FHV License Cap by the Numbers: 2019–2026

In short: When TLC extended the FHV license pause in August 2019, 120,126 for-hire vehicles were licensed. At TLC's February 2026 review there were 103,618 in good standing, 14% fewer. In the last review year TLC issued 1,241 new FHV licenses, and 1,206 of them were restricted to wheelchair accessible vehicles. Every review since 2024 has decided: no additional licenses beyond WAV-restricted ones.

All figures below come from TLC's own FHV License Review reports (February 2023 to February 2026) and TLC's Open Data. For what the cap means and how to work with it, read the FHV license cap explained.

The numbers at a glance

Licensed FHVs at each review

What each point means:

• August 2019: 120,126. The number licensed when TLC decided to extend the pause (quoted in each later review).
• February 2023: 95,396 licensed FHVs not in storage, down from 95,693 in August 2022. With 3,932 licenses in storage, the total was 99,328, which the February 2023 review called "the first time that the number of FHV licenses has been under 100,000 since 2016."
• February 2024: 107,636 in good standing, after the EV-only window.
• February 2025: 105,487.
• February 2026: 103,618.

TLC's live list has a different number: 104,845 active FHV licenses on October 12, 2026 (dataset below). The review counts "good standing" at a moment in time; the Open Data list counts active licenses that day and drops licenses that are in storage.

New licenses by type, each review period

Notice that in the last two periods TLC issued more new licenses than expired, yet the number in good standing still fell. TLC's explanation is the grace periods: owners "may renew their vehicle license up to 60 days after it expires and, once renewed, have an additional 120 days to pass a vehicle inspection" (February 2026 review), so expirations are counted late.

The February 2025 review also gives counts for that period: 1,763 EV-only applications processed from the 2023 backlog and 1,688 WAV licenses issued.

Electric vehicles in the FHV fleet

TLC's Open Data list showed 13,684 active FHVs with the battery-electric (BEV) code on October 12, 2026. Most vehicles have no code at all, so code counts are not a full fuel census:

Every review decision

What TLC weighs, and the next review

Rule §59A-06(a)(1) lists the review factors: congestion, driver pay, license attrition, outer-borough service, electric vehicle availability and demand, charging infrastructure, and anything else TLC finds relevant. The rule says that beginning February 2023, TLC decides how many licenses to issue "in the twelve months following such review." TLC has not announced the date of its next report; watch the Industry Reports page.

What the data can't tell you

• Good standing is not the same as working. The February 2024 review found more than 14,000 licensed FHVs that did not complete a trip from February through December 2023.
• Owners are not counted. These are vehicle licenses. A company can hold many; TLC does not publish how many owners there are in these reports.
• Rental prices are not tracked here. The February 2023 review cited driver and rental-company reports of rentals "typically over $400 per week," but TLC does not publish a rental price series.
• Shares, not always counts. TLC published some periods only as percentages; we did not convert them to counts.

Next steps: how to get new plates with a WAV, are new TLC plates available?, renewing TLC plates, can I change my base while renewing?, the FHV glossary entry, TLC licensed vehicle statistics and the vehicles hub.