UN/Turtle Bay South Taxi Zone (233): Trips, Hours & Fares

UN/Turtle Bay South (TLC zone 233) is an east Midtown zone where LaGuardia comes first. From September 2025 to August 2026, the zone had 1,721,510 pickups (about 4,717 a day) and 1,744,895 drop-offs. LaGuardia Airport is the No. 1 destination (4.4% of pickups) and the No. 1 origin (4.4% of drop-offs). Uber and Lyft had about 72% of pickups and yellow taxis 28.3%. The Queens-Midtown Tunnel approaches run along the zone's south side.

UN/Turtle Bay South at a glance

Zone 233 covers the east side of Midtown between about 34th and 49th Streets, out to the East River. On TLC's map it touches four zones: Sutton Place/Turtle Bay North (229), Midtown East (162), Murray Hill (170) and Kips Bay (137). TLC's lookup table labels it "Yellow Zone". That label is used for data, not for rules.

Airport trips both ways

LaGuardia tops both lists. 4.4% of pickups end there, and 4.4% of trips ending here start there. JFK is also in the top 10 destinations (2.7%). Across all airports, 10.2% of app pickups and 3.6% of yellow pickups go to an airport. For yellow cabs, that is high. The neighbouring zones send between 0.9% and 2.6% of yellow pickups to an airport.

For airport rules, waiting areas and fees, see LaGuardia and JFK. Toll routes are on LaGuardia to Manhattan by route.

The rest of the top destinations are spread around Midtown and downtown: Midtown Center (4.2%), Midtown East (3.3%), outside New York City (3.2%), Times Square (3.1%), Union Square (2.9%) and the East Village (2.7%).

When rides start and end

Saturday is the busiest day: about 5,197 pickups, against 4,736 on a weekday and 4,140 on a Sunday. The busiest hour of the week is Saturday at 7 p.m. (about 383). Weekdays have two peaks, 6 p.m. (about 354) and 8 a.m. (about 330). Sundays peak late in the morning, 10 a.m. to noon.

Drop-offs run late. On weekdays they peak at 9–10 p.m. On Saturdays the peak is 10–11 p.m. On Sundays the top hours are midnight and 1 a.m. (the end of Saturday night).

Month by month

October 2025 was the busiest month (156,306 pickups) and February 2026 the quietest (125,296). The summer of 2026 stayed close to the yearly average, about 144,000 a month in June and July.

Fares and pay

Yellow trips: a median 1.7 miles, 13.6 minutes and $14.41 on the meter, with a 23.0% card tip rate. App trips: a median 2.53 miles, 18.1 minutes and a $23.55 fare. The median app driver pay is $17.58 per trip (before tips and tolls), with a $1.88 average tip.

Tunnel, FDR Drive and the congestion fee

• Queens-Midtown Tunnel: city street-centerline data puts part of the tunnel roadway and approaches in zone 233, and most of the entrance and exit roads in Murray Hill. The MTA FAQ says trips between the FDR Drive and the tunnel are tolled for congestion pricing, because the link uses Manhattan streets, with a crossing credit. See the tunnel's toll page.
• MTA Congestion Relief Zone: zone 233 is inside it (Manhattan up to and including 60th Street, per the MTA). The FDR Drive on its eastern edge is excluded only for vehicles that stay on the highway. 99.1% of app pickups and 98.0% of yellow pickups were charged the rider's per-trip fee, which as of 2026-10-12 is $1.50 (app) or $0.75 (taxi).
• NYS congestion surcharge: a LaGuardia or JFK run from here starts and ends in New York State, so it carries the state surcharge: $2.50 (medallion taxi) or $2.75 (FHV), as of 2026-10-12.
• Hail Exclusionary Zone: the zone is south of East 96th Street (Chapter 51). Green cabs had 114 pickups here in a year and may not take hails. FHV street hails: 80-19(c)(2).

Relief stand and taxi stands

DOT's relief-stand dataset (updated October 1, 2026) lists one relief stand in the zone: 7 spaces on East 41st Street at the FDR Drive end, open to taxis and FHVs from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Current DOT sign records also show taxi-stand signs on East 44th and East 47th Streets between First and Second Avenues.

The East 41st Street relief stand sits at the river end of the block, by the FDR Drive. It takes taxis and FHVs from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., one hour at a time (DOT; 80-19(d)(7)). The East 44th and 47th Street stand blocks are for taxis only (80-19(d)(2)). Can app drivers use relief stands? See this answer.