From the Daily News:Viable mass transit to the closest “business airport” is a vital part of many cities in America. For example, airports like Reagan National and Midway have easy rail access from throughout Washington and Chicago.
At only 8 miles from midtown Manhattan, LaGuardia serves more than 25.7 million passengers, making it one of the 20 busiest airports in the country.
Yet LaGuardia has no viable mass transit options, putting New York City at a severe competitive disadvantage. Instead, passengers are forced to choose between expensive taxis, inconvenient private bus service from a few locations in Manhattan or long public bus rides.
That’s why we have urged New York City Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Kahn and MTA Chairman Tom Prendergast not to allow the concerns of a few politicians in one neighborhood to kill the new SBS rapid bus service route from 125th St. to LaGuardia Airport, and to go further by publicly committing to finding more viable mass transportation options to the airport.
The SBS line would include only six stops between its origin on the West Side and LaGuardia, providing a real option to thousands of riders in Upper Manhattan and along Astoria Blvd. in Queens, both burgeoning areas.
Who wrote this? Hmmm...
Joe Sitt is CEO of Thor Equities (developer destroying Coney Island)
Stuart Appelbaum is president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union
Stephen Sigmund is executive director of the Global Gateway Alliance
Lee Sander is president and CEO of HAKS Engineering and Architects
Bob Yaro is president of the Regional Plan Association
Tom Wright is executive director of the RPA
I see. It seems to me that everyone who wants to get to the airport manages to do so already. Sure, it could be improved, but it's not the most pressing transportation issue in the city. Unless, of course, you're looking at "burgeoning areas" as targets for development.
8 comments:
Yeah, developers may want this but so do a lot of other people.
It's ridiculous that New York doesn't have a direct train connection to any of its airports like most other major cities in the world.
The air train, by the way, really isn't a direct connection in that there is a separate fare. In the mass transit world it is well known that whenever that occurs, potential riders opt out. This separate air train fare has kept the taxi lobby very happy.
Extending a real subway to LaGuardia and eliminating the separate air train fare would finally bring New York into the 21st century when it comes to getting to and from the airport.
And don't worry taxi lobby, plenty of people will still take cabs in this city (even to and from the airport).
Who are the "lot of other people" who want this? All I've heard from residents is that they want bus service that was cut to be restored, or more frequent service in their neighborhoods. Not that they want an expess bus or a subway to LGA.
I was at both NYC airports yesterday - returning from JFK and picking up at LGA. We built the lite train system to JFK at great expense - yet don't really see much ridership or even signs at the airport indicating it exists - it's attractive to those who travel lite or need a cheap option into NYC. But LGA is entirely different because most passengers there are business folks traveling light or others arriving domestically. I would like to see a light rail system built to connect all terminals which could then transfer to the nearby Astoria line for a quick ride to midtown - this was a more feasible route and less costly project than JFK - I suspect the ridership to be far greater than the present JFK lite rail. Also key to it's success - the fare should only be the same as any ride used by metro card holders to really ramp up ridership - this is where JFK fails miserably!
the one time i took the air train, the stop was like a half mile from my check in desk. i'll take a cab next time
Peter Vallone stopped extending the Ditmars train to the airport cause a few blocks of his wallyo buddies in the 50's Capes converted to gaudy McMansions on 21st Ave objected to it.
A handful of blocks of Vallone supporters are between the airport and public transportation.
A stopped clock is right twice a day. Whenever I think about air travel - I have to add in an additional $100 for travel to and from the airport if I'm using JFK or LGA. Newark is vaguely accessible from NYC via mass transit but still it's not a good option.
Surface transportation as in Buses adding to more traffic and delayss ?
What jackasses. All they need is a high speed efficient catamaran. 12 minutes to Manhattan
I attended the last Manhtattan CB 9 transportation committee meeting, before the M60 SBS plan was dropped this summer, and the only person who was actively pushing for the cancellation of the SBS for the M60 route was a representative from Senator Perkins office who was too busy worrying about her parking space in front of her office while claiming that everyone was opposed to it. Everyone else at the committee was just trying to get it approved, or wanted to make small changes to the plan such as moving stops, or changing turning lanes, etc.
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