The bill would require black car and luxury limousine services—including dispatch apps—to provide accurate fare estimate to passengers upon request. Passengers could not be charged a fare that is more than twenty percent higher than the estimate. Services that fail to comply would be subject to a penalty of $250 to $500.
- Introduced
History
Int. No.
By The Speaker (Council Member Mark-Viverito) and Council Members Garodnick, Rodriguez and Torres
A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to fare quotes for black car and luxury limousine service
Be it enacted by the Council as follows:
Section 1. Section 19-502 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended to add a new subdivision z to read as follows:
z. “Dispatch service provider” means an entity licensed by the commission to dispatch, reserve, or refer trips to drivers on behalf of a base station, black car base, or luxury limousine base through a publicly-available, passenger-facing booking tool.
§ 2. Chapter 5 of title 19 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended by adding a new section 19-544 to read as follows:
§ 19-544 Fare quotes. a. A black car base or luxury limousine base, or a dispatch service provider operating on behalf of such a base, shall not quote or charge a fare that is more than the fare listed in the rate schedule filed with the commission.
b. Any website, smartphone application, software program accessed through an electronic device, or similar publically-available, passenger-facing booking tool utilized by a black car base or luxury limousine base, or dispatch service provider operating on behalf of such a base, shall allow prospective passengers to request a fare estimate prior to booking transportation.
c. If a prospective passenger requests a fare estimate, a black car base or luxury limousine base, or dispatch service provider operating on behalf of such a base, such base or entity shall ask such passenger to specify a destination and shall provide an accurate price quote expressed in dollars and cents for the trip before such passenger books transportation. If such passenger agrees to receive such transportation, such base or entity shall not charge such passenger more than 120 percent of the price quoted unless such passenger changes the location of the pick up, destination, number of stops, or the vehicle type requested or requests a route change requiring the payment of a toll. Such price quote may be expressed in a range in dollars and cents, provided that the price charged is not more than 120 percent of the highest price included in such range.
d. Any black car base or luxury limousine base, or dispatch service provider operating on behalf of such a base, that has been found to have violated any provision of this section shall be subject to a civil penalty of not less than $250 nor more than $500 for each offense; provided, however, that such base or entity shall not be in violation of subdivision c of this section if it brings the price of the transportation provided into compliance with subdivision c of section within 10 business days of receiving notification from the passenger or the commission that such passenger was charged a fare in violation of such subdivision.
§ 3. This local law takes effect in 90 days, except that the Taxi and Limousine Commission shall take all necessary action, including the promulgation of rules, prior to such effective date.
KET 2/17/16 9:43AM
LS 3871/2015, 3944/2015, 4111/2015, 4241/2015, 7263/2016