RIDEGURU
I live in Hoboken, and I would like to drive an Uber. I'd love to be able to pick up NY customers, of course.
Asked another way, can NJ drivers pick up in NY?
Can a Uber drive operating and driving in New Jersey (NJ) pick up in NYC or New York State?
Posted 6 years, 9 months ago
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HuhnHuhn
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The Guru Take
No, you cannot drive in NYC, unless...
First of all, the general rule for Uber (and Lyft) is that a driver cannot operate and pick up in multiple territories. However, they often make exceptions as the law permits. New Jersey drivers are allowed to pick up in surrounding areas, including most parts of Pennsylvania (PA), Connecticut (CT), Delaware (DE), Western MA, and New York state (NY). It's a big territory.(update: To receive requests in Philadelphia, you must be registered in Philadelphia. source)
However, New York City is an exception. If you would like to pick up in the New York State and its five boroughs, you would need a TLC license and have it be submitted to Uber. In fact, Uber can help you aply for this license. Only once you have the TLC license, you can legally pick up in NYC, and you will start receiving ride requests in your Uber Partner/Driver app.
ippei
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Uber Driver, CEO of TaxiFareFinder and Unleashed, LLC
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I am driving for Lyft in long island new York, I do not have TLC. However the other day I received ride to Newark airport. I was getting pings as soon as I dropped off the passenger, am I allowed to be taking these rides in new Jersey?
You do not need a TLC license to pick up at the Newark airport, as a TLC license only enables you to pick up in New York City and its five boroughs. In fact, unless the trip is headed back to New York City, you cannot pick up at Newark Airport if you have a TLC License.
Therefore, whether you can pick up at Newark Airport, which is in New Jersy, is up to the NJ rules set forth by Lyft and NJ Port Authority. I believe there are no special restrictions as long as you are cleared by Lyft, so you should be okay to accept those requests. If you want to be sure, you may have to check with NJ Port Authority.
what about drop off？
Can a Uber drive operating and driving in New Jersey (NJ) drop a passenger in NYC？？？
Yes, the Uber driver from NJ is permitted to drop off in NYC, with or without TLC license.
There is a policy in place called "State Reciprocity Statute", that allows non-TLC and non-NYC drivers to drop passengers off. (...and as the name states, NJ allows TLC drivers to drop off passengers in nJ.)
This is a very popular question at RideGuru. I just created a new post to cover this topic. Click here.
Additional points:
- Technically, you are supposed to enter the TNC Staging Area/Lot in order to be included in the queue for passenger pickups. There are exceptions to this, such as when there is a very short line or (sometimes) if you are a driver from NYC heading back.
- TLC licensed drivers, theoretically, can only pick up at Newark if the trips are headed back to NYC. This is not strictly enforced, but that is the deal reached by NJ Port Authority and NY TLC.
I’ve been driving for years and started in the New Jersey suburban area, which is within 10 miles of my house. I’d been inactive for a while in 2017, but started again in December 2017. When I actively started driving again I found I couldn’t pick up in NY suburban areas although the NY suburbs had become active for ride share services. I called support to inquire why and I was told I needed to be assigned to a NY area to pickup in NY. I quickly found that I could no longer pickup in New Jersey. When I called support I was told I requested the move to NY suburbs to late! Although I have friends that signed up to drive in New York suburban areas well after I started driving for Uber, they can pick up in New Jersey and Connecticut, and I still can’t. It seems very unfair that after the years of service I am limited to NY suburban areas because I missed the “deadline” to make the request. I feel it should have been automatic for someone living in NY, d…
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I’ve been driving for years and started in the New Jersey suburban area, which is within 10 miles of my house. I’d been inactive for a while in 2017, but started again in December 2017. When I actively started driving again I found I couldn’t pick up in NY suburban areas although the NY suburbs had become active for ride share services. I called support to inquire why and I was told I needed to be assigned to a NY area to pickup in NY. I quickly found that I could no longer pickup in New Jersey. When I called support I was told I requested the move to NY suburbs to late! Although I have friends that signed up to drive in New York suburban areas well after I started driving for Uber, they can pick up in New Jersey and Connecticut, and I still can’t. It seems very unfair that after the years of service I am limited to NY suburban areas because I missed the “deadline” to make the request. I feel it should have been automatic for someone living in NY, driving in New Jersey to have been automatically activated to drive where they lived in addition to where they were already driving. I was driving to New Jersey to make a living, and now if I end up in New Jersey because many rides end in that direction I have to drive back empty! Today I drove someone to NYC near the Lincoln Tunnel. Any route out of that area of NYC back to NY suburbs is almost an hour, but New Jersey is 10 minutes away through the tunnel. The $58 I was paid which includes a very extensive toll + the round trip expense of gas, wear and tear And 2+ hours equates to less then $10 a hour! It doesn’t make sense to bring fairs to NYC or New Jersey-(Newark Airport) although the states borders are just around the corner very close to were I drive the suburbs of NY and live, only to return with an empty vehicle! I make so much less with this restriction that is hurting my bottom line and the entire reason I drive in the first place.
It would be entirely different if I was driving in Albany which is in the middle of the state and far enough away from other borders to keep driving within my “home area”. One bordering state that is causing havoc!
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So with this current hold in place, the pause on the Tlc in nyc, how can one without a Nyc Tlc license apply and drive for Uber or Lyft?
So I took a rider to Philadelphia Airport as an Uber driver today from Princeton, New Jersey. Once I dropped him off, I headed to the Staging Area. When I got to the Staging Area, my Uber app. would not stay online for me to get into the queue. Instead, a little note dropped down on my phone informing me that I was not allowed to pick up anybody from Philadelphia.
So...basically...I was offered the ride by Uber...but in effect they are telling me that I wasn't allowed to try and earn some money back towards my 1 hour ride home once I got there.
Luckily I got a rider with Lyft that took me half way back home which definitely helped. Aparently this rule went into effect in April, yet everything I have been reading on this site says I am allowed to get rides back, once in PA. Does anybody else know about this?
Hoping that Lyft doesn't start disallowing this too...
I believe the NJ drivers can drive in New York State as long as its in the areas that do not require special licensing like the ones from TLC.
Whether Uber sends you a request is a whole another story. I have heard you do though.
If you are under NY TLC, you can even pick up in NJ, CT, and PA. It's the almighty pass!
If you are a driver in New Jersey, the territory set forth by Uber is fairly large. It includes most parts of Pennsylvania (PA), Connecticut (CT), Delaware (DE), Western MA, and New York state (NY). It's a big territory.
Unfortunately, if you are an upstate suburban Uber driver you cannot pick up in NJ and NJJdrivers cannot pick up in NY! Make no sense why Lyft can but Uber cannot.
I don't think that's correct. Uber gives you the rides, but technically, I don't think you are allowed to pick up in NJ if you have a TLC license.
If you have a TLC you can either: pickup in NYC and dropoff anywhere in the world, theoretically. If you drop off in NJ, Long Island, or Westchester you can only pickup if they are going to the NYC (Five boroughs). If you are non TLC driver from NYC suburburbs, you can drop in NYC but cannot pick up anyone to return back to your area. Not too long ago, it was a free for all in that TLC drivers could work in NJ and the suburburbs freely but the towns complained that didnt like cityslickers coming to there precious towns because of crime potential. Now you have to choose between the two and corrupt Diblasio clips cars not drivers to server his potential voters.