New York Taxi Fares 2026: What a Yellow Cab Actually Costs

Short answer, as of August 2026: a yellow cab from JFK to Manhattan is a $70 flat fare — but you will pay closer to $80 before tolls and tip once the mandatory surcharges are added, and about $96 once a 20% tip goes on. LaGuardia and Newark are not flat fares at all. Below is the arithmetic, which almost nobody publishes.

New York’s fare rules are set by the Taxi and Limousine Commission and are genuinely complicated, because two separate congestion charges now apply on top of a metered fare that already carries four surcharges. Getting the total right is the whole problem.

The meter, line by line

Item	Amount	When
Initial charge	$3.00	On entry
Per unit	$0.70	A unit is 1/5 mile above 12 mph, or 60 seconds in slow traffic or stopped
Night surcharge	$1.00	8:00 pm to 6:00 am, nightly
Peak weekday surcharge	$2.50	4:00 pm to 8:00 pm weekdays, excluding legal holidays
MTA State Surcharge	$0.50	Trips ending in NYC or the surrounding counties
Improvement Surcharge	$1.00	Every trip
NY State Congestion Surcharge	$2.50	Trips beginning, ending or passing through Manhattan south of 96th Street
MTA Congestion Pricing, per trip	$0.75	Manhattan south of and including 60th Street

The two congestion charges are the part that trips people up. They are separate programmes and both can appear on one receipt. The $2.50 is a New York State surcharge that has applied since January 2019 below 96th Street. The $0.75 is the MTA’s congestion pricing toll, which began on 5 January 2025 below 60th Street and is charged to the passenger once per trip rather than per vehicle entry. For an app like Uber or Lyft, that second figure is $1.50 rather than $0.75.

The MTA states it is still collecting congestion pricing tolls until further notice, and that the programme is the subject of ongoing litigation. We are not going to predict how that ends.

Tolls are added at the end of the trip at the discounted E-ZPass rate — drivers are required to use E-ZPass. Fares from the meter are the default, but a yellow or green cab booked through an e-hail app may instead give you a binding upfront quote, in which case the meter is not run at all.

JFK to Manhattan: the actual total

Take a Tuesday arrival at 5pm, JFK to Midtown. Here is what the $70 flat fare really adds up to.

Component	Amount
JFK–Manhattan flat fare	$70.00
MTA State Surcharge	$0.50
Improvement Surcharge	$1.00
Rush hour surcharge (4–8pm weekdays)	$5.00
NY State Congestion Surcharge (below 96th St)	$2.50
MTA Congestion Pricing (below 60th St)	$0.75
Subtotal before tolls and tip	$79.75
Tunnel or bridge toll	Added at E-ZPass rate
Tip at 20%	around $16
Realistic total	$96 and up

Arrive at 11am on a Sunday instead and you drop the $5.00 rush hour surcharge. Go to Harlem rather than Midtown and you drop both congestion charges, because you finish above 96th Street.

The rule-edge that catches people out: the flat fare applies between Manhattan and JFK only, and it covers the first stop. Ask the driver to drop a friend on the way and the meter starts again for the rest. JFK to Brooklyn or Queens is metered from the start — there is no flat fare.

One more: a $2.00 airport access fee applies on pick-ups at JFK and LaGuardia. It is not charged on drop-offs.

Compare pre-booked transfer prices

A pre-booked car is a different product from a street hail: the price is agreed in advance and the driver meets you, which matters most on a late arrival with luggage. Compare it against the $80-before-tolls figure above rather than against the $70 headline.

Compare pre-booked transfer prices

LaGuardia and Newark are different animals

Airport	How it is charged	Added on top
JFK to/from Manhattan	$70 flat	Surcharges, tolls, tip, $2 access fee on pick-up
LaGuardia	Metered — there is no flat fare	$5.00 LGA surcharge, all standard surcharges, $2 access fee on pick-up
Newark, in a NYC yellow cab	Metered	$20.00 Newark surcharge, plus tolls both ways — you pay the driver’s return tolls
Newark, in a Newark-licensed taxi	Flat by zone: $60 to $80 into Manhattan	$2 access fee, $10 rush hour, $5 for East Side destinations, $1 per bag

The Newark asymmetry is worth reading twice. Going to Newark in a yellow cab, you pay a $20 surcharge and both sets of tolls. Coming from Newark in a Newark cab, you pay a flat zone fare — $60 to Battery to West 13th, $65 to West 14th–50th, $70 to West 51st–96th, $75 to West 97th–185th, $80 above that — and bags are charged at a dollar each, including carry-ons.

