Randalls Island Taxi Zone (194): Trips, Hours & Fares

Randalls Island (TLC zone 194) is a destination, not a pickup zone. In the 12 months to August 2026, 114,320 trips ended here but only 51,525 started here, about 2.2 drop-offs for every pickup. Traffic is highly seasonal and heavily weighted to Saturdays. Trips leaving the island are long, and the median app driver pay of $39.68 per trip is the second highest of any NYC zone, after JFK Airport.

Numbers come from TLC's yellow, green and Uber/Lyft trip records, aggregated by TLC Help. With about 141 pickups a day, a few unusually busy days can move a monthly total.

Randalls Island at a glance

TLC counts the island as part of Manhattan and labels it "Yellow Zone", which is only a data category. On TLC's zone map its only neighbor is East Harlem North (74). In the city's street centerline file, most segments of the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge lie inside this zone; the bridge's Manhattan, Queens and Bronx spans meet on the island. As of October 12, 2026 the RFK car toll is $7.46 with a New York E-ZPass, $9.79 Mid-Tier and $12.03 by mail. Which toll points a trip passes depends on its route; see the RFK Bridge page.

A Saturday and summer zone

Saturdays are by far the busiest days. An average Saturday has about 247 pickups and 590 drop-offs, against 115 pickups and 242 drop-offs on a weekday and 166 and 395 on a Sunday. Saturday drop-offs start early, with a bump in the 8 a.m. hour (about 49), and peak at 5 p.m. (about 61). Saturday pickups peak in the mid-afternoon, at 3 p.m. (about 24).

The year has a strong season. Pickups were highest in July 2026 (6,450) and September 2025 (6,238), and lowest in December 2025 (2,212), January (2,447) and February (2,353). The trip records don't say what brings riders here.

Where trips go: widely spread

No destination dominates. The top one, Upper East Side North, takes only 6.3% of pickups, ahead of East Harlem North (4.7%) and Yorkville West (4.2%). The ten largest together take 32.7%. Most are East Side and Upper West Side zones, plus Astoria in Queens (2.1%) and trips out of the city (2.6%). Riders arriving come most often from East Harlem North (10.8% of drop-offs).

Fares and pay: the long-trip zone

The median app trip from here is 5.79 miles and 22.4 minutes, with a $30.71 fare before tips, tolls and fees. Median driver pay was $39.68, and this is the only TLC zone where the median app pay is higher than the median app fare. The records don't explain the gap. Yellow taxis had a median meter fare of $40.80, the highest of any Manhattan zone, and 9.6% of yellow pickups went to an airport.

Pay "per engaged hour" was $97.68, the highest in the city, but that figure counts only time with a rider on board. It leaves out the drive to the island and the wait, so it is not an hourly wage.

Pickup rules here

• Green cabs: by our check of TLC's zone map, the island lies east of Fifth Avenue and north of East 96th Street, so it is outside the Hail Exclusionary Zone (Chapter 51). Green cabs had just 46 pickups here.
• For-hire drivers: pickups must be pre-arranged (80-19(c)(1)). See who can pick up where.
• Congestion charges: the island is outside both the NYS surcharge area (south of 96th Street) and the MTA zone (60th Street and south). 22.5% of app pickups were charged the MTA fee because they ended in or passed through the zone.
• Stands: DOT lists no relief stand or taxi-stand sign on the island.