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Hillcrest/Pomonok (TLC zone 121) has one of the biggest summer slowdowns in Queens. Pickups peaked at 56,307 in March 2026 and fell to about 44,000 a month in July and August. Across the year about 1,630 trips a day start here, and weekday mornings bring a sharp rush of arrivals at 8 a.m.
These figures come from TLC trip records for yellow taxis, green cabs and app trips (Uber, Lyft), September 2025 to August 2026, totaled by TLC Help.
Hillcrest/Pomonok at a glance
TLC's map gives zone 121 six neighbors: Auburndale (9), Briarwood/Jamaica Hills (28), Fresh Meadows (98), Jamaica Estates (131), Kew Gardens Hills (135) and Queensboro Hill (192). Its "Boro Zone" label is a TLC data category, not a legal boundary.
Busy spring, quiet summer
Pickups started at 46,146 in September 2025, climbed to a peak of 56,307 in March 2026, then slid to 50,705 in May, 44,215 in July and 44,434 in August. July and August averaged about 21% below March. Among Queens zones with a normal summer, only neighboring Kew Gardens Hills has a dip this deep (also about 21%). The trip data shows the pattern but not its cause.
Yellow taxis followed their own path: 632 to 828 pickups a month until May 2026, then only 216 to 257 a month from June to August.
When rides start and end
Weekday drop-offs spike at 8 a.m. (about 159), far above 9 a.m. (about 113) and 7 a.m. (about 110). Weekday pickups also peak at 8 a.m. (about 119), but they rise again at 3 and 4 p.m. (about 109 and 113), an afternoon high that is almost as big as the morning one.
Late nights are quiet on weekdays (5.4% of pickups between midnight and 5 a.m.) but not on Sundays, when 20.6% of drop-offs arrive in those hours. Weekends overall are quieter: about 1,547 pickups on a Saturday and 1,279 on a Sunday, against 1,717 on a weekday. Saturday peaks at 6 p.m. (about 86) and Sunday around 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. (about 75 an hour).
Where trips go
Forest Hills (8.8%) and Jamaica (8.5%) take the most pickups. Then come trips inside the zone (6.8%), Kew Gardens Hills (4.5%), Briarwood/Jamaica Hills (4.3%) and Flushing (3.8%). Arrivals come first from Jamaica (9.2% of drop-offs) and then Forest Hills (7.6%). Airports are small here: 3.2% of app pickups went to one, and neither JFK nor LaGuardia makes the top ten.
Fares and pay
The median app trip is 3.48 miles in 15.7 minutes, with an $18.61 fare and $15.70 driver pay (12th in Queens). Because trips are fairly slow, pay per engaged hour is $62.52, close to the Queens middle. Engaged hours leave out time spent waiting and driving to pickups. App riders tip 2.8% of the fare, about $0.63 a trip.
Taxis drop off more than they pick up: yellow cabs made 15,388 drop-offs and 7,391 pickups, and green cabs 2,094 drop-offs and 404 pickups.
Pickup rules
Zone 121 is in TLC's Hail Zone (Chapter 51), so yellow and green cabs may take hails here. App and other FHV drivers may only pick up base-dispatched trips (80-19(c)(1)). DOT's data lists no relief stand in the zone; the nearest is a taxi-only stand in Jackson Heights, about 4 miles away, and the nearest open to FHVs is in Woodside, about 4.5 miles away.
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.
- Hillcrest/Pomonok: trip facts by sector — Key trip facts for taxi zone 121 (Hillcrest/Pomonok, 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.
- Hillcrest/Pomonok: when trips start, by hour — Average pickups per day in each hour in zone 121, 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.
- Hillcrest/Pomonok: pickups by month — Trips starting in taxi zone 121 (Hillcrest/Pomonok, Queens) each month, by sector.NYC TLC Trip Record Data (yellow, green, high-volume FHV), Sep 2025 – Aug 2026 · pulled Oct 12, 2026
- Hillcrest/Pomonok: where trips from here go — Top drop-off zones for trips starting in zone 121, 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 595,097 pickups. 'Outside NYC' = zone 265.
- Hillcrest/Pomonok: where trips to here come from — Top pickup zones for trips ending in zone 121, 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 599,524 drop-offs.
- Hillcrest/Pomonok: when trips arrive, by hour — Average drop-offs per day in each hour in zone 121, 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).
- Hillcrest/Pomonok: drop-offs by month — Trips ending in taxi zone 121 (Hillcrest/Pomonok, 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
How busy is Hillcrest/Pomonok?
TLC trip records show 595,097 pickups from September 2025 to August 2026, about 1,630 a day, 31st of the 67 Queens zones outside the airports.
Does Hillcrest/Pomonok get quieter in summer?
Yes, more than almost any other Queens zone. Pickups peaked at 56,307 in March 2026 and fell to 44,215 in July and 44,434 in August. July and August averaged about 21% below the March peak.
Where do trips from Hillcrest/Pomonok go?
Forest Hills (8.8% of pickups) and Jamaica (8.5%) lead. 6.8% stay inside the zone, and Kew Gardens Hills takes 4.5%.
When is the busiest hour?
For drop-offs, 8 a.m. on weekdays (about 159), far above any other hour. For pickups, 8 a.m. on weekdays (about 119), with a second high at 3 and 4 p.m.
Sources
Last reviewed against the official sources on .
- NYC TLC Trip Record Data nyc.gov
- TLC Taxi Zone Lookup Table d37ci6vzurychx.cloudfront.net
- NYC Open Data: Taxi and FHV Relief Stands (DOT, vqu8-xef9) data.cityofnewyork.us
- TLC Rules Chapter 51: Definitions (PDF) nyc.gov
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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.