A ringing endorsement for RTA's airport service
Clevelanders, you need to know how lucky you are to have direct public transit service to the aiport.
For nearly three years, I lived in central Queens, about equidistant from JFK and Laguardia. During that time, I took a shit-ton of plane trips.
So please believe me when I say this: trying to get to any of New York's three airports via public transportation was always a nightmare of epic proportions. (I remember a bus trip back from JFK at 11 pm that would've sent Stephen King running for cover.)
I mean, you'd think that "hey, this is New York, I should be able to take a train directly to the airport of my choice." Not so! You can't take a train directly to any of the airports, in fact. At Newark, you have to get off NJ Transit at the Newark Airport station, then pay an additional $5 to get on the monorail. At JFK, you've got to take the E train to Jamaica Center, get off, and then pay an additional fare to get on the AirTrain. And oh, Laguardia! You can't even get to Laguardia on the train because there are no trains that go there. Good luck sitting on the bus for an hour and a half.
In fact, I remember sitting on that bus once thinking, my god, I can't believe there's something that Cleveland does better than New York!
For nearly three years, I lived in central Queens, about equidistant from JFK and Laguardia. During that time, I took a shit-ton of plane trips.
So please believe me when I say this: trying to get to any of New York's three airports via public transportation was always a nightmare of epic proportions. (I remember a bus trip back from JFK at 11 pm that would've sent Stephen King running for cover.)
I mean, you'd think that "hey, this is New York, I should be able to take a train directly to the airport of my choice." Not so! You can't take a train directly to any of the airports, in fact. At Newark, you have to get off NJ Transit at the Newark Airport station, then pay an additional $5 to get on the monorail. At JFK, you've got to take the E train to Jamaica Center, get off, and then pay an additional fare to get on the AirTrain. And oh, Laguardia! You can't even get to Laguardia on the train because there are no trains that go there. Good luck sitting on the bus for an hour and a half.
In fact, I remember sitting on that bus once thinking, my god, I can't believe there's something that Cleveland does better than New York!
posted by Christine Borne at 6:12 PM
4 Comments:
Tis true. That's one of the things I miss about living in Ohio City, being able to walk with my suitcase to the train and go straight to Hopkins. Every time I've flown since moving to the Heights I've driven and paid to park.
That's true...the Q33 bus can get you from the train station at Roosevelt/74th in Jackson Heights to LGA in about 10-15 minutes, though. Of course, if you're coming from the city, tack on another 30+ minutes to get to Roosevelt/74th. If you're taking the M125 bus directly from the Upper West Side, you're looking at an hour, at least. I've never flown into/out of Newark or JFK, but I can't imagine it would be any better. There's always taxis, of course, but I'm a cheap bastard. I'd rather spend the money on beer.
Wow, were you taking some bizarro Q33 bus I don't know about? :) I took the Q33 bus at least 8 times while I lived there and boy oh boy, was my experience different from yours. Never less than 45 minutes; as long as an hour and a half. My husband claims he got to Laguardia in 20 minutes at 5 am once.
I'm like you - cheap - I never once paid for a taxi the whole time I lived in New York!
Whaaaat? I've probably used the train/Q33 maneuver 7 or 8 times and never had that long of a ride. One time, it did take forever to arrive for some reason. Geez, were there some antsy and annoyed people waiting alongside me. Based on your experiences, I guess I've been lucky.
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