On this page (7)
Howard Beach, TLC taxi zone 124, sits between Brooklyn and JFK, and its trips reflect both. From September 2025 to August 2026 the zone had 413,033 pickups, roughly 1,132 a day, 47th of 69 in Queens. One trip in eight goes to East New York in Brooklyn, 6.8% go to JFK, and the zone grew faster over the year than most of its neighbours. It also borders the station where JFK's Terminal 5 and 7 app pickups have temporarily moved.
Howard Beach at a glance (zone 124)
TLC's lookup table gives zone 124 the "Boro Zone" label, which sorts trip data and is not a legal boundary. It touches five zones: East New York and Cypress Hills in Brooklyn, Ozone Park and South Ozone Park in Queens, and the JFK Airport zone. Pickups (413,033) and drop-offs (404,643) are close to even.
When rides start and end
Weekdays peak at 8 a.m. (about 78 pickups), but the afternoon is nearly as busy, and 22.6% of weekday pickups start between 4 and 8 p.m. Saturday peaks at 5 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m.; late nights are quiet. Drop-offs are an evening event: on weekdays they peak at 5 p.m., with 26.7% of them between 4 and 8 p.m.
Where trips go
17% of trips stay inside Howard Beach. East New York (12.7%) is next, ahead of Ozone Park (7.3%), JFK (6.8%), South Ozone Park (6.5%) and Cypress Hills (4.9%). The two Brooklyn neighbours together take 17.6%. The flow is the same in reverse: East New York sends 13.2% of trips that end here and JFK 5.5%. Rockaway zones are not in the top ten.
Sectors and pay
App rides made up 406,561 of the pickups (98.4%); yellow taxis did 6,393 and green cabs 79. Half the app rides were longer than 3.03 miles (12.2 minutes), and the median one paid $12.73 before tips on a $16.04 fare. Pay per engaged hour was $64.49, 28th in Queens; it does not include waiting. Riders tipped 3.5% of the fare, $0.78 on average, more than in most of southeast Queens. The median yellow trip was 6.2 miles and $30.64.
Practical notes: AirTrain, Cross Bay and hails
- JFK Terminals 5 and 7. The Port Authority's JFK site says ride-app pickups for Terminals 5 and 7 "have temporarily relocated to the Howard Beach AirTrain Station due to construction" (JFK Airport, read 2026-10-12). On TLC's zone map the station sits right on the line between zone 124 and the JFK zone, so we can't say which zone those trips are recorded in. See JFK app driver lots.
- Cross Bay Bridge. A taxi or FHV trip from Queens over the Cross Bay Veterans Memorial Bridge to the Rockaway Peninsula: the passenger pays two times the toll. From the Rockaways back to Queens: no toll for the passenger (TLC §58-26(f)(1)). Rates: Cross Bay Bridge.
- Hails. Howard Beach is in the Hail Zone (Chapter 51); the airport is not. FHV drivers need a base booking for every pickup (80-19(c)(1)).
No relief stand or taxi-stand sign was in zone 124 in DOT data (checked 2026-10-12).
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.
- Howard Beach: trip facts by sector — Key trip facts for taxi zone 124 (Howard Beach, 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.
- Howard Beach: when trips start, by hour — Average pickups per day in each hour in zone 124, 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.
- Howard Beach: pickups by month — Trips starting in taxi zone 124 (Howard Beach, Queens) each month, by sector.NYC TLC Trip Record Data (yellow, green, high-volume FHV), Sep 2025 – Aug 2026 · pulled Oct 12, 2026
- Howard Beach: where trips from here go — Top drop-off zones for trips starting in zone 124, 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 413,033 pickups. 'Outside NYC' = zone 265.
- Howard Beach: where trips to here come from — Top pickup zones for trips ending in zone 124, 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 404,643 drop-offs.
- Howard Beach: when trips arrive, by hour — Average drop-offs per day in each hour in zone 124, 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).
- Howard Beach: drop-offs by month — Trips ending in taxi zone 124 (Howard Beach, 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 many rides start in Howard Beach?
TLC trip records show 413,033 pickups in zone 124 from September 2025 to August 2026, about 1,132 a day, 47th of Queens' 69 zones.
Where do Howard Beach trips go?
17% stay in Howard Beach. East New York in Brooklyn is next at 12.7%, then Ozone Park (7.3%), JFK (6.8%) and South Ozone Park (6.5%).
Are JFK Terminal 5 and 7 app pickups in Howard Beach?
The Port Authority's JFK site says ride-app pickups for Terminals 5 and 7 have temporarily moved to the Howard Beach AirTrain Station because of construction. On TLC's zone map that station sits on the line between zone 124 and the JFK zone, so this page's numbers may or may not include those pickups.
Who pays the Cross Bay Bridge toll from Howard Beach to the Rockaways?
On a taxi or FHV trip from Queens over the Cross Bay Veterans Memorial Bridge to the Rockaway Peninsula, TLC rules say the passenger pays two times the toll. Coming back from the Rockaways, the passenger pays none.
Sources
Last reviewed against the official sources on .
- NYC TLC Trip Record Data nyc.gov
- TLC Taxi Zone Lookup Table d37ci6vzurychx.cloudfront.net
- JFK Airport: Uber, Lyft and other ride share apps jfkairport.com
- TLC Rules, Chapter 58 (Taxicab Owners), §58-26 nyc.gov
- TLC Rules, Chapter 80 (Drivers) nyc.gov
- TLC Rules, Chapter 51 (Definitions) nyc.gov
- 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.