STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 4105--A 2025-2026 Regular Sessions IN SENATE January 31, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sens. PARKER, BAILEY, CLEARE, COMRIE, FERNANDEZ, JACKSON, LANZA, MYRIE, PALUMBO, PERSAUD, RAMOS, RHOADS, SANDERS, WEBB -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Cities 1 -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee AN ACT to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to allowing commuter vans to accept hails from prospective passengers in the street The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Subdivision p of section 19-502 of the administrative code 2 of the city of New York, as amended by local law number 37 of the city 3 of New York for the year 2019, is amended to read as follows: 4 p. "Commuter van" means a commuter van service having a seating capac- 5 ity of at least nine passengers but not more than twenty passengers or 6 such greater capacity as the commission may establish by rule and carry- 7 ing passengers for hire in the city duly licensed as a commuter van by 8 the commission and not permitted to accept hails from prospective 9 passengers in the street except as authorized pursuant to subdivision c 10 of this section. For purposes of the provisions of this chapter relating 11 to prohibitions against the operation of an unauthorized commuter van 12 service or an unlicensed commuter van, the enforcement of such prohibi- 13 tions and the imposition of penalties for violations of such prohibi- 14 tions and to the seizure and forfeiture of commuter vans, the term shall 15 also include any common carrier of passengers by motor vehicle not 16 subject to licensure as a taxicab, for-hire vehicle, or wheelchair 17 accessible van and not operating as a public or private bus transit 18 service operated pursuant to a contract with the city, any county within 19 the state of New York, the state of New York or any other state or local 20 government that follows the applicable procurement rules and regulations 21 of such jurisdiction regardless of the seating capacity of any such 22 vehicle. The commission shall submit to the council the text of any 23 proposed rule relating to the maximum capacity of commuter vans at the 24 time such proposed rule is published in the City Record. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD06261-02-5
S. 4105--A 2 1 § 2. Paragraph 1 of subdivision a of section 19-504 of the administra- 2 tive code of the city of New York, as amended by local law number 115 of 3 the city of New York for the year 1993, is amended to read as follows: 4 (1) A taxi-cab, coach, wheelchair accessible van, commuter van or 5 for-hire vehicle shall operate within the city of New York only if the 6 owner shall first have obtained from the commission a taxicab, coach, 7 wheelchair accessible van, commuter van or for-hire vehicle license for 8 such vehicle and only while such license is in full force and effect. 9 Vehicle licenses shall be issued for a term of not less than one nor 10 more than two years and shall expire on the date set forth on the 11 license unless sooner suspended or revoked by the commission. No motor 12 vehicle other than a duly licensed taxicab or commuter van where author- 13 ized pursuant to subdivision c of section 19-502 of this chapter shall 14 be permitted to accept hails from passengers in the street. No commuter 15 van shall be operated within the city of New York unless it is operated 16 as part of a current, valid authorization to operate a commuter van 17 service duly issued by the commission pursuant to section 19-504.2 of 18 this chapter. 19 § 3. The section heading of section 19-516 of the administrative code 20 of the city of New York, as amended by local law number 115 of the city 21 of New York for the year 1993, is amended to read as follows: 22 Acceptance of passengers by for-hire vehicles [and commuter vans]. 23 § 4. Subdivision b of section 19-516 of the administrative code of the 24 city of New York, as amended by local law number 6 of the city of New 25 York for the year 2017, is amended and a new subdivision c is added to 26 read as follows: 27 b. [No] Except as provided in subdivision c of this section, no commu- 28 ter van service and no person who owns, operates or drives a commuter 29 van, shall provide, permit or authorize the provision of transportation 30 service to a passenger unless such service to a passenger is on the 31 basis of a telephone contract or other prearrangement. Where a violation 32 of this subdivision has been committed by a driver of a commuter van, 33 the commuter van service and the owner of such vehicle shall also be 34 liable for a violation of this subdivision. 35 c. The commission shall establish a program, in which commuter vans 36 duly licensed by the commission to carry passengers for hire are author- 37 ized to accept hails from prospective passengers in the streets of the 38 city of New York within Manhattan community district two, Queens commu- 39 nity district twelve, Brooklyn community district five, Brooklyn commu- 40 nity district nine, Brooklyn community district sixteen, Brooklyn commu- 41 nity district seventeen, and Brooklyn community district eighteen 42 provided that such authorization shall prohibit the pick up of passen- 43 gers by street hail at airports or in such other area as the commission 44 shall by rule prohibit. No later than February first, two thousand 45 twenty-eight and annually thereafter, the commission shall submit a 46 report to the mayor, speaker of the council, governor, the temporary 47 president of the senate, and the speaker of the assembly, evaluating the 48 program with an analysis of the impact of commuter vans accepting hails 49 from prospective passengers in the streets and any recommendations of 50 the commission regarding the authorization of commuter vans to accept 51 hails from prospective passengers in the streets of the city of New 52 York. 53 § 5. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall 54 have become a law.