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Forest Hills (TLC zone 95) is the green cab capital of Queens. Green cabs made 25,149 pickups here in the 12 months to August 2026, a little more than yellow taxis (25,076). No other taxi zone in New York City has more green than yellow pickups. Overall it is a big zone, with about 5,202 pickups a day, and a huge weekday-morning rush of arrivals.
The figures come from TLC trip records for yellow taxis, green cabs and app trips (Uber, Lyft), totaled by TLC Help.
Forest Hills at a glance
On TLC's map, zone 95 borders six zones: Corona (56), Flushing Meadows-Corona Park (93), Forest Park/Highland Park (96), Glendale (102), Kew Gardens (134) and Rego Park (196). TLC labels it "Boro Zone", a data category and not a legal line.
Green cabs in Forest Hills
Green cabs (street hail liveries) may take street hails anywhere in the TLC Hail Zone, which covers all of Queens except the airports (Chapter 51). Forest Hills is where they do it most in Queens. Their trips here are short and well tipped:
- Median trip 1.88 miles in 11.7 minutes, with a $12.80 metered fare.
- Card riders tipped 21.4% of the fare.
- 2.4% went to an airport and 2.8% paid the Manhattan congestion fee.
Green cab pickups were steady all year, between 1,854 and 2,348 a month. Yellow pickups fell from 1,900 to 2,700 a month before June 2026 to 1,315 to 1,546 a month in June to August, so green cabs clearly led in the summer. Yellow taxis still drop off far more riders here (69,895) than green cabs (11,094).
When rides start and end
Weekday drop-offs spike at 8 a.m. (about 443), the biggest hour for arrivals all week. Weekday pickups have two near-equal peaks: 8 a.m. (about 350) and 6 p.m. (about 347). On Saturdays the busiest pickup hour is 10 p.m. (about 353). Sundays are flat from noon to 3 p.m. (about 272 an hour).
Where trips go
20.7% of pickups end inside Forest Hills. Next come Rego Park (5.5%), Kew Gardens (3.4%), Kew Gardens Hills (3.1%) and Elmhurst (3.0%). JFK takes 2.5% and outside NYC 2.3%. Arrivals are a near mirror: 20.0% start inside the zone and 5.9% in Rego Park.
App pay
App trips are 97% of pickups. The median app trip is 3.17 miles in 14.4 minutes, with a $17.24 fare and $14.32 driver pay, close to the Queens middle. Pay per engaged hour is $62.13; it counts only passenger time, so actual hourly pay is lower. App riders tip more than in most of Queens: 4.9% of the fare (9th of 67), about $1.09 a trip.
Pickup rules
- Yellow taxis and green cabs may take street hails here (Hail Zone).
- App and other FHV drivers may only pick up trips sent by their base (80-19(c)(1)).
- DOT lists no relief stand in Forest Hills. The nearest are a taxi-only stand on Broadway in Jackson Heights (about 2 miles from the zone) and a taxi/FHV stand on 64th Street in Woodside (about 2.4 miles). Rules for using them are in relief stands in NYC.
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.
- Forest Hills: trip facts by sector — Key trip facts for taxi zone 95 (Forest Hills, Queens) 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.
- Forest Hills: when trips start, by hour — Average pickups per day in each hour in zone 95, 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.
- Forest Hills: pickups by month — Trips starting in taxi zone 95 (Forest Hills, Queens) each month, by sector.NYC TLC Trip Record Data (yellow, green, high-volume FHV), Sep 2025 – Aug 2026 · pulled Oct 12, 2026
- Forest Hills: where trips from here go — Top drop-off zones for trips starting in zone 95, 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 1,898,581 pickups. 'Outside NYC' = zone 265.
- Forest Hills: where trips to here come from — Top pickup zones for trips ending in zone 95, 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 1,965,211 drop-offs.
- Forest Hills: when trips arrive, by hour — Average drop-offs per day in each hour in zone 95, 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).
- Forest Hills: drop-offs by month — Trips ending in taxi zone 95 (Forest Hills, Queens) 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
Do green cabs work in Forest Hills?
More than anywhere else in Queens. Green cabs made 25,149 pickups here from September 2025 to August 2026, the most of any Queens zone and slightly more than yellow taxis (25,076). Forest Hills is the only taxi zone in the city where green cab pickups beat yellow.
How busy is Forest Hills?
Very. TLC trip records show 1,898,581 pickups (about 5,202 a day, 6th of 67 non-airport Queens zones) and 1,965,211 drop-offs (4th).
What are green cab trips from Forest Hills like?
Short. The median green cab trip from here is 1.88 miles and 11.7 minutes, with a $12.80 metered fare. Card-paying riders tipped 21.4% of the fare.
Where do trips from Forest Hills go?
Most stay close. 20.7% end inside Forest Hills. Rego Park (5.5%), Kew Gardens (3.4%) and Kew Gardens Hills (3.1%) are next.
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: Taxi and FHV Relief Stands (DOT, vqu8-xef9) 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.