Battery to Inwood
High Society Limousine runs Manhattan limo and car service from the Battery to Inwood: executive sedans, SUVs and stretch limousines at a fixed price, with a chauffeur who knows where a car may legally stop on your block. Airports, offices, hotels, shows and late nights, booked ahead and met on time.
Price your trip
Tell us the pickup address, the entrance you will use, the destination and the time. You get one fixed price before you book, and it does not change with Manhattan traffic.
The price includes the vehicle, the chauffeur, tolls and fifteen minutes of waiting at the pickup. Gratuity is not included. For a run of meetings or an evening with several stops, book by the hour instead.
Manhattan by the numbers
Household figure from the Census Bureau's 2024 American Community Survey for New York County: 633,924 of 807,083 households have no car. Commuting figure from the 2020 to 2024 survey. Zone lines from the TLC and the New York State tax department.
The curb
In most places a car can pull over almost anywhere. In Manhattan the curb decides where you can be picked up, and a chauffeur who reads it well saves you more time than any shortcut.
What the curb signs mean
From NYC DOT's parking sign legend and bus lane rules.
The rules are the city's own. The Department of Transportation's parking sign legend draws the lines that matter for a pickup. Under a No Parking sign, a car may stop to drop off or pick up passengers expeditiously. Under No Standing it may do the same, but it may not wait. Under No Stopping it may not stop for passengers at all. A bus stop works like No Standing, provided the car does not get in the way of a bus about to enter or leave, and at a taxi stand only taxis may wait. Many Midtown curbs are reserved for commercial vehicles during the working day; for everyone else they work like No Standing, so a quick pickup is fine and waiting is not.
Manhattan's bus lanes add a second layer. Under the DOT's bus lane rules, other vehicles may enter a bus lane only to make the next right turn, to reach a curb cut or driveway within 200 feet, or to quickly drop off or pick up passengers, and the city suggests arranging pickups across the street or on the cross street where possible. Several of the avenues where people most want to be collected have one.
Then there is the engine. The city's idling law limits how long a parked car may run its engine, three minutes in most places. Put the three rules together and an early car cannot simply sit outside your door with the air on. It has to wait somewhere legal and come to you when you are ready, at a point where it is allowed to stop.
That is the whole craft of a Manhattan pickup, and it is why we ask for the entrance rather than just the address, why the chauffeur messages when they are two minutes away, and why the meeting point is sometimes the cross street rather than the avenue. A good car service in Manhattan is judged less by the car than by how little time you spend on the sidewalk looking for it. On a good day you walk out of the door, the car is there, and you never think about the curb at all.
Hotels, towers and doormen
Most large hotels have a driveway, a doorman or a loading zone, and the doorman usually knows where a car may wait. Tell us the hotel and we will tell you where the car will be, whether that is the driveway, the side entrance or the corner.
Many towers have more than one entrance and a security desk that closes the side doors after six. Give us the entrance you will use at the time you will use it, and the chauffeur meets you there rather than at the address on the letterhead.
At Grand Central, Penn Station and Moynihan Train Hall the chauffeur meets you inside, then walks you to the nearest street where the car may stop, which is rarely the main entrance.
Patient pickup areas are usually marked and short of space. Tell us the entrance and the time of discharge, and the chauffeur comes inside to help if that is what is needed. A wheelchair that folds travels in the trunk.
Doorman buildings are the easiest pickups in the city. For a walk up on a narrow street, we agree a point where the car can stop legally, and the chauffeur comes to the door for the bags.
The block outside is often No Standing in the evening and crowded at closing time. We agree a corner a short walk away, and the chauffeur sends the exact spot before you leave the table.
Where the chauffeur will not stop. If the curb outside is a bus stop, a hydrant or a No Stopping zone, the chauffeur will not risk a ticket or your safety by stopping there. They will be on the cross street, and they will tell you which one.
The lines
Three lines across Manhattan change what a ride costs and how you can get one. The first decides who may pick you up from the street at all: under the TLC's green cab rules, street hail liveries may not take hails south of West 110th Street and East 96th Street, which leaves the yellow cab as the only car you can wave down below that line.
Manhattan, north to south
From the TLC green cab and fare pages and the New York State tax department.
The other two add charges. The state congestion surcharge applies to for-hire trips below 96th Street, and the MTA's zone at and below 60th Street adds a per trip toll for cabs and for-hire cars, as the TLC fare page sets out for yellow cabs. Both are real costs of moving around the island, and they are why two quotes for the same trip can look so different.
