The city is cracking down on drivers who swoop into yellow-cab territory to illegally pick up street hails.
The Taxi and Limousine Commission has been slapping the rogue hacks with summonses amid an influx of outer-borough green cabs on city streets.
“Drivers are spending time cruising around Manhattan illegally picking up fares rather than spending time looking for fares in the other boroughs,” said Peter Mazer of the Metropolitan Taxicab Board of Trade, a fleet association that wants stricter enforcement of green cabs.
TLC inspectors have busted more than 4,600 livery and black-car drivers this year for making illegal pickups.
It’s an almost 300 percent spike from the approximately 1,200 tickets given out during the same period last year.
Green cabbies, who are supposed to serve mainly the taxi-starved outer boroughs, have been hit with almost 900 tickets for trying to pick up passengers in yellow-taxi turf.
In Manhattan, the green taxis can pick up passengers only above West 110th Street and East 96th Street.
“Part of how we promote safe and reliable service for the public is by protecting licensees who play by the rules,” said TLC Commissioner Meera Joshi at a City Council transportation hearing on Monday.
Three drivers have also been busted for trying to lease their permits without going through the TLC. One was hit with a $10,000 fine.
The TLC is also considering door decals for the lime-green taxis that tell riders where the no-hail zones are.
The city has taken more than 3,600 illegal cabs off the road. Such cabs are not inspected, and their drivers do not undergo drug testing.
Enforcement has also been boosted by the city’s hiring of new TLC inspectors.
About 70 were hired in 2013, nearly doubling the TLC’s ranks. Another 50 will join this summer.
Despite the crackdown, taxi fleets said Monday that they want to see more enforcement.
Meanwhile, new data on Monday revealed that New Yorkers are taking the green cabs in droves.
Almost 7 million people have used them to take 5.8 million trips, and almost 40 percent paid for the metered trips using credit cards.
About 6,300 livery and black-car drivers are currently on a waiting list for green-cab permits.
The city plans to issue 6,000 more in August.