TCP number on your vehicle: CPUC display rules

General Order 157-E sets out exactly where your authority number goes and what it must look like. A missing or wrong marking is one of the easiest citations an inspector can write, because it is visible from the curb.

Use the TCP number, not the PSG number

The Commission's portal identifies your carrier account with a PSG number. That designation is for the Commission's internal record keeping only. On vehicles, in advertising, and anywhere else you identify yourself as a carrier, use your TCP number.

What the number must include

• The prefix TCP, the authority number, and the suffix letter for each authority the vehicle runs under: A, B or C for certificates, S for a sightseeing permit, P for a charter-party permit, Z for a specialized carrier permit (Rule 4.04). For example, TCP-12345-P. The rule fixes those parts, not the punctuation between them.
• Sharp color contrast against the vehicle, and a size and shape readable in daylight from 50 feet.

Where it goes

• Vehicles designed to carry 15 or fewer, including the driver: sedans, SUVs, most limousines, and vans or Sprinters up to that capacity. Display the number on the front and rear bumpers.
• Vehicles designed to carry 16 or more: buses, coaches and larger shuttles. Display the number on each side of the vehicle.

The test is the vehicle's designed seating capacity, not how many people are aboard on a given trip.

What LAX checks before it issues decals

Los Angeles World Airports inspects each vehicle in person before permitting it, and its written instructions to operators are stricter than the Commission's wording. A vehicle is turned away unless:

• The TCP number is already applied when you arrive, on the front and rear bumpers for a vehicle seating 15 or fewer.
• Each character is at least 2 inches tall. LAWA describes that size as the CPUC standard; General Order 157-E itself says only "readily legible during daylight hours at a distance of 50 feet," so treat 2 inches as the minimum.
• Each character is its own sticker. A single printed strip is rejected. LAWA's example format is TCP-12345-A.
• License plates are mounted front and rear.
• Window tint is within limits: only a strip across the top 4 to 5 inches of the windshield, front side windows that let more than 70 percent of light through, and any darkness on the rear side windows and back glass.

Buses also carry your name and a unit number

Vehicles designed for more than 15 people must also show the carrier's name or trade name on each side, and a vehicle number you assign on the rear and each side, readable at 50 feet (Rule 4.03). Vehicles you lease for less than 30 days are excepted. Any trade name you use must be on file with the Commission (Rule 3.06).

Advertising, websites and waybills

Every written or oral advertisement, broadcast, or other way you hold yourself out to the public must state your full TCP number with its suffix (Rule 3.07). In practice that means your website, social media profiles, listings, business cards, printed quotes and vehicle signage. The waybill each driver carries must also show the carrier's name and TCP number (Rule 3.01).

When the number has to come off

• Revoked or terminated authority: remove the number from every vehicle immediately. If new authority is granted later, mark the vehicles with the new number (Rule 4.08).
• Selling or transferring a vehicle: remove all authority numbers and identification before it leaves (Rule 4.10).
• Damaged markings: restore or replace them immediately (Rule 4.07).
• Never lend your number. Knowingly letting another operator use your authority or TCP number is prohibited (Rule 4.09). A subcarrier runs under its own authority, under a written agreement that names both carriers' TCP numbers (Rule 3.04).