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Jackson Heights (TLC zone 129) is one of the four busiest zones in Queens outside the airports: about 5,788 pickups a day. It runs around the clock. Pickups jump at 4 a.m. every day, and on Sundays that is the busiest hour. Trips are short and local, green cabs are busier here than in almost any other Queens zone, and the zone has a taxi stand and a taxi-only relief stand.
Trip numbers are TLC Help's totals of TLC trip records for September 2025 to August 2026. They include green cab trips, which matter more here than in most of Queens, plus yellow taxis and Uber/Lyft. Curb details are from NYC DOT open data.
Jackson Heights at a glance
On TLC's zone map, zone 129 touches eight zones: East Elmhurst (70), Elmhurst (82), Elmhurst/Maspeth (83), LaGuardia Airport (138), North Corona (173), Saint Michaels Cemetery/Woodside (207), Steinway (223) and Woodside (260). Its "Boro Zone" label groups data and is not a legal line.
Around the clock
The busiest hour of the week is 8 a.m. on weekdays (about 380 pickups). Saturday builds to about 350–360 an hour from 7 to 10 p.m. Then comes the unusual part: pickups jump at 4 a.m. On weekdays they go from about 98 at 3 a.m. to 157 at 4 a.m.; on Saturdays from 213 to 275; and on Sundays from 264 to 338, the top hour of the day. 24% of Sunday pickups start between midnight and 5 a.m.
An average Saturday has about 6,933 pickups, Sunday 6,193 and a weekday 5,478.
Month by month
Pickups ran from 153,194 in September 2025 to 196,701 in December 2025. Yellow taxi pickups peaked in December (5,266) and fell to 3,014 by August 2026. Green cab pickups held between about 520 and 680 a month.
Where trips go
18.3% stay in Jackson Heights. Elmhurst is next (8.9%), then Woodside (5.5%), Astoria (5.2%), East Elmhurst (3.7%) and North Corona (3.5%). LaGuardia takes 3.5% of all pickups. For taxis it is a bigger share: 12.1% of yellow and 11.3% of green pickups go to an airport, against 4.4% of app pickups.
Fares and pay
App trips are short: a median of 2.30 miles and 13.4 minutes, a $15.05 fare and $12.34 driver pay. Pay per engaged hour is $59.39, 63rd of 67, because trips are slow for their length. Remember that engaged time leaves out waiting between trips. Card-paying riders tipped 13% on yellow taxis and 18.8% on green cabs, against 3.3% for app riders.
Stands and pickup rules
- Taxi stand: DOT's current sign records show a "Taxi Hailing – Taxi Stand" sign on Roosevelt Avenue between 82nd and 83rd Streets (north side). Yellow taxis and green cabs may use it in the Hail Zone. FHV drivers must not pick up at any taxi stand (Chapter 80 §80-19(d)(2)). See taxi stand rules.
- Relief stand: DOT lists one on Broadway between 72nd and 73rd Streets (north side): 4 spaces, taxi only, 1-hour limit. App drivers can't use it (can Uber drivers use relief stands?).
- Jackson Heights is in TLC's Hail Zone (Chapter 51). An Uber or Lyft driver may not accept a street hail here; every pickup must come through the base (80-19(c)(1)).
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.
- Jackson Heights: trip facts by sector — Key trip facts for taxi zone 129 (Jackson Heights, 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.
- Jackson Heights: when trips start, by hour — Average pickups per day in each hour in zone 129, 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.
- Jackson Heights: pickups by month — Trips starting in taxi zone 129 (Jackson Heights, Queens) each month, by sector.NYC TLC Trip Record Data (yellow, green, high-volume FHV), Sep 2025 – Aug 2026 · pulled Oct 12, 2026
- Jackson Heights: where trips from here go — Top drop-off zones for trips starting in zone 129, 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 2,112,423 pickups. 'Outside NYC' = zone 265.
- Jackson Heights: where trips to here come from — Top pickup zones for trips ending in zone 129, 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 1,959,313 drop-offs.
- Jackson Heights: when trips arrive, by hour — Average drop-offs per day in each hour in zone 129, 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).
- Jackson Heights: drop-offs by month — Trips ending in taxi zone 129 (Jackson Heights, 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 Jackson Heights?
Very busy. TLC trip records show 2,112,423 pickups in zone 129 from September 2025 to August 2026, about 5,788 a day, 4th of the 67 Queens zones outside the airports.
Why is there a 4 a.m. peak in Jackson Heights?
The data shows a jump in pickups at 4 a.m. every day, and on Sundays 4 a.m. is the busiest hour (about 338 pickups). The trip records do not say why; they only show when trips start.
Is there a taxi stand in Jackson Heights?
NYC DOT's current sign records show a 'Taxi Stand' sign on Roosevelt Avenue between 82nd and 83rd Streets (north side). FHV drivers must not pick up passengers at any taxi stand.
Can app drivers use the Jackson Heights relief stand?
No. DOT's data lists one relief stand in the zone, on Broadway between 72nd and 73rd Streets, and it is marked TAXI only (4 spaces, 1-hour limit). Drivers must follow posted vehicle types under TLC Rule 80-19(d)(7).
How much do app drivers make per trip here?
Trips are short: a median of 2.3 miles and 13.4 minutes. Median driver pay was $12.34 per trip before tips and tolls (56th of 67).
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
- NYC Open Data: Parking Regulation Locations and Signs (DOT, nfid-uabd) data.cityofnewyork.us
- TLC Rules Chapter 80: Rules Applicable to All Drivers (PDF) nyc.gov
- 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.