If Access-A-Ride fails to pick you up and you take a taxi or car service instead, the MTA will reimburse what you spent minus the standard $3 Access-A-Ride fare, but only if the alternative trip was pre-authorized and you file within 60 days. The Access-A-Ride reimbursement process is strict about paperwork, and small mismatches between your authorization and your receipt are the most common reason claims get rejected.
When You Can Get Reimbursed
You cannot take a taxi on your own and expect the MTA to pay you back. Every taxi reimbursement has to be pre-authorized.1MTA. Taxicab/Car Service Reimbursement Policy Authorization comes in three forms.
The most common is a day-of-service authorization. If your scheduled Access-A-Ride vehicle has not arrived within 30 minutes of the scheduled pickup time, call the Paratransit Command Center at 877-337-2017 (toll-free within the New York metro area) or 718-393-4999 from outside that area.2MTA. Access-A-Ride – Contact Us and Learn More If they cannot get your vehicle or a backup to you, they will authorize a taxi or car service and give you an authorization number.1MTA. Taxicab/Car Service Reimbursement Policy
The MTA may also offer advance taxi authorization when you book your trip. This option is generally limited to trips that start and end in the same borough, though the MTA sometimes extends it to trips heading to specific destinations for onward travel across borough lines.1MTA. Taxicab/Car Service Reimbursement Policy
The third type is conditional authorization. The MTA issues this when it is unclear at the time whether the pickup problem was their fault or yours. They investigate afterward. If they find the failure was on their end, you get paid. If they decide you were responsible, they will not.1MTA. Taxicab/Car Service Reimbursement Policy Careful documentation matters most in these cases, because the decision comes down to a judgment call.
One boundary worth flagging: if you are enrolled in the MTA’s E-Hail Pilot Program, the subsidy is built into the app booking through Arro, Curb, Lyft, Uber, or the Drivers Cooperative, and you do not use the taxi reimbursement process at all.3MTA. Access-A-Ride On-Demand E-Hail Pilot Program Participants were selected at random, and the MTA is not adding new customers on request.
The Receipt You Need
Only vehicles licensed by the NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission qualify. That includes yellow and green cabs, licensed car services, and for-hire vehicles such as Uber and Lyft. What the receipt has to show depends on what you rode in:1MTA. Taxicab/Car Service Reimbursement Policy
- Yellow or green taxi: get the printed meter receipt before you get out of the cab.
- Car service: the driver has to fill in the trip date, fare, car number, their signature, and the car service’s name and phone number. Blank receipts filled in later by the customer will not be processed.
- Uber, Lyft, or other app-based services: submit the detailed electronic receipt from the app.
Whatever the vehicle, the receipt has to clearly show the date and time of the trip, pickup and drop-off addresses, and a full fare breakdown with tips, tolls, and any surcharges. If tolls or tips are not itemized separately, the MTA treats the total shown as the whole fare.1MTA. Taxicab/Car Service Reimbursement Policy
Then check that your authorization number, trip date, and trip time on the claim form match what your receipt shows. Mismatches are one of the easiest ways to get a claim kicked back.
How and Where to File
The MTA prefers electronic submissions. Filing online avoids mailing delays and gets your request into the system faster. The online reimbursement portal lets you upload receipts and enter trip details digitally, and the link sits on the MTA’s Access-A-Ride policies and forms page.4MTA. Access-A-Ride Paratransit Policies and Forms
If you would rather file on paper, download or request the mail-in form from the same page and send it with your receipts to:
MTA New York City Transit
Department of Paratransit
Customer Relations
130 Livingston Street
Brooklyn, NY 112012MTA. Access-A-Ride – Contact Us and Learn More
Either way, you have 60 days from the trip date to submit.1MTA. Taxicab/Car Service Reimbursement Policy Miss the deadline and the claim is dead no matter how clear the service failure was. If you mail it, make sure the envelope is postmarked well before the 60-day mark, and keep copies of everything you send.
How Much You Get Back
The MTA reimburses the total cost of your alternative trip, including a tip of up to 15%, minus the standard Access-A-Ride fare.1MTA. Taxicab/Car Service Reimbursement Policy As of January 2026 that fare is $3.00, the same as a subway or bus ride.5MTA. MTA Board Adopts Fare and Toll Increases to Take Effect January 2026
So a $35 fare with a $5 tip gets you $37 back ($40 minus the $3 fare). Tip anything over 15% of the fare and the MTA still caps the reimbursable tip at 15%. Tolls are reimbursable when they appear on the receipt.
After You File
The MTA’s taxi reimbursement department is currently working through high claim volume, and the agency acknowledges that processing times are running longer than usual.1MTA. Taxicab/Car Service Reimbursement Policy The MTA does not publish a guaranteed turnaround, and calling for status updates will not speed things up. Once approved, payment comes as a check mailed to the address on file.
If your claim is denied, the MTA returns your original documentation with a letter explaining why. The usual reasons are missing or incomplete receipts, no pre-authorization on file, and mismatches between the authorization details and the receipt. Conditional authorizations that the MTA later attributes to the rider rather than a service failure also end in denial.
If Your Claim Is Denied
A denial is not always the end. You can request a review through MTA Customer Relations at the same numbers used for general Access-A-Ride inquiries. If the denial rests on a factual error, such as MTA records showing a vehicle arrived on time when it did not, your own notes about the date and circumstances can help.
If you cannot resolve it with the MTA, you can escalate to the Federal Transit Administration. The FTA accepts paratransit complaints and gives you 180 days from the alleged violation to file. The agency encourages riders to try their local transit provider first but does not require it. You can file through the FTA’s online civil rights complaint form or contact the Office of Civil Rights at 888-446-4511 during business hours.6Federal Transit Administration. File a Complaint with FTA