Livery car drivers took to the steps of City Hall Monday chanting for change.

“We’re not here protesting, we’re actually here pleading,” said Jose Altamirano, the president of Livery Base Owners, an association of black car and livery service owners.

They’re pleading with city officials to lift a cap on livery vehicle licenses.

Different from taxi and ride share drivers, livery drivers are for-hire — trips are pre-arranged, with specific pick-up times and locations.

Robertico Rodriguez has been driving for hire since the early 1990s, but recently lost his license and now how to rent, which can be costly.

That’s because the city placed a cap on new for-hire vehicle licenses in 2018

The intention was to regulate the industry after ride-hailing apps infiltrated the market in the years prior.

But the LBO says that intention backfired, and now the cap is strangling its small businesses.

“We have no way of replacing the drivers that have retired, the drivers that have unfortunately due to COVID, have passed away,” Altamirano said.

The LBO says over the last eight years, it’s lost 80% of its vehicles, down from about 25,000 in 2015 to about 5,000 today.

“When someone from our communities call our bases, we are sorry to say that we don’t have a vehicle to serve them,” said Cira Angeles, a spokesperson for the LBO.

Those passengers, the LBO says, primarily live in otherwise underserved parts of the city where yellow cabs are hard to come by.

“They’re used to us, they call us, we take them where they need to go, we take them to hospitals, to the doctor,” said Altamirano.

When the cap was first put in place in 2018, proponents also argued it would help clear up traffic congestion.

The LBO says its cars aren’t responsible for clogging up city streets.

“For the most part, our industry works in the outer boroughs, above 96th street, Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx,” said Altamirano.

“TLC is currently considering whether to issue any new licenses to for-hire vehicles, in addition to wheelchair accessible vehicles, which are already exempt from the license pause,” the Taxi and Limousine Commission said in a statement. “We are taking the concerns of all stakeholders into account, including drivers, passengers, and base owners.”

The TLC’s decision, either way, will be life-changing for Rodriguez and thousands of other for-hire drivers like him.

“And if we can’t grow, then we’re going to go extinct,” Altamirano said.

As part of the 2018 law, the TLC reviews for-hire licenses every six months.

In every review so far, the commission has decided not to issue any new licenses.

The next review happens this month, which is why drivers rallied at City Hall Monday, hoping for a different outcome this time around.