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Central Harlem North (TLC zone 42) is the busiest of Manhattan's 14 "Boro Zone" zones. It had 2,395,682 pickups in the 12 months to August 2026 (about 6,564 a day), 93% of them Uber or Lyft trips. Rides are short and local: more than one in ten stays inside the zone, and the median app driver pay per trip is among the lowest in the borough.
The data is TLC's trip records for yellow taxis, green cabs and app trips, aggregated by TLC Help. "App" means the high-volume services, Uber and Lyft.
Central Harlem North at a glance
Zone 42 has six neighbors on TLC's map: Central Harlem (41), East Harlem North (74), Hamilton Heights (116), Highbridge Park (120), Manhattanville (152) and Morningside Heights (166). The city's street centerline file places part of the Macombs Dam Bridge in this zone. "Boro Zone" is TLC's label in its data, not a legal line.
When rides start and end
Weekday mornings are the peak. About 482 pickups start in the 8 a.m. hour, more than in any other hour of the week, and 7 a.m. (about 408) and 9 a.m. (about 388) are close. Saturdays have the most pickups overall (about 7,512, against 6,414 on a weekday), with an evening peak at 7 p.m. On Sundays the busiest hour is midnight.
Drop-offs come later in the day. On weekdays they peak from 5 to 7 p.m. (about 350 to 365 an hour). On Saturday nights the busiest drop-off hour is 11 p.m. (about 461).
A growing year
September 2025 was the quietest month (177,679 pickups) and March 2026 the busiest (216,765). August 2026 was about 16% above September 2025, while Manhattan's total fell about 9%.
Where trips go: Harlem, both sides
The biggest single destination is the zone itself (11.1%). Then come Central Harlem (7.8%), East Harlem North (6.4%) and Hamilton Heights (5.0%). Two Bronx zones, Mott Haven/Port Morris (3.6%) and West Concourse (2.5%), are in the top ten. Only 9.1% of app pickups were charged the Congestion Relief Zone fee, and 2.8% went to an airport.
Fares, tips and pay
The median app trip is 2.39 miles and 13.5 minutes, with a $15.22 fare, the second-lowest median app fare in Manhattan. So per-trip pay is low: a median of $13.07, against a $14.98 median for Manhattan's "Boro Zone" zones. App tips come to 3.0% of fares (about $0.61 a trip).
Yellow taxis are 6.6% of pickups, about 432 a day. Their trips are longer (4.36 miles, $23.30 on the meter), and 26.7% were charged the congestion fee. Green cabs, with about 26 pickups a day, run the shortest trips here (1.82 miles, $10.70), and card-paying green riders tip 20.6%.
Pickup rules here
- Green cabs: the zone is in the Hail Zone, far north of the Hail Exclusionary Zone (Manhattan south of East 96th and West 110th Streets, per Chapter 51). Street hails are allowed. See who can pick up where.
- For-hire drivers: pickups must be pre-arranged through your base (80-19(c)(1)). The higher penalties in 80-19(c)(2) apply only in Manhattan below East 96th and West 110th Streets and at the airports.
- Congestion charges: none for trips that stay uptown. The NYS surcharge starts south of 96th Street and the MTA zone at 60th Street.
- Stands: zone 42 has no relief stand or taxi-stand sign in DOT's records.
Nearby zones
Data on this page
Aggregates of public data. They describe trips and vehicles, never individual people.
Aggregated by TLC Help from TLC trip records, Sep 2025 – Aug 2026 (pickup date; TLC publishes trip files about two months after the month ends and may revise them). 'App' = high-volume for-hire services (Uber, Lyft). Taxi records with a negative fare (reversals) are excluded. Averages, medians and rates use 'clean' trips only: 1 minute to 4 hours, more than 0 and under 150 miles, fare above $0 and under $1,000. 'Fare' is the metered fare_amount for taxis and base_passenger_fare for app trips — before tolls, tips, taxes and surcharges — so it is not what the passenger paid in total. App driver_pay is TLC's 'total driver pay (not including tolls or tips and net of commission, surcharges, or taxes)'. Tips are separate. 'Per engaged hour' divides pay by passenger time only (pickup to drop-off). It leaves out time driving to pickups and waiting for requests, so real hourly earnings are lower; it is not the TLC minimum-pay formula. Monthly cells with 1–9 trips are shown as blank (null). Pairs with fewer than 10 trips are not listed.
