TLC Rule 80-19(a)(5): Pickups While Logged Off

In short: Once you have logged off the taxi's Technology System, you may pick up a passenger only if all three of these are true: (1) you are driving the cab back to your garage or home, (2) you have made the trip-record entry "Returning to garage (or home)", and (3) the passenger's destination is directly on your route. If any one is missing, the pickup breaks rule 80-19(a)(5): $75 if you plead guilty before a hearing or $100 after one, with no points listed and no required appearance. Almost all of these summonses are written by Port Authority Police.

This page is general information, not legal advice.

What the rule says

Section 80-19(a)(5) of TLC Chapter 80:

A Driver who is logged off from the Technology System must not solicit or accept a Passenger unless ALL of the following are true: (i) The Driver is returning the Taxicab to his or her garage or home; (ii) The Driver has transmitted the relevant information to an electronic database for entry on the electronic trip record or made a written trip record entry "Returning to garage (or home)"; and (iii) The Passenger's destination is directly on the route to the Driver's home or garage.

§80-19(a)(5) Fine: $75 if plead guilty before a hearing; $100 if found guilty following a hearing. Appearance NOT REQUIRED

The "Technology System" is the meter-linked system in every yellow cab (card reader, trip recorder and screen). Chapter 51 defines it as the integrated hardware and software that meets TLC's technical rules.

The three conditions, one by one

Why the record entry matters. It is the proof that you were really going home before the passenger appeared. Without it, the exception fails even if everything else is true.

"Directly on the route" is strict. A rider going two blocks off your way, or across a bridge you weren't going to take, doesn't fit.

Logging off the right way

Logging off is its own rule. Under 80-25(b) you must enter "the appropriate off duty code" into the Technology System when you log off ($100 if you plead guilty, $150 after a hearing). And under 80-25(a) you must log in and operate the system "for each trip." So the going-home exception doesn't let you run a trip off the books: the record entry shows why you were logged off, and the rider's trip itself is still a normal logged-in, metered trip. If the system is broken, rule 80-25(e) says you must fix it before accepting any new trips.

You may ask the destination in this case

Asking where a passenger is going before they sit down is normally a refusal under 80-20(a)(4), with TLC's mandatory refusal penalties. But 80-20(a)(4)(i) says asking in advance "shall not be a violation" if you are returning home or to the garage and followed the 80-19(a)(5) procedure. So: make the record entry first, then you may ask, and take only riders whose destination is on your way. Once the passenger is in, it is a normal metered trip.

Who writes it and how often

OATH lists this charge under three spellings: 80-19(a)(5), 80-19(a)(5)(i) and 80-19(a)(5)(i)-(iii). Added together:

That 48-of-50 split is unusual. For most Chapter 80 codes TLC writes the large majority. Port Authority Police patrol the airports, bridges and tunnels the Port Authority runs, but OATH's data has no usable location field for taxi rows, so it cannot confirm where these were written.

Common situations

• You end your shift, switch to off duty and take a hail on the way home without making the record entry.
• You make the entry but then take a rider going the opposite direction "because it's a good fare."
• You say you are going home but are actually heading to a taxi line or a busy area.
• Fits the exception: entry made, heading to your garage in Queens, rider going to a stop on your route.

Does the summons fit?

Penalty and points

What to do

1. Get your electronic trip record for that night. It shows when you logged off and whether the "returning" entry was sent.
2. Show your route: your home or garage address, and where the rider was going.
3. Answer before the hearing date. Never let it go to default.

See also: can I pick up a street hail on my way home, green cab off-duty pickups, meter on as soon as a passenger enters, adding passengers mid-trip, how long you can stay on a taxi stand, can I double park to pick up a passenger, Technology System rules and the passengers topic.