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Short answer: Yes. Green cabs (street hail liveries, also called Boro Taxis) still work in NYC in 2026, but there are very few. TLC counted 652 licensed green taxis on December 31, 2025, and they made about 1,300 to 1,600 trips a day between September 2025 and August 2026. That is under 1% of the trips that yellow cabs and Uber/Lyft make.
The numbers and where they come from
For scale, in August 2026 the same TLC trip records show about 107,184 yellow taxi trips a day and 661,080 Uber and Lyft trips a day (dataset trips-per-day-by-month).
Where you will still see them
Green cabs may take street hails anywhere in the city except Manhattan south of West 110th Street and East 96th Street, the Hail Exclusionary Zone (TLC Green Cab page). Most remaining trips start in upper Manhattan and Queens:
Most of these trips are street hails. In August 2026, 32,639 green trips were recorded as hails and 1,576 as dispatches; 6,313 had no trip type (dataset trips-green-trip-type-by-month).
What the number does and doesn't mean
- Small does not mean gone. TLC still issues green cab licenses. In its February 2026 review, TLC said 35 of the 1,241 new FHV licenses it issued from February 2025 to January 2026 were attached to SHL permits (review).
- The counts don't match exactly. "Licensed" (652), "active permits on the open data list" (603) and "cars with a trip this month" (about 600) measure different things on different dates. None is wrong.
- "P" cars are not green cabs. SHL pilot cars do pre-arranged trips only, no hails. See SHL pilot "P" cars.
- The data can't tell you why the fleet shrank. It only shows the drop: 52,723 trips a day in 2015 against 1,582 in 2025 (dataset
tlc-trips-per-day-by-industry). The full story is on green cab statistics.
If you are thinking of driving one
You don't need a separate license to drive a green cab. TLC's 2025 Annual Report says the TLC Driver License "is a single license that allows the holder to operate a taxi, street hail livery (green cab), black car, livery, and limousine."
The car is the harder part. A green cab is an FHV with a Street Hail Livery permit attached to its FHV vehicle license. Like other FHVs, it is affiliated with a base and can take base dispatches; it can also take trips from licensed e-hail apps, and it must carry the same equipment as a yellow taxi (TLC Green Cab page). With so few hail trips left, ask the owner or base how much work the car really gets before you lease it.
What to do next
- Compare the sectors: how many Ubers and taxis are on the road each day? and how many yellow taxis are in NYC?
- Know the green cab rules: can green cabs pick up at JFK or LaGuardia? and can green cabs charge the LaGuardia surcharge?
- Learn the terms: SHL and how taxi and FHV rules compare.
- See all licensed vehicles: TLC licensed vehicle statistics and the vehicles hub.
Frequently asked questions
How many green cabs are there in 2026?
TLC counted 652 licensed street hail liveries (green taxis) on December 31, 2025, and TLC's open data listed 603 active SHL permits on October 12, 2026. In 2025, an average of 602 green cabs made at least one trip each month.
Where do green cabs pick up the most?
In TLC trip records for September 2025 to August 2026, the busiest green cab pickup zone was East Harlem North (137,458 trips), then East Harlem South (67,573), Forest Hills, Central Park and Morningside Heights.
Can a green cab pick me up in Midtown?
Not by street hail. Green cabs may not take street hails south of West 110th Street and East 96th Street in Manhattan (the Hail Exclusionary Zone), per TLC's Green Cab page.
Are green cabs the same as the SHL pilot 'P' cars?
No. SHL pilot cars (often called 'P' cars) may not take street hails at all; they do pre-arranged trips only, with markings TLC provides and any color except taxi yellow and apple green. TLC approved the pilot in May 2023.
Sources
Last reviewed against the official sources on .
- TLC 2025 Annual Report (licenses as of Dec 31, 2025) nyc.gov
- TLC Monthly Data Reports (industry indicators CSV) nyc.gov
- TLC Trip Record Data (green cab files) nyc.gov
- TLC: Green Cab nyc.gov
- TLC: Green Cab owners (SHL permit and FHV license renewals) nyc.gov
- TLC: FHV License Review, February 2026 nyc.gov
- TLC: SHL Pilot Program nyc.gov
Spotted something out of date? Tell us and we'll check it against the official source.
TLC Help is not a law firm and is not affiliated with the NYC Taxi & Limousine Commission or OATH. Explanations on this site are general information, not legal advice. Legal representation is provided by independent attorneys and OATH-registered representatives in our network.