News & Industry Watch
Regulation changes, industry analysis, and original research — written in plain language for the people behind the wheel.
Industry News
Current TLC, MTA, and fund notices — summarized for drivers. We do not invent numbers. Tap through to the official page and verify before you act.
Passenger surcharge dropped to 2.25% on August 1
The Black Car Fund cut the passenger surcharge from 2.5% to 2.25% on covered trips starting August 1, 2026. That percentage is charged to the rider, collected by the base, and sent to the Fund — it is not supposed to come out of your pay. Workers’ compensation coverage for eligible black-car and app drivers is still what this surcharge funds. If the line on your statement looks off, ask your base which rate they applied after August 1.
Read the Fund notice → TLC Notice 26-03Uber and Lyft floor went up 3.36% on March 1
TLC raised the high-volume minimum pay 3.36% to match 2025 CPI-W inflation. Since March 1, 2026 the in-city floor is $1.283 per mile and $0.681 per minute for a regular car ($1.601 per mile for a WAV). Out-of-town trips pay more per mile. This is a floor — the app can pay more, not less. Keep your trip logs. If a week looks short, TLC’s Driver Protection Unit takes pay complaints at (718) 391-5539 or driverprotection@tlc.nyc.gov.
Open Industry Notice 26-03 (PDF) → TLC Notice 26-02WAV taxi trips now go through e-hail — $10 hotline bonus
As of March 1, 2026, Accessible Dispatch through MTM is over. Wheelchair-accessible yellow and green taxi trips are routed through TLC-licensed e-hail: Arro, Curb, and Myle. Riders can also call 646-599-9999. WAV taxi drivers enrolled in the Taxi Improvement Fund earn a $10 bonus on every trip that comes through that hotline. Refusing a passenger with a disability can cost up to $500 on a first violation. Questions: ODRC@tlc.nyc.gov.
Open Industry Notice 26-02 (PDF) → MTACongestion zone: passenger pays $1.50 or $0.75 — not the $9 car toll
Licensed taxis and FHVs in the Per-Trip Charge Plan do not pay the daily $9 private-car toll below 60th Street. The passenger pays $1.50 on high-volume (Uber/Lyft) CBD trips and $0.75 on yellow, green, and other FHV CBD trips. Your base or taxi tech provider has to be enrolled. If they are not, the vehicle can be hit with the regular zone toll instead. Ask your base or TSP if you are on the plan before you work the zone all day.
Check MTA taxi/FHV tolls → LARS / TLC UpRenew online only — pay in LARS, upload in TLC Up
TLC does not take in-person driver renewals. You can start 90 days before expiration: pay tickets, take the drug test in that 90-day window, take the TLC renewal course (about 3 hours plus WAV hands-on; $100–$150 to the school), pay the $252 license fee in LARS, and upload papers in TLC Up. Paying LARS does not by itself renew you. Miss the date and you have 180 days to catch up, plus a $25 late fee, and you cannot work until TLC approves. Out-of-state DMV licenses: since Oct 1, 2025 you must upload an FS-6T from a NYS DMV office to TLC Up or the application sits.
TLC renewal checklist → TLC Notice 26-01New medallion tins and rate cards start May 1
TLC is issuing new medallion tins and rate cards at Woodside beginning May 1, 2026. Keep running with the current rate card (expired 10/31/2025) and the 2023–2025 tin until your first inspection on or after May 1. TLC expects the swap to finish by August 30, 2026. Questions: inspections@tlc.nyc.gov.
Open Industry Notice 26-01 (PDF) →Regulation Watch
Plain-language explainers of the rules that decide what you earn and what you pay. Rules change — every guide tells you where to verify the current numbers.
How the TLC Minimum Pay Standard Works
NYC is the only major U.S. city with a pay floor for app drivers. How the per-trip formula works, what "utilization rate" means, and why your pay statement looks the way it does.
Read the explainer → ExplainerCongestion Pricing: What Drivers Actually Pay
The Manhattan congestion relief zone charges taxis and FHVs differently than private cars. What's charged per trip, who pays it, and how it changes demand below 60th Street.
Read the explainer → AnalysisThe Retirement Gap No One Solved
Why 180,000+ licensed NYC drivers have no employer retirement plan, what other industries did about it, and the case for a portable, per-trip solution.
Read the analysis →Official sources we monitor
Analysis & Opinion
The NY-DIGNITY blog: where the initiative thinks out loud about the future of driver work — and makes the public case for retirement dignity.
Drivers built New York. What is New York building for drivers?
Our founding argument: the industry's retirement gap is not a personal failure of savings discipline — it is an infrastructure gap. Infrastructure can be built.
Read → AnalysisThe 2026 pay floor is not a raise you can skip reading
TLC’s high-volume minimum is a per-trip formula, not a weekly salary. Utilization, WAV vs non-WAV miles, and out-of-town rates all change what the March 1, 2026 CPI-W bump actually puts in your pocket. We walk the formula in plain language.
Read the minimum-pay analysis →Research & Studies
Original documents produced by the NY-DIGNITY initiative. Public materials are free to download; the full structural framework is a working draft available to collaborators and experts by request.
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