or on the rear (at least 1 inch). Missing base signs is a $25 fine (59A-29(g)). Black cars and limos are exempt. See decals and trade dress.
• Line work. Only black car bases can dispatch "line work," and only black cars can do it (rule 59B-15(i)).

Here is how today's FHV fleet splits by base type:

One base at a time, and no gaps

The rules on affiliation are short and strict:

• You must be affiliated to get a license. Applicants must show they are affiliated with an appropriate base (59A-04(h)). For a new license, your base submits a Base Affirmation for the vehicle; TLC says you can't submit your application until you get the confirmation email.
• Only one base. "For-Hire Vehicles can only affiliate with one Base at a time" (59A-04(i)).
• No gaps over 60 days. TLC must revoke an FHV license if for 60 or more days the owner fails to keep a base affiliation or fails to transfer away from a suspended base (59A-08(c)(1)).

Taking trips from another base

Your car is affiliated with one base, but it does not always have to work only for that base. Under rule 59A-11(e), the car may be dispatched only if it is affiliated with a validly licensed base, the dispatching base is validly licensed, and one of three conditions is met.

Separately, every trip must be pre-arranged through a licensed base. Rule 59A-25(a) penalizes the owner $100 for the first violation in a license term, rising by $100 for each later violation up to $10,000. A driver who picks up a street hail in an FHV risks a summons under §80-19(c)(1) and possibly unlicensed activity charges.

FHV drivers may mount dispatch devices to work with more than one base: one extra device if the base's equipment can take other bases' dispatches, two if it cannot. Devices must be fixed in place, and while driving you can only use voice or one-touch buttons (rule 80-22(h)). See the TLC cell phone rule.

How to switch bases

TLC's transfer page lists the steps for a base transfer:

If you want new decals anyway, TLC says to request a referral document by email and visit the Woodside facility (Monday to Friday, 5am to 9pm). Remember the livery door or rear signs: if you move to a different livery base, the base name, license number and phone on the car must be updated too.

Before you switch, ask the new base three questions: Is its license valid (check TLC's lists or NYC Open Data)? What fees will it charge you? Which workers' compensation fund or policy covers its drivers? Under rule 59B-12, livery bases must belong to the Livery Fund or carry workers' compensation; black car bases are tied to the Black Car Fund.

If someone else drives your car

Affiliation is about the vehicle, but owners are also responsible for who drives it. Under rule 59A-11(b) and (c), a vehicle owner must not let the car be dispatched unless the driver has a valid TLC driver license and a valid state chauffeur's license. The rule says the owner is responsible for knowing the status of the driver's state license. The listed penalties are $350 and one penalty point for a driver without a valid TLC license, and $100 and one point for a driver without a valid chauffeur's license. Four points in one license term means the vehicle license is revoked (59A-35).

So before you hand the keys to another driver, check their TLC license on TLC's active driver list and ask to see their DMV license. Keep a simple log of who drove the car and when. If you drive for an owner, expect to be asked for both licenses, and tell the owner right away if either one is suspended or expires.

What your base keeps about you

Bases must keep records of every vehicle affiliated with or dispatched by them over the past 12 months, including dates of affiliation, VIN, registration, FHV license number, inspection records and copies of the forms affiliating and disaffiliating vehicles, plus driver license details. Bases other than app companies send TLC these lists quarterly; app companies report monthly (rule 59B-21(d)). If a summons turns on when you joined or left a base, ask the base for those records.

Got an affiliation summons?

Affiliation problems often show up as other charges: a failure to follow TLC directives, a dispatch summons, or a renewal that won't go through. Look up your summons, check the deadline with our summons deadline calculator, and read what to do when you get a TLC summons. App drivers can find more in our Uber and Lyft drivers hub and the black car drivers hub.