A fixed price from us is quoted for the whole trip, so you do not have to track which line you crossed. Ask any company, us included, whether its quote already allows for them. That one question explains most of the difference between a headline price and the final one. The lines also explain why a ride that stays above 96th Street carries fewer charges than the same distance in Midtown.
Neighborhoods
Every part of the island has its own curb, its own traffic and its own best place to meet a car.
Hotels, theaters and office towers from 34th Street to 59th, with the worst traffic on the island between four and seven. Our Midtown Manhattan page covers the pickup points block by block, including the hotels with driveways.
Narrow, irregular streets laid out long before cars, many closed to traffic around the Stock Exchange. Pickups work best on Broadway, Water Street or the West Side Highway side, agreed in advance, and the Carey Tunnel to Brooklyn is minutes away.
Cast iron buildings, cobbled side streets and some of the busiest weekend sidewalks in the city. A cross street pickup is usually faster than one on Broadway on a Saturday afternoon, and the Holland Tunnel is close for Newark.
Doorman buildings, Museum Mile and Lincoln Center, with wide avenues and calmer side streets. In snow, the side streets are cleared last, so the chauffeur meets you on the avenue.
Metro-North trains, hotels on Lexington and Park, and the busiest commuter curb in Manhattan at rush hour. We meet travelers inside the terminal rather than at the curb on 42nd Street, then walk to the car on a quieter side street.
Galleries, the High Line, the Javits Center and the new towers of the far West Side, where the West Side Highway makes for quick runs downtown and a short hop to the Lincoln Tunnel.
Airports
Which way the car goes, and when to allow the most time.
Usually the longest airport run from Manhattan: through the Queens Midtown Tunnel or over the RFK Bridge, then the Van Wyck. Allow the most time at four on a weekday. Our page on Manhattan to JFK car service has the terminals and timings.
The closest airport to most of Manhattan, over the RFK Bridge or through Queens, and the one where rush hour hurts most for the shortest distance. Read about car service from LGA to Manhattan before you land.
Across the Hudson through the Lincoln or Holland Tunnel, which makes the West Side and downtown the quickest starting points. The page on Manhattan to Newark Airport car service covers each terminal.
The private aviation airports, reached through the Lincoln Tunnel or up the Henry Hudson Parkway. We coordinate the pickup with the operator handling the aircraft, so the car is at the aircraft or the lounge door rather than the public curb.
Flight delays cost nothing. Every airport pickup is flight tracked and met inside arrivals with a name board, so a delay moves the pickup time rather than starting a waiting charge. For departures we suggest a pickup time from your address, the hour and whether the flight is international.
A worked example
Here is how one ordinary booking plays out: a hotel in the East 50s to JFK at four on a weekday, with two large suitcases. The times are illustrative; the curb decisions are the ones the chauffeur actually makes.
The chauffeur arrives early and waits on a side street where standing is allowed, engine off, rather than on the avenue in front of the hotel, where waiting is not allowed.
A text to the passenger: the car's color, the plate and the exact spot it will be in eight minutes, which is the hotel's own driveway.
Into the driveway as the passenger comes down. Bags in the trunk in under a minute, so nobody waits in a lane where waiting is not allowed.
Across to the Queens Midtown Tunnel or up to the RFK Bridge, whichever is moving, with the toll already inside the price.
At the terminal with time for bags and security, and the bags lifted out at the curb rather than across a parking lot.
The fleet
Every vehicle below is from our own fleet. Seating for each model is on the page listing every vehicle with its seating; in Manhattan the deciding question is usually the luggage, not the number of people. A sedan stops more easily at a busy curb; an SUV takes the suitcases.
The Mercedes S-Class, BMW 7 Series, Lincoln Continental and Cadillac XTS. The right car for most Manhattan trips, and the easiest to stop at a crowded curb.
For a wedding at City Hall, an anniversary dinner or a guest arriving at a Fifth Avenue hotel. The most formal car we run.
The Escalade, Suburban and Yukon Denali, for families and for anyone heading to the airport with more than a carry on.
Eleven to fourteen passengers, for a team moving between Midtown meetings or a wedding party crossing town together.
From the 10 passenger Escalade limousine up, for a night out, a prom or a celebration that starts at the curb.
Into the city
Most car service to Manhattan starts at an airport. The chauffeur tracks the flight, waits inside arrivals with a name board, and walks you to the car, so you never stand in a taxi line wondering how much the ride will cost. The price for the trip into the city was fixed when you booked it, and it is the same whether the flight lands at noon or after midnight.
