Half the Coverage: What the TLC's Rideshare Insurance Cut Means for Queens Riders

Contributed by Dan Rose, a Senior Local Business Guide Specializing in Personal Injury Legal Services in New York City

On March 1, a change to the insurance carried by every Uber and Lyft car in New York City took effect, and almost nobody riding in one noticed. The medical coverage those cars must carry for an injured passenger, pedestrian or cyclist dropped from $200,000 per person to $100,000.

For most people hurt in a minor fender-bender, the difference will never show up. For the people hurt worst, the ones with surgeries, long hospital stays and months off work, it can decide how much of the bill they end up paying themselves. This is what changed, who it reaches, and what Queens residents can do about it.

What the Taxi and Limousine Commission changed

App-based cars that carry passengers in the five boroughs are licensed for-hire vehicles, and their insurance minimums are set by the TLC rather than by the state law that governs rideshare companies elsewhere in New York. Those minimums live in the Commission's rule 59A-12.

The rule requires personal injury protection, the no-fault benefit that pays medical bills and part of lost earnings no matter who caused the crash. For years the TLC figure was $200,000 per person, four times the $50,000 found on an ordinary private policy. In September 2025 the Commission voted to set it at $100,000, and the new figure has applied since March 1, 2026.

Two things did not change. The liability coverage on a TLC car with fewer than eight passenger seats is still $100,000 for one injured person and $300,000 for all the people hurt in a single crash, with $10,000 for property damage. And the no-fault system still pays first, without anyone having to prove fault.

Who relies on that coverage

More people than the name "passenger coverage" would suggest.

Riders. Under 11 NYCRR 65-3.12(a)(1), part of New York's no-fault rules, a person riding in an insured vehicle claims from that vehicle's insurer. Someone in the back seat of an Uber on Hillside Avenue claims against the policy on the Uber, not against their own car insurance at home.

People on foot. A pedestrian struck by a car makes the no-fault claim against the insurer of the car that hit them. If the car was a rideshare vehicle, that is the TLC policy.

Cyclists and delivery riders. No-fault treats a person on a bicycle the same way it treats a pedestrian, so a cyclist hit by a for-hire car on Northern Boulevard is also claiming against that car's coverage.

The drivers themselves. A rideshare driver hurt in a crash is an occupant of the vehicle too, so the same $100,000 is what pays his own hospital bills.

In a borough where tens of thousands of trips a day run on app-dispatched cars, from the airports to the subway stations at the end of the lines, that is a lot of people whose medical safety net shrank in a single rule change.

What $100,000 still pays for

For the large majority of injuries, $100,000 of no-fault is plenty. An emergency room visit, imaging, a few months of physical therapy and some time off work will usually stay well under it. That coverage remains twice what a private New York policy provides, and it is paid as the bills arrive, without waiting for anyone to decide who was at fault.

The difference appears in the serious cases. Trauma surgery, a stay in intensive care, a spinal fusion or a long stretch of inpatient rehabilitation can each run into six figures on their own. Those are the cases where the old $200,000 cushion used to absorb everything and the new limit may not.

When the bills run past the limit

Once no-fault is used up, the remaining medical costs do not simply disappear. Insurance Law § 5104(a) bars a lawsuit to recover the basic economic loss that no-fault covers, but it does not bar recovering economic loss above that amount. Bills that go beyond the no-fault coverage become part of the injury claim against the driver who caused the crash.

That sounds like a complete answer, and it is not, because of where that money comes from. If the rideshare driver was at fault, the injury claim runs against the same TLC policy, and its liability limit is $100,000 for one person. Every dollar of medical cost that spills over from no-fault is a dollar taken out of that same $100,000, leaving less for the pain, the lasting limitation and the lost future that a serious injury brings.

Health insurance may also step in once no-fault is exhausted. A health plan that pays those bills can often seek repayment from a later settlement, so it changes who is owed money, not how much is available in total.

An example from Northern Boulevard

A restaurant worker in Flushing is riding his bicycle home at night when a rideshare car, turning left without looking, knocks him into the intersection. He breaks his pelvis and his leg, spends a week in the hospital, and goes through two surgeries and months of rehabilitation. His medical bills come to $145,000.

Had the crash happened in January 2026, the car's $200,000 of personal injury protection would have covered every one of those bills, and the full $100,000 of liability coverage would have been left for his injury claim.

