TLC Rule 80-19(d)(1): Who Gets a Taxi Stand Spot

In short: Rule 80-19(d)(1) gives every yellow taxi the right to take any empty spot on any taxi stand, and says no other driver may interfere with that right. A green cab has the same right only at stands in the Hail Zone, and no right at all to a stand in Manhattan below East 96th / West 110th Street or at the airports. The fine is $75, with no TLC points listed and no appearance required. It is one of the rarest stand summonses: 23 in the OATH data since 2016.

What the rule says

Section 80-19(d)(1) of the TLC Chapter 80 rule book reads:

A Driver of a Taxicab has the right to take a position at any Taxi Stand having a vacancy, and no other Driver may interfere with that right.

(i) A Driver of a Street Hail Livery has the right to take a position at any Taxi Stand having a vacancy in the Hail Zone, and no other Driver may interfere with that right. A Driver of a Street Hail Livery does NOT have the right to take a position at a Taxi Stand in the Hail Exclusionary Zone.

Penalty line: "Fine: $75. Appearance NOT REQUIRED."

The words that matter, in plain English:

• Taxi Stand: "a place where Taxicabs are authorized (either by NYC Department of Transportation or a transportation terminal operator) to line up and wait for customers" (TLC Chapter 51). Street stands have DOT signs. Airport and train-station lines count too, because §80-19(e)(1) applies stand rules to terminal stands and feed lines.
• Vacancy: an open place on the line. The rule protects your right to an empty spot. It does not let you push in where cabs are already waiting.
• Interfere: the rule does not define it. Blocking the open spot with your car, waving a cab away, or "saving" a place for a friend are the kinds of things it seems aimed at. What counts in your case is a question for the hearing.
• Hail Zone / Hail Exclusionary Zone: the Exclusionary Zone is "Manhattan south of East 96th St. and West 110th St." plus "The New York City Airports". The Hail Zone is everywhere else in NYC (Chapter 51). See Hail Zone.

Who it applies to

The rule has two sides, and a summons can come from either one:

• The driver who blocks. Any TLC driver who keeps a yellow cab (or a green cab in the Hail Zone) out of an empty stand position can be charged.
• The green cab driver in the wrong place. The (i) sentence says a green cab "does NOT have the right" to a stand position in the Exclusionary Zone. A green cab sitting on a Midtown stand may be charged under this rule. Taking a hail there is a separate and far more serious charge, 80-19(b)(1), which starts at $500 plus suspension.
• FHV drivers are covered by a different rule: 80-19(d)(2) bans FHV pickups at any taxi stand.

Who writes it and how often

Counts are from the OATH Hearings Division data on NYC Open Data, queried October 12, 2026, using the first-listed charge only. By year: 17 in 2017, 3 in 2018, 1 in 2019, 1 in 2022 and 1 in 2023. A summons is an allegation, not a finding, and the data has no usable location field, so it cannot show which stands these came from. Compare that with line-jumping, 80-19(d)(4), which has 1,842 summonses in the same period. If you have an 80-19(d)(1) summons, you are dealing with a rule that inspectors seldom use.

Common situations

• A driver parks across an open space on a stand to hold it for another cab.
• Two drivers argue over an empty space, and an inspector writes up the one who blocked the other.
• A green cab joins a taxi stand on, say, East 86th Street, which is south of East 96th Street and so inside the Exclusionary Zone.
• A green cab joins a stand on the Upper West Side between West 96th and West 110th Streets. That area is also in the Exclusionary Zone, because the west-side line is 110th Street, not 96th.
• A green cab joins the taxi line at JFK or LaGuardia. Both airports are in the Exclusionary Zone.

Does the summons fit what happened?

Penalty and points

Chapter 80 prints a single fine for this rule, not a lower plead-guilty amount. Because no points are listed, the summons does not by itself count toward the Persistent Violator Program.

What to do and points to discuss with your lawyer

These are general questions, not legal advice:

• Was the place an authorized stand? The rule only protects positions on a DOT-signed stand or a terminal stand. Photograph every sign on the block, including any hours.
• Was there a vacancy? If cabs were already waiting and the spot was not open, the facts may fit a different rule, or none.
• For green cabs: which side of the line? The east-side line is East 96th Street; the west-side line is West 110th Street. An address one block north can change the answer.
• What exactly did you do? "Interfere" is not defined. A written account, made the same day, of what happened and who was there can help.

Bring: the summons, photos of the stand and its signs, your trip records for that time, the names of any witnesses, and dashcam video if your vehicle has an approved camera. TLC explains how to plead or schedule a hearing on its summons page.

Related rules

Every stand rule, with fines and counts, is in taxi stand rules. The cruising ban near stands is 80-19(a)(4)(ii). For green cab drivers, can green cabs use taxi stands walks through places by example. For breaks, use a relief stand instead: see taxi relief stands and can Uber drivers use relief stands. More rules about streets and curbs are on the places hub.