TLC summonses explained: OATH, hearing dates, and the codes that cost the most

A TLC summons is not a parking ticket

A parking ticket is a Department of Finance matter. A TLC summons charges a violation of the Taxi and Limousine Commission's own rules, the ones covering licensing, conduct, and how a vehicle is operated, and it is heard by a different body entirely: the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings, at its Taxi and Limousine Tribunal. OATH is the city's independent administrative court. It hears cases for TLC and dozens of other agencies, but a TLC case runs on TLC's own rules, not a generic city violation code.

A summons can be served on a driver in person, mailed to the address on file, or, if the person named is a vehicle owner rather than a driver, handed to the driver with instructions to forward it promptly. A driver who fails to pass it along is separately in violation of the rules for having done so. Whichever way it arrives, the summons has to state the date, time, and location of the alleged violation, the rule it charges, whether you must appear, and the date, time, and place of the hearing, or how to schedule one.

Answering before the hearing date

Every summons has one date that matters most: the hearing date printed on the document. You have to do something before it arrives, or a judge can find you guilty by default and impose the fine, along with any points, suspension, or revocation that violation carries, without hearing your side.

The options are a phone hearing, requested at least three business days ahead; an in-person hearing, requested at least five business days ahead; a written defense submitted online or by mail, if the summons is eligible; or paying the fine outright, which counts as pleading guilty and closes the case without a hearing. Each summons can also be rescheduled once before its hearing date. Some summonses come with a settlement offer for a reduced fine, mailed before or after the summons itself; those offers are handled by TLC directly, in writing or in person, and are not given out over the phone.

Finding a summons and paying it

TLC's for-hire vehicle summonses do not show up in OATH's general Summons Finder, the tool most other city violations use. You look them up instead through TLC UP, which shows a license's status alongside its open summonses, or through LARS, which lets you plead guilty and pay a summons online when no personal appearance is required. A separate For Hire Vehicle Case Calendar lists hearing dates for summonses TLC, the police, or the Port Authority issue to for-hire vehicles, though it is not updated after a case gets rescheduled, so it is a starting point rather than the final word.

Payment for a TLC summons goes to TLC directly, not through OATH's usual payment channels, and it is due within 30 days of the date you are found guilty or plead guilty, not 30 days from the original summons. Miss that window and TLC suspends the license until the fine is paid.

A summons can name a driver, an owner, or a base

Chapter 80 of the TLC's rules governs drivers, but a summons can just as easily name a vehicle owner or a base as the respondent, each under its own chapter. When a rule does not list a specific fine, the Commission can use its discretion instead, and the ceiling on that discretion depends on who is named: up to $1,000 per violation for a licensed driver, and up to $10,000 per violation for an owner, a base, or a similar business licensee. A fleet's exposure on its own license is a different order of magnitude from a single driver's.

The codes that cost the most

Most summonses carry a fixed fine listed right in the rule. A handful carry consequences well past the dollar amount.

Points accumulate separately from any of these, and multiple violations from a single incident only count once, at the highest point value among them. Six to nine TLC or DMV points combined within 15 months suspend a license for up to 30 days; ten or more revoke it, under the Persistent Violator Program at 35 RCNY 80-27.