Midtown Center Taxi Zone (161): Trips, Hours & Fares

Midtown Center (TLC zone 161) is the busiest pickup zone in Manhattan. In TLC trip records for September 2025 to August 2026, 4,742,983 trips started here (about 12,995 a day). Only the two airport zones had more pickups in the whole city. Yellow cabs had 40% of pickups (1,897,616 trips, 2nd of 263 zones). This is a weekday zone: an average weekday has about 14,606 pickups, against 9,862 on a Saturday. Trips arrive at 8 a.m. and leave in the evening, peaking at 9 p.m.

Midtown Center at a glance

Zone 161 is the core of Midtown on TLC's map, roughly from 42nd Street to the mid-50s. It touches six zones: Times Sq/Theatre District (230), Midtown North (163), Midtown East (162), Midtown South (164), Murray Hill (170) and Garment District (100). Its "Yellow Zone" tag in TLC's lookup table is a data category shared by 55 Manhattan zones.

When rides start and end: a commuter clock

Midtown Center has the clearest commuter-style pattern of the zones around it:

• Drop-offs peak in the morning. On weekdays, about 1,275 trips end here in the 8 a.m. hour, more than in any other hour.
• Pickups peak in the evening. They climb all afternoon to 9 p.m. (about 1,338) and 8 p.m. (about 1,314). The 4–6 p.m. hours average about 3,086 pickups, more than three times the 7–9 a.m. total (about 922).
• Weekends are much quieter. Saturday pickups peak at 5–6 p.m. (about 754), and Sunday at 5 p.m. (about 583).

More trips start here than end here: 4,742,983 pickups against 4,004,650 drop-offs in the year.

Month by month

October 2025 was the busiest month, with 449,070 pickups. February 2026 was the quietest (347,633). Summer 2026 held fairly steady, with 400,288 pickups in July.

Where trips go

Trips spread across the whole city. The top ten destinations take only 33.9% of pickups. The largest are outside New York City (TLC zone 265, 5.5%), Upper East Side South (4.4%), LaGuardia (3.8%), Upper East Side North (3.3%) and Union Square (3.2%). Airports take 8.8% of app pickups and 3.0% of yellow pickups. On the way in, Upper East Side South is the top origin (5.5% of drop-offs), and LaGuardia is 3rd (4.0%).

Fares and pay

App trips from Midtown Center are among the most valuable in Manhattan. The median fare is $32.53, third-highest among the "Yellow Zone" zones, for a median 2.75 miles and 20.7 minutes. Median app driver pay is $21.40 per trip (before tips and tolls), and the average tip is $2.83. Yellow trips have a median fare of $14.20 for 1.57 miles and 14 minutes, with a 24.1% card tip rate.

Congestion fee and hail lines

• MTA Congestion Relief Zone: Midtown Center has more pickups than any other Manhattan zone, and all of them start inside the Congestion Relief Zone. 99.6% of app pickups and 99.0% of yellow pickups carried the per-trip charge: $1.50 (app) or $0.75 (taxi, green cab, other FHV) as of 2026-10-12, paid by the rider. Rate details: Congestion Relief Zone toll.
• NYS congestion surcharge: the zone is also inside the state's congestion area below 96th Street. A trip from here that ends in New York State adds the state surcharge: $2.50 in a medallion taxi, $2.75 in an FHV (as of 2026-10-12).
• Hail Exclusionary Zone: green cabs may not take hails or start pre-arranged trips south of East 96th and West 110th Streets (Chapter 51); the data shows 141 green pickups here in a year. App drivers may take only dispatched trips; a street hail here falls under 80-19(c)(2).

Taxi stands and FHV-only curbs

Current DOT sign records (nfid-uabd, updated October 11, 2026) show taxi-stand signs on three segments in zone 161: the west side of Park Avenue between 50th and 51st Streets, East 45th Street between Vanderbilt and Madison Avenues, and West 49th Street. The stand signs across Park Avenue, on its east side from 48th to 50th Streets, are in Midtown East. Two other segments are signed "For-hire vehicles only": East 47th Street (weekdays 7 a.m.–6 p.m.) and East 54th Street (weekdays 6 p.m.–midnight). No relief stand is listed for zone 161.

Only taxis may load at these stands (80-19(d)(2)); cabs join at the back (80-19(d)(4)) and the first two keep a driver at the wheel (80-19(d)(6)). The two "For-hire vehicles only" blocks have different hours: daytime on East 47th Street, evening on East 54th Street. Other curbs: curb rules for pickups.