SHL Pilot "P" Cars: Rules, Limits and What Happened

In short: The SHL Pilot Program turned unused green cab permits into a cheaper license for pre-arranged rides only. "P" cars must be electric, hybrid or wheelchair accessible, have no meter or roof light, cannot take street hails, and cannot pick up in Manhattan below East 96th and West 110th Streets except for Access-A-Ride and Medicaid trips. TLC extended the pilot through June 2028. Of 3,509 permits issued, only 563 were in use by June 2025, and Uber and Lyft never joined.

This page explains what a pilot car may and may not do, what happened to the program, and how to recognise pilot cars in TLC's data. For regular green cabs, see owning a green cab.

What the pilot is

A Street Hail Livery (SHL) permit is the license that lets a green cab take street hails outside the Manhattan core. TLC authorized 16,000 of them, but by January 2022 green cab trips had fallen more than 90% from their peak (SHL Pilot Final Report, p.1). In May 2023 TLC's Commission approved a pilot that used returned SHL permits for a new class of "Pilot SHLs". TLC said it wanted to test a cheaper license while studying medical transportation, outer-borough service, electrification and wheelchair access (pilot page). Applications opened on May 16, 2023 at 10 a.m. (Get a Vehicle License).

A pilot participant holds two things: the SHL Pilot permit and the FHV vehicle license attached to it. Participants needed a TLC driver license and their own hybrid, electric or accessible car.

Pilot car vs green cab vs regular FHV

The operating limits and penalties

The two rules that matter most are the hail ban and the zone ban. TLC's pilot FAQ lists the penalties:

The exception is narrow: inside the zone, pilot cars may pick up only Access-A-Ride or Medicaid-reimbursed trips. The FAQ adds that participants can do Access-A-Ride and Medicaid brokerage trips anywhere in the city, and pre-arranged trips at NYC airports.

Why Uber and Lyft matter here

TLC's FAQ quotes Uber's statement of May 12, 2023: "at this time, Uber will not be affiliating or dispatching these Pilot SHLs." Lyft also said it would not participate. TLC told applicants not to apply on the assumption that they would get app dispatches, and that TLC has no control over which drivers get Uber or Lyft trips. Pilot cars affiliate with other FHV bases; TLC points to the list of active bases on NYC Open Data.

TLC's final report connects this to the results: drivers with smaller bases found it especially hard to stay profitable, possibly because they could not add Uber and Lyft trips to low trip volumes.

What happened: the numbers

Other findings from the report:

• Attrition near 40% among drivers who got a permit and affiliated with a base, "more than five times higher" than for other FHV licenses. Of 14,770 non-pilot FHV licenses issued since May 2023, 93% were in good standing in June 2025.
• Busy cars, small fleet. Pilot cars still in good standing averaged 945 trips in 2024, versus 517 for other vehicles dispatched by non-high-volume bases. But 563 cars are small next to the 22,400+ active non-high-volume FHVs.
• Mostly hybrids. Of the active pilot cars, 560 were hybrids, 2 were electric and 1 was wheelchair accessible.
• Bigger bases kept them. The 107 bases with pilot cars had a median of over 21,000 trips in 2024, compared with under 3,000 for the 741 bases without one.
• Safety held. The initial inspection failure rate for pilot cars was 23% (August 2024), in line with the 23–26% range for other FHV licenses since 2022.

Extension to 2028 and what comes next

The pilot started as a two-year program. In early 2025 TLC extended it a year so licenses would not expire before the evaluation. TLC's page now says it is extended through June 2028; pilot cars get a Woodside inspection and a new decal that expires June 30, 2028, and Open Data is updated to match once the car passes. Owners must keep their regular DMV inspection sticker current at non-TLC stations.

The report recommends that TLC "adopt rules to make the SHL Pilot permanent for those drivers who participated," with licenses expiring when the car is no longer affiliated with a base or the owner does not renew. That is a recommendation, not a rule; check TLC's rules page for any adopted change.

If you hold a pilot permit today

A short list of things to keep in order, all from TLC's pilot pages:

• Watch for the inspection email. TLC emails current participants an appointment at Woodside for the inspection and the new decal. Without the new decal, your car's expiration date in Open Data will not be updated to June 30, 2028.
• Keep the DMV sticker current. The TLC inspection every two years does not replace your regular DMV inspections at outside stations.
• Stay with a base that has work for you. TLC's data showed pilot cars survived mostly at larger non-app bases. Losing your base affiliation for 60 days or more can lead to revocation of the FHV license (see non-use revocation).
• Know the zone line. East 96th Street on the East Side and West 110th Street on the West Side. A pickup south of that line is a violation unless it is Access-A-Ride or Medicaid.
• Questions go to LicensingInquiries@tlc.nyc.gov.

How to spot a pilot car in TLC data

TLC's FAQ tells bases how: in the For Hire Vehicles (FHV) – Active list on NYC Open Data, the wheelchair_accessible column shows "PILOT" for pilot participants, and the VEH column shows "WAV" if the pilot permit is attached to an accessible car. On October 11, 2026 the list had 412 PILOT rows and none of them carried the WAV code. In TLC Help's VIN decoding of that list (dataset tlc-fhv-top-wav-models), the pilot cars include the Toyota Camry (103), Toyota RAV4 (83), Toyota Sienna (38) and Ford Fusion (36).

If you are a pilot driver and want more than pre-arranged trips, your other options are a WAV-only FHV license (how to get new TLC plates) or driving a licensed car you rent. TLC's FAQ notes that choosing between the pilot and a WAV license is your choice. See also the SHL glossary entry, green cab statistics and the vehicles hub.