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Steinway (TLC zone 223) is one of the busiest zones in Queens: about 3,615 rides start here every day, 11th of the 67 Queens zones outside the airports. It is very local. 19.2% of trips end inside the zone, and another 14.8% go to Astoria next door. It also has a posted taxi stand and a relief stand, which most Queens zones do not.
Trip numbers are TLC Help's totals of TLC trip records (yellow, green and Uber/Lyft), September 2025 to August 2026. Yellow taxis made only 2.5% of pickups here, so the hour and month charts mostly show app demand. Curb details come from NYC DOT open data.
Steinway at a glance
On TLC's zone map, zone 223 touches six zones: Astoria (7), Astoria Park (8), Jackson Heights (129), LaGuardia Airport (138), Old Astoria (179) and Saint Michaels Cemetery/Woodside (207). Its TLC lookup label is "Boro Zone", a data category and not a legal line.
When rides start
Saturday is the big day: about 4,483 pickups, against 3,705 on Sunday and 3,425 on a weekday. The busiest hour of the week is Saturday at 6 p.m. (about 264 pickups), and Saturday stays near 250 an hour until midnight. Weekdays have a sharp 8 a.m. peak (about 244). On Sundays the top hour is midnight (about 221), the tail of Saturday night, and 20% of Sunday pickups start between midnight and 5 a.m.
Month by month
Pickups ran from 98,630 in September 2025 to 118,367 in December 2025. Yellow taxi pickups also peaked in winter (3,397 in January 2026) and held between about 2,500 and 3,000 a month after that.
Where trips go
Short trips dominate. Steinway itself (19.2%) and Astoria (14.8%) take a third of all pickups. Old Astoria (6.4%) and Jackson Heights (4.0%) come next, then LaGuardia (3.8%). JFK takes 1.6%.
Fares, pay and tips
App trips are short: a median of 2.79 miles and 13.5 minutes, a $16.14 fare and $13.08 driver pay (46th of 67). Riders tip more than the Queens norm: 5.2% of the fare for app trips and 15.1% for card-paid yellow trips.
Yellow taxis made 33,379 pickups (2.5%) and green cabs 3,472. More than one in five yellow pickups (21.8%) paid the MTA Congestion Relief Zone fee for entering Manhattan at or below 60th Street, against 7.9% of app pickups. As of October 12, 2026 that per-trip charge is $0.75 for taxis and green cabs and $1.50 for app trips, paid by the passenger (MTA).
Stands, rules and the RFK Bridge
- Taxi stand: DOT's current sign records include a "Taxi Hailing – Taxi Stand" order on 31st Street between Ditmars Boulevard and 23rd Avenue (west side). Under Chapter 80 §80-19(d), yellow taxis may take any vacant spot and green cabs may use stands in the Hail Zone. FHV drivers must not pick up at any taxi stand ($350 for a first violation). See taxi stand rules.
- Relief stand: DOT lists one on Hoyt Avenue North between 28th and 29th Streets: 4 spaces, taxis and FHVs, 1-hour limit. Obey the posted sign (relief stands guide).
- Zone 223 is in TLC's Hail Zone (Chapter 51). App and other FHV drivers need a base dispatch for every pickup (80-19(c)(1)).
- OpenStreetMap's line for the RFK Bridge Queens approach runs mostly through this zone.
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.
- Steinway: trip facts by sector — Key trip facts for taxi zone 223 (Steinway, 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.
- Steinway: when trips start, by hour — Average pickups per day in each hour in zone 223, 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.
- Steinway: pickups by month — Trips starting in taxi zone 223 (Steinway, Queens) each month, by sector.NYC TLC Trip Record Data (yellow, green, high-volume FHV), Sep 2025 – Aug 2026 · pulled Oct 12, 2026
- Steinway: where trips from here go — Top drop-off zones for trips starting in zone 223, 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 1,319,560 pickups. 'Outside NYC' = zone 265.
- Steinway: where trips to here come from — Top pickup zones for trips ending in zone 223, 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 1,416,208 drop-offs.
- Steinway: when trips arrive, by hour — Average drop-offs per day in each hour in zone 223, 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).
- Steinway: drop-offs by month — Trips ending in taxi zone 223 (Steinway, 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 the Steinway zone?
Busy. TLC trip records show 1,319,560 pickups in zone 223 from September 2025 to August 2026, about 3,615 a day. It ranks 11th of the 67 Queens zones outside the airports.
Is there a taxi stand in Steinway?
NYC DOT's current sign records show a 'Taxi Stand' sign order on 31st Street between Ditmars Boulevard and 23rd Avenue (west side). Yellow taxis may use it, and green cabs may too because this is the Hail Zone. FHV drivers must not pick up passengers at any taxi stand.
Where can I take a break in Steinway?
DOT's relief-stand data (updated October 1, 2026) lists one relief stand: Hoyt Avenue North between 28th and 29th Streets, 4 spaces, open to taxis and FHVs, 1-hour limit. Always follow the posted sign.
When is Steinway busiest?
Saturday evening: the top hour of the week is Saturday at 6 p.m. (about 264 pickups). Weekdays peak at 8 a.m. (about 244). Sunday's busiest hour is midnight.
Do riders tip well here?
Better than most of Queens. App riders tipped 5.2% of the fare (6th of 67), and card-paying yellow taxi riders tipped 15.1% (7th).
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
- MTA: Congestion Relief Zone taxi and FHV tolls mta.info
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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.