A note on sources: the Port Authority’s own LaGuardia page still lists a $1.00 peak surcharge and a $0.50 night surcharge. Those figures predate the December 2022 fare increase. The TLC sets taxi fares, and the TLC says $2.50 and $1.00. Use the higher figures when you budget.

Which vehicles can you actually hail?

Type	Street hail?	Where it may pick up
Yellow taxi	Yes	Anywhere in the five boroughs
Green boro taxi	Yes, but restricted	Street hails only above East 96th and West 110th, plus the outer boroughs
Black car, livery, luxury limousine	No	Prearranged through a licensed base only
Uber, Lyft and similar	No	Prearranged through the app

The single most important safety line, and it comes from the Port Authority rather than us: soliciting ground transportation inside the terminal is illegal, and many of the people doing it are unlicensed and uninsured. Ignore anyone who approaches you before you reach the official taxi stand.

Your driver’s TLC licence must be displayed inside the vehicle. The identifier to write down if anything goes wrong is the medallion number — the four-character code unique to that cab.

Your rights, which are more specific than you think

The TLC publishes a Passenger Bill of Rights, and several items in it are worth knowing because they are routinely ignored.

• You have the right to be driven to any destination in New York City, Westchester, Nassau, or Newark Airport. Refusal is a violation carrying mandatory penalties.
• A driver may not ask your destination before you are seated.
• You may take the most direct route or the route of your choice. Absent a request, the driver must take the shortest reasonable route.
• You may require the driver to adjust the heat, air conditioning or radio. Refusing to turn the air conditioning on or off at your request carries a $25 fine.
• You pay nothing extra for baggage or for help loading it.
• You decide whether to tip and how much.
• You may travel with a service animal.

Green boro taxis add two more: you cannot be made to share a ride unless you want to, and you can request a wheelchair-accessible vehicle.

Take the receipt. It is required to carry the medallion number, the driver’s hack licence number, the date, time, fare breakdown and the 311 complaint number — which is everything a complaint needs.

Complaining, and the catch nobody mentions

Call 311, or use 311 Online. From outside New York, call the TLC directly on (212) 639-9675.

Here is the part that is not advertised: for the TLC to take action against a driver, you must be willing to take part in a hearing. If you decline, the complaint is still forwarded but no action is taken. A TLC prosecutor investigates, the driver receives notice, and unless they plead guilty the matter goes to a hearing at OATH — where you can testify by phone rather than in person.

The exception is equipment complaints — a broken meter, no air conditioning, no seatbelts. Those need no hearing, because the TLC simply inspects the vehicle.

Tipping

No official New York source publishes a customary percentage, so we will not pretend one is authoritative. What is official: tipping is never added automatically, it is not included in the metered fare or the JFK flat fare, and the Bill of Rights explicitly gives you the right to decide whether to tip and how much. The Port Authority calls gratuity “optional but appreciated”. Payment screens offer preset percentages; you are free to ignore them and enter your own figure, or tip in cash.

Accessible rides

New York runs Accessible Dispatch, bookable on 646-599-9999 or through the Arro, Curb or Myle apps. Two details matter.

• There is no accessibility premium on a street hail. If you flag down an accessible taxi in the street, it runs on the meter like any other.
• Accessible vehicles must serve trips within the five boroughs and to Westchester, Nassau and the regional airports — the same range as any other cab.

If you are refused an accessible ride, report it by calling 311. A federal court order requires the active yellow fleet to reach at least 50% wheelchair accessibility, and since 18 October 2024 every new taxi brought into service must be a wheelchair-accessible vehicle.

Related guides

More on getting around New York: yellow cab vs Uber, compared, JFK to Manhattan with every option priced, and how to check your driver is licensed.

Sources and currency

Fare and surcharge figures are from the NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission’s published fare schedule, adopted effective 19 December 2022 and current at the time of writing. Congestion pricing figures are from the MTA. Airport fares are from the TLC and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Passenger rights are from the TLC Passenger Bill of Rights and Chapter 80 of the TLC rule book. Complaint procedure is from the TLC and NYC311.

Where two official sources disagreed — the Port Authority’s LaGuardia surcharges against the TLC’s — we have used the TLC, because the TLC sets the fares. Figures last verified August 2026.