Midtown South Taxi Zone (164): Trips, Hours & Fares

Midtown South (TLC zone 164) is a late-night and airport zone. In TLC trip records for September 2025 to August 2026, 3,302,855 trips started here (about 9,049 a day), 10th of Manhattan's 69 zones. About seven in ten pickups were Uber or Lyft trips; yellow taxis had 27.8%. Saturday is the busiest day, and on Sundays the top hour is midnight. Airport trips are common: 11.6% of app pickups go to an airport, and LaGuardia is the No. 1 origin for trips ending here.

Midtown South at a glance

On TLC's map, zone 164 sits between the Garment District and Murray Hill, roughly from 28th Street to 42nd Street. It touches seven zones: Midtown Center (161), Times Sq/Theatre District (230), Garment District (100), Penn Station/Madison Sq West (186), Murray Hill (170), Gramercy (107) and Union Sq (234). TLC's lookup lists it as "Yellow Zone", a data grouping.

When rides start: Saturday night is the peak

An average Saturday has about 10,331 pickups, more than a weekday (8,868) or a Sunday (8,675). Saturday pickups climb all evening to 11 p.m. (about 708). On Sundays the busiest hours are midnight (about 647), 1 a.m. (610) and 2 a.m. (479) (late Saturday night). About 27.8% of Sunday pickups and 22% of Saturday pickups happen between midnight and 5 a.m.

On weekdays, pickups are high from 6 to 9 p.m. (about 600 to 611 an hour). The 4–6 p.m. hours average about 1,597 pickups, against about 974 in the 7–9 a.m. hours.

Month by month

December 2025 was the busiest month (302,647 pickups) and February 2026 the quietest (240,649). July 2026 (276,366) was busier than June.

Where trips go and where they come from

The top destination is outside New York City (TLC zone 265, 5.8% of pickups), then LaGuardia (4.4%), Midtown Center (3.8%) and Times Square (3.6%). JFK is 9th (2.8%). 11.6% of app pickups and 2.6% of yellow pickups go to an airport.

Trips coming in show the airport link more strongly. LaGuardia is the No. 1 origin (5.7% of drop-offs) and JFK is 4th (3.7%).

Fares and pay

App trips: a median 2.81 miles, 19.6 minutes and a $28.25 fare. The median driver pay is $20.08 per trip (before tips and tolls), with a $2.27 average tip. Yellow trips: a median 1.56 miles, 13.4 minutes and $14.20 on the meter, with a 23.6% card tip rate.

Congestion fee and hail lines

• MTA Congestion Relief Zone: zone 164 is fully inside the Congestion Relief Zone; 99.6% of app pickups carried the charge. As of 2026-10-12 the rider pays $1.50 on an app trip and $0.75 on a taxi trip.
• NYS congestion surcharge: in-state trips from Midtown South, including the LaGuardia and JFK runs, add $2.50 (medallion taxi) or $2.75 (FHV) as of 2026-10-12 (tax department).
• Hail Exclusionary Zone: the zone is south of East 96th and West 110th Streets (Chapter 51), and green cabs made only 94 pickups here in a year. A street hail picked up by an FHV is an 80-19(c)(2) violation.

Relief stands and taxi stands

DOT's relief-stand dataset (updated October 1, 2026) lists two relief stands with 13 spaces. The West 31st Street stand is taxi-only and has night and weekend hours. The East 28th Street stand is open to taxis and FHVs. Current DOT sign records (October 11, 2026) also show taxi-stand signs on five side-street segments between 29th and 34th Streets. A stand sign on the south side of East 28th Street is across the zone line, in TLC's Union Sq zone.

The West 31st Street relief stand is taxi-only and posted for weekday evenings and nights (6 p.m.–2 a.m.) and all day on weekends, the same hours this zone is busiest. The East 28th Street stand takes FHVs too. Both have a one-hour limit (DOT; 80-19(d)(7)). FHVs may not load at the five taxi-stand blocks (80-19(d)(2)). Map: relief stand finder.