LaGuardia Taxi Line: Hold Lot, Terminal Stands & Fees

In short: At LaGuardia, a yellow taxi picks up only from the official taxi stand at each terminal, where airport dispatch staff send passengers to the next cab. You charge the meter, plus a $5.00 LaGuardia surcharge (to and from LGA), plus the usual surcharges. On pickups, add the Port Authority's $2.00 airport access fee. The LaGuardia website shows lower rush and night surcharges than TLC's rules. TLC's numbers are the ones you charge.

Fares come from TLC's Taxi Fare page and Rule 58-26. Stand locations come from the Port Authority's LaGuardia taxi page. All were checked on October 12, 2026. This page is general information, not legal advice.

Where the taxi stands are

The Port Authority tells passengers to "join the line at the official taxi stand outside your terminal, where a dispatcher will direct you to the next available cab." Its taxi page lists one stand per terminal:

The 2020 "go to P7 first" notice

When the new Terminal B opened its stand, TLC Industry Notice 20-06 (June 12, 2020) told drivers: "Beginning at 6 AM on Saturday, June 13, 2020, Yellow Taxi Drivers can pick-up passengers at the New Taxi Stand at the Arrivals Level of LaGuardia Airport's new Terminal B. Please go to P7 first to be dispatched." The notice is from 2020. We could not find a current official page describing where taxis wait before dispatch. Follow the airport's signs and the dispatch staff.

How the line works under TLC rules

Two rules are written for airport stands. Rule 80-19(e)(1) applies all taxi stand rules to "special Taxi Stands and Feed Lines at air, rail, bus and ship terminals". Rule 80-19(e)(3) says that where a stand runs both short-haul and long-haul lines, you may only take the kind of trip your ticket is for ($100). TLC's definition of a short haul gives no distance or time, and we found no current official LaGuardia threshold. The JFK version, with the dispatcher and RFID history, is in the JFK taxi line guide.

What you charge on a LaGuardia trip

Example. You pick up at LaGuardia on a Tuesday at 5 p.m. and drop off in Times Square. On top of the meter, the extras are $5.00 LGA + $2.00 access fee + $0.50 MTA + $1.00 improvement + $2.50 rush + $2.50 congestion surcharge + $0.75 congestion toll = $14.25, plus any tolls and the tip.

Trips between LaGuardia and JFK

JFK's $70 flat fare covers only trips between JFK and Manhattan. A taxi trip from LaGuardia to JFK is a normal metered trip under Rule 58-26(a). Because it starts at LaGuardia, it gets the $5.00 LGA surcharge, and because you picked up at LaGuardia, the $2.00 access fee. The rush or overnight surcharge, MTA tax, improvement surcharge, tolls and tip apply as usual. The Port Authority's estimate for this trip is "about $60". Your meter decides the real fare.

Green cabs at LaGuardia

Green cabs (street hail liveries) play by different rules here:

• No hails. TLC's Chapter 51 puts "The New York City Airports" in the Hail Exclusionary Zone, where green cabs may not take street hails.
• No taxi stand. Rule 80-19(d)(1)(i) says a green cab driver "does NOT have the right to take a position at a Taxi Stand in the Hail Exclusionary Zone". So the LaGuardia taxi line is for yellow cabs.
• Pre-arranged trips are allowed. Chapter 82 says a green cab driver "can accept a Pre-Arranged Trip beginning at one of the New York City Airports" (Rule 82-13(a)(3)).
• Surcharge on the way in. Green cab hail trips to LaGuardia carry the $5.00 surcharge (Rule 82-26(a)(2)(iii)).

The full answer is on can green cabs pick up at JFK or LaGuardia?

The website surcharge mix-up

The Port Authority's LaGuardia taxi page says: "Taxi trips from LaGuardia receive a $1.00 peak time surcharge for trips on weekdays from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. ... There is also a $0.50 surcharge for trips daily from 8:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m." Those numbers do not match TLC's rules. TLC Rule 58-26(a)(2) and the TLC fare page say $2.50 and $1.00.

If a passenger shows you the airport page, point to the rate card in the cab and TLC's fare page, and give a full receipt. Rule 80-17(a)(1) bars charging above the Commission-approved rates, and overcharging carries TLC's mandatory penalties, and $10 or more over the approved fare means revocation (Rule 80-02(e)). A passenger version of this answer is at why is the LaGuardia website fare different?

The Port Authority's fare estimates

The same LaGuardia page gives estimated taxi fares. They "do not include tips, tolls, or" the MTA congestion toll. They are the airport's estimates, not TLC rates:

The access fee: $2.00 now, rising

TLC's fare page lists the airport access fee as "$2.00 for pick up only at LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy Airports". The Port Authority's approved schedule raised the taxi pickup fee from $1.75 to $2.00 on March 15, 2026. It goes to $2.25 on March 15, 2027 and $2.50 on March 15, 2028. In TLC's yellow trip records, the most common Airport_fee on LaGuardia and JFK pickups changed from $1.75 to $2.00 in March 2026 (our count). When the fee changes, TLC's fare page and the meter should change with it.

LaGuardia taxi trips in numbers

These come from the zone-138-summary dataset built from TLC trip records. Yellow pickups at LaGuardia almost stop overnight: our count averages under 5 an hour in the hours from 3 a.m. to 6:59 a.m.

App drivers have a separate system: see LaGuardia for app drivers and can Uber drivers wait at JFK or LaGuardia?. For how JFK and Newark differ, read JFK vs LaGuardia vs Newark. For JFK's own app lots, see JFK for app drivers. The airport overview is on LaGuardia Airport, and the definition of a taxi holding lot is in the glossary. See also the airports topic.