Uber podcast: What you need to know about the TLC driving hours rule

The New York City TLC passed a rule to manage the number of hours drivers can provide for-hire services. As part of the enforcement of the rule, the TLC will issue fines to drivers based on the combined number of hours they spend transporting riders, across all apps, bases, and companies. The TLC’s driving hours rule says that, for safety reasons, drivers may only drive with passengers for a total of 10 hours in any 24-hour period. We know that this rule may impact the driver experience, which is why we spoke with drivers in focus groups and 1:1 phone interviews to best understand what we can do as a company to help. And because we’re a technology company, it makes sense that we’re using technology in the Uber app to help drivers comply with the new TLC rule.

As a driver approaches their maximum passenger time in a 24-hour period, they’ll get in-app notices letting them know how much passenger time they have remaining for trips on the Uber app. These notices will appear at the 2-hour, 1-hour, and 30-minutes remaining marks. Then, after 8 consecutive hours offline, the 10-hour passenger time window will re-set.

Passenger time, as defined by the TLC, is the amount of time a passenger is in your vehicle, between pickup and dropoff. Whenever you have a passenger in your car, then that time counts toward the total passenger time. But time spent where you simply have the app on, or are waiting for your rider to arrive, does not count because no passenger is in the vehicle.

Once drivers hit 10 hours of passenger time in a 24-hour period, they will no longer be able to accept rides until they’ve been offline for 8 hours. After that, they’ll be able to go back online to receive trip requests again.

According to the TLC, they will begin issuing warnings to drivers who have gone over their limits this fall. But these warnings in the app should give drivers information so they can change their schedules before any summonses are issued.