The drop off is where Manhattan knowledge matters. Many hotels sit on one way streets, some have a driveway on the side street rather than the avenue, and several of the busiest blocks have no legal place to stop at rush hour. The chauffeur knows which side of the building to use and stops where your bags can come out safely.
If you are arriving for a stay, tell us the plan for the rest of it. Many visitors book the airport run, a car for dinner and a chauffeur for a day of meetings in one go, and it is simpler to plan the week at once than trip by trip.
For a family arriving with children, ask for an SUV with the seats already fitted. For a first visit, ask the chauffeur anything: which side of the hotel is quieter, how long the walk to the theater is, where the nearest pharmacy is. Local knowledge is part of the ride.
What we run here
The same fleet and the same dispatch, booked six different ways.
Monthly billing for firms in Midtown and downtown, several bookers on one account, and receipts with a reference on each trip. The details are on our page about corporate car accounts.
A car and chauffeur that stay with you between meetings, shops or museums, waiting nearby within the curb rules. Most people book hourly car service in Manhattan for three or more stops.
Black car service in Manhattan the classic way: a black sedan or SUV booked ahead at a fixed price, moving between meetings in Midtown and downtown. More on black car service across New York City.
Chauffeur service in Manhattan for a whole day of appointments or a visiting guest, with one chauffeur who learns the schedule and the buildings. See chauffeur service by the day.
From a City Hall ceremony at the City Clerk's office on Worth Street to a reception uptown, with a car for the couple and vans for the guests. Our page on a City Hall wedding car covers the day.
Dinner, a show and the drive home, with the chauffeur waiting a short walk from the theater and the price agreed before the curtain goes up.
Shows and events
The drop off is easy. The pickup after the event is where planning pays.
Most shows let out within a few minutes of each other, which fills the streets around Times Square at once. We agree a pickup corner away from the theater block, and you walk to the car rather than wait for it. Matinee days are calmer, and the car can usually be closer.
On Columbus Avenue between 62nd and 65th Street, with performances ending at similar times across the halls. The chauffeur waits on a side street to the north or south and messages the spot.
Above one of the busiest stations in North America, so the curb on Seventh and Eighth Avenue is crowded before and after every event. A pickup a few blocks away is quicker.
Both in the West 50s, where evening traffic on Seventh and Sixth Avenue is slow. A side street pickup turns a twenty minute wait into a five minute walk.
On the far West Side, where a trade show day ends with thousands of people looking for a ride on Eleventh Avenue. Book the return before the show, not at the end of it, and tell us which hall you will leave from.
Fifth Avenue on the Upper East Side, from the Met northward, with drop offs on Fifth and pickups on the cross streets when the steps are busy. Late openings on Fridays bring a second rush when the galleries close.
Compare
Four ways to get around Manhattan, and where each one wins.
| Option | Best for | Weak spot | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Subway | Fastest for one person going a long way at rush hour | Stairs, luggage and late nights | A fare per person |
| Yellow cab | Hailed in a minute below 96th Street on most days | Rain, rush hour and the end of a show | The meter and surcharges |
| App ride | Arrives quickly when demand is normal | Surge pricing and pickup spots the app chooses | Set by demand at that minute |
| Booked car with us | Airports, luggage, groups, schedules and nights out | A spur of the moment trip of a few blocks | Fixed before you travel |
For one person going a few stops uptown at rush hour, the subway is faster than any car in Manhattan, and a cab is cheaper for a short hop on a quiet evening. We would rather say so than sell you a sedan you do not need. A booked car earns its price when there are bags, people, a schedule or a time that cannot slip, and on the nights when everyone else is trying to find a ride at the same moment.
Nearly four in five Manhattan households have no car of their own, so a booked car stands in for one: the trip to the airport with suitcases, the dinner across town in the rain, the parent who should not take the stairs at the subway. A fixed price means the trip costs the same whatever the traffic does on the way.
The city's calendar
A fixed price protects the fare. Planning protects the time.
Each September the General Assembly brings rolling closures to the East Side around First Avenue. We route around the zone and meet you west of it when the closures move.
The parade route runs down Central Park West and Sixth Avenue, so pickups on the West Side are planned around the side streets that stay open.
The course enters Manhattan on First Avenue and finishes in Central Park, cutting the East Side and the park drives for most of the day.
Fifth Avenue and Rockefeller Center fill with visitors from late November, and the curbs in the West 40s and 50s slow every evening. Leave earlier and meet on the avenue.
Avenues are plowed first and side streets last, so in heavy snow the chauffeur meets you on the nearest avenue rather than the corner you are used to.