Because it happened in May, the no-fault coverage stops at $100,000. The other $45,000 of medical bills becomes part of his claim against the driver. The liability policy still tops out at $100,000, so after the $45,000 of excess bills, at most $55,000 remains for everything else he has lost. Unless another source can be found, his recovery for the injury itself has shrunk by $45,000 compared with the same crash four months earlier.

Where else might he look? His own household auto policy, if anyone he lives with owns a car and bought supplementary uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage, known as SUM. Any other driver who shared the blame. And the lost wages, which no-fault pays only in part, need careful documentation, because the balance also belongs in the claim.

Which date controls

The amount available depends on the policy that was in force on the car on the day of the crash. A collision in 2025 or the first two months of 2026, on a car that was then carrying the $200,000 required at the time, is governed by that higher figure, even if the claim is only being filed now. Anyone with an older rideshare injury that is still open should make sure the claim is being handled against the right number.

Where the ride began also matters. The TLC minimums apply to trips that start in New York City. A trip picked up in Nassau County or Westchester falls under the state rideshare law instead, with very different limits. The rules on whose insurance pays after an Uber or Lyft crash in Queens walk through both cases, and through what happens when another car was involved.

Where these claims go wrong

Treating no-fault as unlimited

People who are told "no-fault covers your medical bills" reasonably assume it covers all of them. In a serious case it may not. Someone should be tracking the running total of bills against the $100,000 limit from the first month, so the gap is planned for rather than discovered.

Not telling the hospital it was a rideshare car

Emergency room staff often bill the patient's own insurance by default. If the hospital does not know the injured person was in, or struck by, a TLC vehicle, the bills can go to the wrong insurer and sit there while deadlines run. Give the hospital the car's plate and insurer as soon as you have them.

Missing the 30-day notice

The no-fault application must reach the TLC car's insurer in writing within 30 days of the crash. A cyclist or pedestrian who has never dealt with the driver's insurer has no reason to know which company that is, which is exactly why the police report and the plate number matter.

Settling the injury claim before the bills are known

Because excess medical costs now come out of the same liability limit, accepting an early offer before treatment is finished can lock in a number that is too low. The total of the bills is part of what the settlement has to account for.

Assuming the app company will sort it out

A message through the app's help center is not a no-fault claim. The coverage sits with the insurer of the for-hire vehicle, and the claim has to be made there.

Frequently asked questions

Does the change affect yellow taxis too?

This article is about app-based for-hire vehicles under rule 59A-12. Yellow and green cabs operate under their own TLC insurance rules, and anyone hurt in one should check the requirement for that type of vehicle.

I was hit by an Uber while walking. Do I use my own car insurance?

No. A pedestrian's no-fault claim goes to the insurer of the car that struck them, so the claim is against the rideshare car's policy whether or not you own a car.

Can I still sue if no-fault paid my bills?

Yes, for the injury itself, if it meets New York's serious injury threshold, and for any economic loss beyond what no-fault covered.

My crash was in February 2026. Does the old $200,000 apply?

It depends on the policy in force on the car that day. If the policy carried the $200,000 required before March 1, that is the figure for your claim.

Is $100,000 the most a rideshare car can carry?

No. It is the minimum. Some vehicles carry more, and the actual limits on the policy are worth confirming in writing from the insurer.

Where to start

If you or someone in your family was badly hurt in, or by, an Uber or Lyft in Queens this year, the most useful early step is to find out how close the medical bills already are to the $100,000 line. That number shapes every decision that follows, from where the bills are sent to when a settlement offer makes sense.

This piece offers a general overview of New York insurance law and TLC rules for readers, and should not be taken as legal advice for any particular case. No attorney-client relationship is formed by reading it. Outcomes depend on the facts and the policies on each vehicle. The figures were checked in October 2026.

Speak to a Queens injury attorney

The Ribowsky Law office sits on Jamaica Avenue in Richmond Hill. Riders, pedestrians and cyclists hurt in rideshare crashes anywhere in the borough can get a free consultation, and the firm charges no fee unless it recovers money for them. The office location is on the map.

Ribowsky Law Queens Personal Injury & Accident Lawyer

109-12 Jamaica Ave, Richmond Hill, NY 11418

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