Brighton Beach Taxi Zone (29): Trips, Hours & Fares

Brighton Beach (TLC zone 29) takes in more riders than it sends out. In the 12 months to August 2026, 568,546 trips started here, about 1,558 a day, while 593,979 ended here. The biggest single wave is weekday drop-offs at 8 a.m., and weekday pickups stay steady from morning to early evening. Riders leaving mostly go to Sheepshead Bay or Coney Island.

All figures are TLC trip records (yellow, green and high-volume app trips such as Uber and Lyft), September 2025 to August 2026, added up by TLC Help. Black car and livery trips that are not high-volume are not included.

Brighton Beach at a glance

TLC's zone lookup labels zone 29 a Brooklyn "Boro Zone". That word is a data category, not a legal line. TLC's zone map gives it five neighbors: Coney Island, Gravesend, Homecrest, Manhattan Beach and Sheepshead Bay.

It ranks 45th of 61 Brooklyn zones by pickups. Apps carried 98.9% of them. Yellow taxis dropped off 10,883 riders here but picked up only 6,049.

When rides start and end

Weekday pickups (about 1,595 a day) peak at 8 a.m. (about 114), but the afternoon nearly matches it: about 104 at 4 p.m. and 109 at 5 p.m. From 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. no hour drops below about 85. That makes Brighton Beach an all-day weekday zone rather than a rush-hour one.

Weekday drop-offs have a sharper shape: about 113 at 7 a.m., 155 at 8 a.m. and 121 at 9 a.m. More riders arrive at 8 a.m. than leave in any hour of the day.

Saturday (about 1,542) climbs to 7 p.m. (about 111). Sunday (about 1,384) also peaks at 7 p.m. (about 86).

Month by month

February 2026 was the top month (51,632 pickups), and December 2025 to March 2026 all passed 50,000. September 2025 was the low (40,900). Summer held up: June to August 2026 stayed near 47,800–49,200 a month.

Yellow pickups were about 530 to 740 a month until May 2026, then about 100–125 a month from June to August. App trips did not show that drop. The trip records do not explain it.

Where trips go

• Sheepshead Bay: 13.4%
• Coney Island: 11.5%
• Brighton Beach itself: 10.1%
• Homecrest: 8.4%
• Manhattan Beach: 7.2%
• Bensonhurst East: 5.4%
• Gravesend: 5.3%

The two neighbors Sheepshead Bay and Coney Island take a quarter of all pickups. They are also the top origins of trips ending here (12.9% and 11.4%).

Fares, trip length and driver pay

The median app trip is 2.2 miles and 11.7 minutes, with a $13.53 fare and $11.05 driver pay before tips and tolls, 54th in Brooklyn. Pay per engaged hour is $62.24 (12th), helped by quick trips, but it counts only passenger time, so it is not an hourly wage. Tips are 3.7% of fares, $0.73 on average.

Yellow taxi trips are long: a median of 8.1 miles, 39.3 minutes and $33.50. Only 1.4% of app pickups went to an airport (tied with Gravesend for 57th of 61) and 2.7% were charged the Manhattan toll-zone fee. Green cabs had 234 pickups, too few for medians.

Pickup rules and curb signs

Brighton Beach is in TLC's Hail Zone. Yellow and green cabs may take street hails. App drivers may pick up only riders their base dispatched (80-19(c)(1)). A rider going into Manhattan at or below 60th Street pays $1.50 per app trip or $0.75 per taxi trip as of 2026-10-12 (MTA). See who can pick up where. This is general information, not legal advice.

DOT lists no relief stand and no taxi stand in zone 29 (checked October 12, 2026; vqu8-xef9, nfid-uabd). Two nearby curb signs are worth knowing:

• Ocean Parkway at the Belt Parkway (Shore Parkway service roads), east side: "TAXI/FHV 8AM-10PM ALL DAYS PICK-UP/DROP-OFF ONLY". DOT's record has no map point; the spot is where Brighton Beach, Gravesend and Coney Island meet.
• Sheepshead Bay Road between East 14th Street and Voorhies Avenue, in Sheepshead Bay: a TAXI STAND sign, about 0.3 miles from this zone. App drivers may not pick up at a taxi stand (80-19(d)(2)).