Taxi and Uber Trips in the Congestion Zone: 2025–2026 Data

In short: In the 12 months from September 2025 to August 2026, 72.4% of yellow taxi trips, 32.9% of Uber and Lyft trips and 8.6% of green cab trips carried the MTA congestion fee. That is about 91,000 taxi trips and 227,000 app trips a day. The MTA's own review of the first year found Uber/Lyft trips to, from and within the zone fell 4.5% while yellow taxi trips rose 17.3% (January–September 2025 vs 2024).

The trip numbers are our totals from TLC trip records: a trip counts as charged when its cbd_congestion_fee field is above $0. The passenger pays the fee: $0.75 per taxi, green cab or regular FHV trip and $1.50 per Uber/Lyft trip, as of October 12, 2026.

The numbers at a glance

Why is the taxi share so high? Yellow taxis do most of their work in Manhattan's core, so most trips start, end or pass through the zone. App trips are spread across all five boroughs. Green cabs may not pick up in the zone (the MTA evaluation notes they are "restricted to drop-offs" there), so their charged trips are drop-offs or trips passing through.

Share of trips charged, month by month

The app share drifted down from 36.0% in September 2025 to 31.3% in August 2026. The yellow taxi share rose from 73.7% to 76.8%, apart from the May 2026 dip. Twelve months is too short to call these trends.

Charged trips per day

Congestion fees recorded on trips

Over 12 months the records add up to about $124.2 million on app trips, $24.8 million on yellow taxi trips and $34,000 on green cab trips. Divide by the charged trips and you get exactly the scheduled rates ($1.50 and $0.75), which is a good check on the data.

Taxi vs Uber/Lyft: two rates

Rates: TBTA toll schedule. Who pays and how: congestion pricing for TLC drivers. Future steps: increases in 2028 and 2031.

The MTA's one-year findings

The MTA's first evaluation report (January 2026) used TLC trip records too, counting trips that start or end in the zone (it can't see trips that only pass through):

Its key points:

• All industries together: +1.4% zone trips (312,428 a day in 2025 vs 308,110 in 2024).
• Uber/Lyft share of zone trips fell from 73.3% to 69.1%; yellow taxi share rose from 26.0% to 30.0% (Table 3-4).
• The yellow taxi growth "started in March 2024 before tolling began", and active yellow taxis in the zone rose 7.2% while active app vehicles fell 3.4%. The MTA points to Flex Fare (app dispatch of yellow taxis) as one driver.

TLC's February 2026 license review repeats the −4.5% / +17% finding and says congestion fees "may have contributed" to fewer app trips in Manhattan, "but the growing practice of Uber forwarding trip requests to taxis may be a larger factor". More on that: did congestion pricing reduce Uber trips?

How this fits with vehicle entries

The MTA also counts vehicles entering the zone. Taxis and FHVs on the per-trip plan were about 38.7% of all entries from September 2025 to August 2026, the same 12 months as the trip data (t6yz-b64h). Entries and trips measure different things; see taxi and FHV entries, entries by crossing and entries by hour.

What the data can't tell you

• Not total FHV activity. Trip files for black cars, livery and limos (not Uber/Lyft) have no fee field, so they are missing here.
• Not driver income. The fee is a passenger charge. In app records, driver_pay excludes tolls and tips and is net of surcharges and taxes (HVFHV dictionary).
• Not cause and effect. Trip counts change for many reasons (forwarding, Flex Fare, seasons, weather). Neither our data nor the MTA's proves the fee alone moved trips.
• Data lag. TLC publishes trip files about two months after a month ends and can revise them.

For fares on a typical trip, see yellow taxi fare statistics; for enforcement data, TLC summons statistics. Traffic: Manhattan traffic speeds. All charges: Congestion Relief Zone toll and the tolls hub.