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Yellow Zone vs Boro Zone (TLC Data Labels)

In TLC trip data each taxi zone has a service_zone label: Yellow Zone, Boro Zone, Airports or EWR. What each covers, how many, and why none is a legal line.

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Definition

Service zone (Yellow Zone / Boro Zone)

A label in TLC's taxi zone lookup table that groups the 263 taxi zones into Yellow Zone, Boro Zone, Airports and EWR. It is used in trip data, not a legal boundary.

On this page (6)
  1. What the labels cover
  2. Service zones vs legal zones
  3. Where you will see this term
  4. Common mix-ups
  5. FAQ
  6. Sources

Service zone: a column in TLC's taxi zone lookup table, the file that names each of the 263 taxi zones used in trip records. Each zone gets one of four labels: Yellow Zone, Boro Zone, Airports or EWR. They help people group trip data. They are not legal zones: no TLC rule uses them to decide where you may pick up, and they don't set fares.

What the labels cover

  1. Yellow Zone: 55 zones

    All in Manhattan, roughly from the Battery to the Upper East and Upper West Sides, plus the harbor islands and Randalls Island.

  2. Boro Zone: 205 zones

    Every zone in the Bronx (43), Brooklyn (61) and Staten Island (20), 67 Queens zones, and 14 Manhattan zones: Harlem, East Harlem, Morningside Heights, Manhattanville, Hamilton Heights, Washington Heights, Inwood, Marble Hill, Highbridge Park and Roosevelt Island.

  3. Airports: 2 zones

    JFK Airport (132) and LaGuardia Airport (138).

  4. EWR: 1 zone

    Newark Airport (1), in New Jersey. Codes 264 (unknown) and 265 (outside NYC) are labelled N/A.

In trip records for September 2025 to August 2026, Yellow Zone zones had 113.6 million pickups and yellow taxis made 33.4% of them. Boro Zone zones had 172.5 million pickups, and yellow taxis made 2.7%. The Airports had 11.9 million, with 25.2% by yellow taxis. About 93% of green cab pickups were in Boro Zone zones. These figures come from the trips-zone-index dataset; see yellow vs app share by zone.

The legal lines are in TLC's Chapter 51, drawn with street names, not taxi zones:

  • The Hail Zone (where green cabs may take hails) is all of NYC except Manhattan south of East 96th and West 110th Streets and the NYC airports.
  • The Congestion Zone (for the NYS congestion surcharge) is "Manhattan south of and excluding 96th Street".

A taxi zone is a block of map, and some zones cross these lines. Central Park (zone 43, labelled Yellow Zone) runs up to 110th Street. Roosevelt Island sits in the East River beside Midtown and the Upper East Side but is labelled Boro Zone. So the label alone can't tell you which rule applies at a corner.

Where you will see this term

In TLC's lookup file, in datasets and research built on trip records, and on this site's zone pages and charts. TLC's trip record data page links the lookup table.

Common mix-ups

  1. "Yellow Zone is where only yellow cabs can work." No. Apps made most pickups there.
  2. "Boro Zone is the green cab area." Close, not the same; see above.
  3. "These are congestion pricing zones." No. Those use 96th Street (state surcharge) and 60th Street (MTA toll). See NYC taxi zones explained.

More: green cab drivers, yellow taxi fare per trip, yellow taxi tipping and the places hub.

Frequently asked questions

What does 'Yellow Zone' mean in TLC data?

It is the service_zone label TLC's taxi zone lookup table gives to 55 Manhattan taxi zones, roughly Manhattan below Harlem. It is a label for data, not a legal area, and it doesn't mean only yellow cabs work there.

What does 'Boro Zone' mean?

It is the label for 205 zones: every zone in the Bronx, Brooklyn and Staten Island, every Queens zone except JFK and LaGuardia, and 14 Manhattan zones (upper Manhattan plus Roosevelt Island).

Is the Boro Zone the same as the green cab Hail Zone?

No. The Hail Zone is defined in TLC's rules by street lines (East 96th and West 110th Streets) and excludes the airports. Boro Zone is a data label for whole taxi zones. They are close, but zone borders don't follow the legal lines exactly.

What are the other service zone labels?

'Airports' for JFK (zone 132) and LaGuardia (138), 'EWR' for Newark Airport (zone 1), and 'N/A' for the two codes that are not places: 264 (unknown) and 265 (outside NYC).

Sources

Last reviewed against the official sources on .

  1. TLC Taxi Zone Lookup Table (LocationID, Borough, Zone, service_zone), downloaded 2026-10-12 d37ci6vzurychx.cloudfront.net
  2. TLC Rule Book, Chapter 51 (Definitions), updated Oct 17, 2025: Hail Zone, Hail Exclusionary Zone, Congestion Zone nyc.gov
  3. NYC TLC Trip Record Data, Sep 2025 – Aug 2026, aggregated by TLC Help nyc.gov

Spotted something out of date? Tell us and we'll check it against the official source.

TLC Help is not a law firm and is not affiliated with the NYC Taxi & Limousine Commission or OATH. Explanations on this site are general information, not legal advice. Legal representation is provided by independent attorneys and OATH-registered representatives in our network.

Related

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