- Central Harlem North: trip facts by sector — Key trip facts for taxi zone 42 (Central Harlem North, Manhattan) by sector, 12 months.NYC TLC Trip Record Data (yellow, green, high-volume FHV), Sep 2025 – Aug 2026 · pulled Oct 12, 2026Taxi tips: tip_amount records credit-card tips only (cash tips are not recorded), so taxi tip rates use credit-card trips (payment_type 1). App tips are the tips field on every trip. Tip rate = tips ÷ fare. Medians and rates need at least 250 trips in the cell (else blank); counts of 1–9 are blank. Pickup-side stats (fare, pay, tips) describe trips that START here.
- Central Harlem North: when trips start, by hour — Average pickups per day in each hour in zone 42, on weekdays, Saturdays and Sundays (all sectors).NYC TLC Trip Record Data (yellow, green, high-volume FHV), Sep 2025 – Aug 2026 · pulled Oct 12, 2026Average over all such days in the window, holidays included.
- Central Harlem North: pickups by month — Trips starting in taxi zone 42 (Central Harlem North, Manhattan) each month, by sector.NYC TLC Trip Record Data (yellow, green, high-volume FHV), Sep 2025 – Aug 2026 · pulled Oct 12, 2026
- Central Harlem North: where trips from here go — Top drop-off zones for trips starting in zone 42, as a share of all its pickups (12 months, all sectors).NYC TLC Trip Record Data (yellow, green, high-volume FHV), Sep 2025 – Aug 2026 · pulled Oct 12, 2026Out of 2,395,682 pickups. 'Outside NYC' = zone 265.
- Central Harlem North: where trips to here come from — Top pickup zones for trips ending in zone 42, as a share of all its drop-offs (12 months, all sectors).NYC TLC Trip Record Data (yellow, green, high-volume FHV), Sep 2025 – Aug 2026 · pulled Oct 12, 2026Out of 2,277,683 drop-offs.
- Central Harlem North: when trips arrive, by hour — Average drop-offs per day in each hour in zone 42, on weekdays, Saturdays and Sundays (all sectors; hour of pickup).NYC TLC Trip Record Data (yellow, green, high-volume FHV), Sep 2025 – Aug 2026 · pulled Oct 12, 2026Hour is the trip's pickup hour (TLC records both, but a trip is binned by when it started).
- Central Harlem North: drop-offs by month — Trips ending in taxi zone 42 (Central Harlem North, Manhattan) each month, by sector.NYC TLC Trip Record Data (yellow, green, high-volume FHV), Sep 2025 – Aug 2026 · pulled Oct 12, 2026
- All 263 taxi zones: trips and key facts (map-ready) — One row per TLC taxi zone (LocationID 1–263) with pickups, drop-offs, sector mix, app driver pay, fares and tip rates — the source for zone maps, hubs and the zone explorer.NYC TLC Trip Record Data (yellow, green, high-volume FHV), Sep 2025 – Aug 2026 · pulled Oct 12, 2026Medians/rates need ≥250 trips (else null). labels are LocationIDs as strings; zones[] has names, boroughs, service_zone (from taxi_zone_lookup.csv), suggested slugs and neighbouring zone ids (shared boundary, from taxi_zones.zip).
Frequently asked questions
How busy is Central Harlem North?
It had 2,395,682 pickups from September 2025 to August 2026, about 6,564 a day. That is the most of the 14 Manhattan zones TLC labels 'Boro Zone', and 22nd of Manhattan's 69 zones.
What is a typical app trip from Central Harlem North?
Short. The median app trip is 2.39 miles and 13.5 minutes, with a $15.22 fare. Median driver pay is $13.07, before tips and tolls, the third lowest in Manhattan. Tips average $0.61 a trip.
Where do riders from zone 42 go?
Mostly nearby. 11.1% of trips stay inside the zone, 7.8% go to Central Harlem and 6.4% to East Harlem North. Bronx zones such as Mott Haven/Port Morris and West Concourse are also in the top ten.
Is there a taxi relief stand in Central Harlem North?
DOT's relief-stand data (updated October 1, 2026) lists none in this zone. The closest in its data are on West 127th Street in Manhattanville.
Sources
Last reviewed against the official sources on .
- NYC TLC Trip Record Data nyc.gov
- TLC Taxi Zone Lookup Table d37ci6vzurychx.cloudfront.net
- TLC Rules Chapter 51: Definitions (PDF) nyc.gov
- TLC Rules Chapter 80: Rules Applicable to All Drivers (PDF) nyc.gov
- NYC Open Data: Street Centerline (CSCL, inkn-q76z) data.cityofnewyork.us
- NYC Open Data: Taxi and FHV Relief Stands (DOT, vqu8-xef9) data.cityofnewyork.us
- NYC Open Data: Parking Regulation Locations and Signs (DOT, nfid-uabd) data.cityofnewyork.us
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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.