How to get a TLC driver license: the steps and the 90 days

Who qualifies

The TLC’s list of who is qualified:

• Minimum age 19. [TLC: get a license]
• A valid DMV chauffeur’s license: commercial class A, B or C, or for-hire class E. [TLC: get a license]
• A valid Social Security number. [TLC: get a license]
• No fines or fees owed to NYS DMV or the TLC. [TLC: get a license]
• No more than 5 points on your DMV license within a 15 month period back from your most recent conviction date. [TLC: get a license]

If your DMV license is from outside New York State, the TLC says all out-of-state applicants and licensees must complete a new step so that the TLC can get the Client ID number for the application; its page has the steps. [TLC: get a license]

The steps

Start the application online at the TLC’s LARS site. [TLC: get a license] The TLC’s page then lists what to finish:

• A medical exam completed and signed by a licensed physician on the TLC’s medical certification form. [TLC: get a license]
• Drug screening at a TLC-approved testing facility. [TLC: get a license]
• Fingerprints and photo. [TLC: get a license]
• A six-hour New York State DMV Defensive Driving Course. Its certificate cannot be older than three years when you apply. [TLC licensing education]
• The 3-day TLC Driver License course, then the TLC Driver License Exam. [TLC: get a license]
• Passenger Assistance and Wheelchair Accessible Vehicle (WAV) training. [TLC: get a license]
• A sex trafficking awareness training video, 10 minutes. Every TLC driver watches it for a new or renewal application. [TLC licensing education]
• Clear any outstanding parking, camera and traffic tickets or fines. [TLC: get a license]

The TLC says its licensing staff only begin reviewing your application once every requirement has been fully completed and submitted. [TLC: get a license] When the license is approved, a physical copy is mailed by the US Postal Service and should arrive within two weeks. [TLC: get a license]

The 90 days

All requirements must be completed within 90 days after you apply. [TLC licensing education] If you do not, the application is denied. [TLC: get a license]

• File the application first. Schools will not register you for the 3-day course without a TLC application number. [TLC licensing education]
• Register for the 3-day course no later than five days before your application expires. [TLC licensing education]
• The TLC advises finishing the course at least 60 days before the 90 days run out, to leave time to register and pass the exam. [TLC licensing education]

The course and the exam

The 3-day course is 8 hours a day of classroom instruction that prepares you for the exam. [TLC licensing education] Yellow taxi, green taxi and for-hire applicants take it before they get a license; commuter van and paratransit drivers do not. [TLC licensing education] You complete it before the exam, and PSI then emails you a link to register for the exam. [TLC licensing education]

WAV training is a requirement for the same applicants: yellow taxi, green taxi and for-hire; commuter van and paratransit drivers do not take it. [TLC licensing education] It is at least three hours of classroom time with one hour of hands-on assessment, in which the TLC says you must complete every step of securing a passenger who uses a wheelchair, including pushing the wheelchair into the vehicle and bending down to connect the floor straps. [TLC licensing education] The TLC suggests doing it before the exam. [TLC licensing education] What is on the exam, and when and where it is given, are on their own page and another.

The fees the TLC lists

These are the amounts in the TLC’s own fee table when we read it. Check the TLC page for today’s. [TLC: get a license]

• $252: TLC application processing fee, for a three-year license
• $34: Drug testing
• $90.25: Fingerprint and photo
• $245-$250: New TLC Driver License course (3 days)
• $50-$125: Passenger Assistance and Wheelchair Accessible Vehicle (WAV) training
• $49 per exam attempt: TLC Driver License Exam, paid to PSI Testing Services
• $25-$75: Defensive Driving Course (DDC)

The TLC says all fees paid for your license are non-refundable, even if you do not complete the process or are found not eligible. [TLC: get a license]