Manhattan Venue Arrival-Timing Planner
Tell us the venue and the showtime. The planner works backwards through the house's real arrival policy and a Manhattan traffic curve to give you one number — the time to have the car at your door — and a running order for the whole evening.
Your evening
Pick where you are going, when it starts, and where the car collects you. Everything updates live.
Estimates for planning — a chauffeur builds in real buffer and knows the curb.
Tonight's running order
Read top to bottom: the door time, the drive, the drop-off, and the curtain.
Pick a venue and a showtime to build your evening.
How the model works
Estimates you can plan around
- Backwards from curtain
- Every plan starts at the showtime and subtracts the venue's recommended arrival lead, the drive, and your margin — so the door time is what actually gets you seated, not a guess from a fixed start.
- Real venue policies
- Each house carries its own arrival rule: Broadway holds latecomers until a break, the Met Opera seats none until intermission, Radio City and the Garden run airport-style screening. The lead time reflects the door you are walking through.
- Manhattan traffic curve
- Drive times use a 24-hour New York speed curve — the 4–7 PM crawl, the late-night clear — plus a crosstown penalty, because the avenues move and the side streets do not.
- Congestion zone
- The planner flags when your route crosses below 60th Street into the Congestion Relief Zone, with the current passenger-car toll, so the fare holds no surprises.
- What it does not know
- Your exact address, a red-carpet backup, a sudden downpour, or a stage-door crowd. A booked chauffeur adds margin for those and stages the pull-in — call the box office to turn a draft into a reserved car.
From the program
Questions at the box office
How does the planner decide when the car should arrive?
It works backwards. It starts from the showtime, subtracts the venue's recommended arrival lead (30 minutes for a Broadway curtain, 45 for the Met Opera, an hour for Madison Square Garden, and so on), then subtracts the drive time on a Manhattan traffic curve with a crosstown penalty, plus a margin you choose. The result is one clear time to have the car at your door.
Why is the recommended arrival different for each venue?
Because the houses differ. Broadway theaters bag-check and hold latecomers until a scene break. The Metropolitan Opera opens 45 minutes early for security and will not seat latecomers until intermission. Arenas and Radio City run airport-style screening with real entry lines. Dinner reservations only need a few minutes. The planner carries each venue's real policy.
Does it account for congestion pricing?
Yes, as a flag. Most Manhattan venues below 60th Street sit inside the Congestion Relief Zone, so an evening trip there crosses the toll — about $9 at peak (until 9 PM) or $2.25 overnight for a passenger car. The planner notes when your route enters the zone so there are no surprises.
Can I put this planner on my own site?
Yes — it is free to embed. Copy the snippet in the embed box below; it loads a chromeless version of the planner and includes a small credit link back to this page.
Will Manhattan Chauffeur Co. actually drive the evening?
The planner is a free tool. When you want the car booked against a real address and a real curb, call the box office and a dispatcher reserves a chauffeur — with the venue's drop-off and an after-show pickup built in.