The blocks around Times Square close to traffic from the afternoon, and every car in the city is booked. Book days ahead, and plan to walk a few blocks to a pickup outside the closed area.
The subway runs all night but far less often, and cabs thin out away from Midtown after two. A car booked for the return before you go out is the one that is waiting when the night ends.
Tunnel and bridge traffic out of Manhattan builds from early afternoon, especially toward the Hamptons and the Jersey Shore. Leave before two if you can, and allow extra time on the Monday return.
The details
Everything below sits inside the fixed price you confirm.
Ask every company these, us included.
Eight details that make the pickup quick and legal.
How it works
Pickup, entrance, destination, time and passengers. That is enough for a fixed price.
One number with tolls inside it. Gratuity is not included.
The chauffeur's name, the car and the exact spot reach you before the pickup.
A message when the car is two minutes away, and the door held when you get there.
Beyond Midtown
Manhattan trips rarely stay in Manhattan.
Harlem, Washington Heights and Inwood, with the Henry Hudson Parkway and the Harlem River Drive for quick runs north and out of the city.
Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx are a bridge or a tunnel away, and our Brooklyn car and limo service runs the same way as ours here.
Westchester, Long Island, Connecticut and New Jersey, for commuters into Manhattan and families heading out, each quoted as one price. See the New York areas we cover.
Philadelphia, Boston and the Hamptons, quoted with the drive time, often door to door faster than a train once the stations at each end are counted, and with the luggage handled at both doors.
FAQ
A person answers the phone at any hour if your plans change.
It depends on the vehicle, the distance and the time you need the car. Every trip is quoted as one fixed price with tolls included; gratuity is not included. Use the booking form above or call 914-770-4646, and you get the figure before you book.
Only where the curb allows it. Under a No Standing or No Stopping sign, or in a bus lane, a car may not wait, so the chauffeur waits nearby within the rules and comes to you when you are ready, with a message two minutes before arriving.
A car may enter a bus lane only to let passengers in or out quickly, so for a pickup with luggage we usually meet on the cross street, a few steps from your door. We confirm the exact corner when you book.
Trips below 96th Street carry the state congestion surcharge, and trips in the zone at or below 60th Street carry the MTA's charge, except on the FDR Drive and the West Side Highway. Ask when you book whether your route crosses either line; the price you confirm is the price you pay, apart from gratuity. Trips that stay above 96th Street, such as Harlem to LaGuardia, avoid both.
Yes. The chauffeur meets you inside, on the concourse, with a name board, rather than at a crowded curb, and walks you to the car on the nearest street where it can legally stop.
On a weekday afternoon, allow the most time for JFK, a little less for Newark and the least for LaGuardia, and more again between four and seven. Tell us the flight and we will suggest a pickup time for your address.
Every day. Tell us the hotel and we will tell you whether the car meets you in the driveway, at the side entrance or on the corner. The doorman usually knows the spot, and so do our chauffeurs.
Yes, both ways or with the car waiting. We drop you close to the theater and agree a pickup corner away from the crowd, so you are in the car within minutes of the curtain.
Yes. A sedan or the Rolls-Royce for the couple, vans for the family, and the timings planned around the City Clerk's office on Worth Street and wherever the celebration goes next.
Yes, all of Manhattan from the Battery to Inwood, at the same fixed price basis as Midtown. Upper Manhattan is also an easy place to start an airport run, because the bridges to the Bronx and Queens are close and the trip avoids the congestion zone entirely.
Often not, for one person going a long way at rush hour. A car wins with luggage, children, a group, a late night or a trip across town where the subway would mean two changes. Crosstown trips are the hardest by train and among the easiest by car outside rush hour.
Yes, with a three hour minimum. The chauffeur waits nearby between stops and is at the door when you come out, which suits a day of meetings across Midtown and downtown. If the day runs late, the booking simply extends at the hourly rate on your quote.
Yes, at no charge. Give us the ages and weights when you book and the chauffeur fits the seats before arriving, so there is no wait at the curb. Infant seats, forward facing seats and boosters are all available.
We check closures for parades, UN week, the marathon and filming before the day, plan the route around them and move the meeting point if needed. You hear about any change before the pickup, not at the curb. A closure never changes the price you agreed.
Car service usually means a sedan or SUV booked for a trip or by the hour; limo service usually means a stretch limousine for an occasion. We run both, at fixed prices, with the same chauffeurs and the same dispatch. Many evenings use both: a stretch for the group, and sedans to take everyone home at the end.
Since 2010
Send the address and the entrance. We will send one price and the exact meeting point.
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