Welcome to Infrastructure Spotlight, a new series on Newshacker Blog examining major U.S. infrastructure projects in-depth. We’re back in New York today discussing the AirTrain LaGuardia.
Now that Andrew Cuomo is no longer governor of New York, Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul is now in charge of all the problems plaguing the U.S.’s largest city and fourth-largest state. That includes all the problems the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is facing and all the other infrastructure projects currently under construction, such as East Side Access. One major thorn Hochul will have to fix is AirTrain LaGuardia.
Of New York’s three major airports (JFK, Newark, and LaGuardia), LaGuardia is currently the only one not served by rail or an AirTrain. JFK Airport is served by AirTrain JFK, which connects travelers to the A subway train at Howard Beach or to the E, J, and Z trains as well as the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) at Jamaica. Newark Liberty Airport is served by AirTrain Newark, which connects the airport to the Newark Liberty International Airport train station, from which travelers can change to Amtrak or New Jersey Transit trains into Manhattan.
Besides the fact that LaGuardia is the oldest airport in the airea and so suffers from dirtiness, old facilities, cramped design, and is famously one of the worst airports in America, one major reason why it is also unappealing to travelers is its poor transit connections.
Currently, just five New York City bus routes serve the airport. The M60 Select Bus Service, which also doubles as a crosstown bus along 125th Street in Manhattan, is the only service that runs from LaGuardia to Manhattan, terminating at 106th Street. Connections can be made to downtown subway lines along stops on 125th Street. The other four buses primarily connect the airport to destinations and subway stops in Queens, with the most notable being the Q70 Select Bus Service which connects travelers to the 61st Street/Woodside station to connect with the subway and LIRR, along with an extra stop near the Jackson Heights subway station.
The lack of direct rail links to the airport has meant that far fewer passengers took transit out of LaGuardia than JFK or Newark. Considering New York’s forever congested streets in Manhattan, a better solution had to be found.
In 2015, then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo proposed the AirTrain LaGuardia to solve this problem. The AirTrain was proposed by Cuomo with a hope to “solve” access to LaGuardia. Unfortunately, his proposed routing is nothing short of a disaster.
Cuomo’s proposal was to build an AirTrain connecting two stops inside the airport with the Mets-Willets Point station, which is served by the 7 subway train and the LIRR’s Port Washington Branch, as seen in the photo. The proposal was estimated to cost around $2 billion ($4.1 billion in 2021 dollars), begin construction in 2022, and finish by 2024 or 2025.
Let us ignore the extremely high price tag (not to mention the probably illegal tampering that was done to the environmental impact statement by the Cuomo administration to force this option to be the only option) for a second and just break down the governor’s proposal, and why Hochul should immediately halt the project, which has not yet broken ground.
The first reason is that AirTrains are now an obsolete form of transit that should no longer be built.
The reason for the AirTrain’s existence is due to an old Federal Aviation Administration rule. AirTrain systems, which are typically found only in the U.S., serve to connect airport terminals and surrounding facilities with major rail stations or transportation hubs. This is different than a people mover whose goal is to get people around airport terminals only, rather than also connecting them to ground transportation.
Beginning in 1990, airports collected a small fee of $4.50 (increased from $3 some time ago) per passenger per air ticket called a “Passenger Facility Fee,” whose main goal is to be used for airport improvements. Unfortunately, in 2004, the FAA decided that the money would only be able to be used on rail lines that serve airports exclusively. This meant things like commuter rail or subway extensions to airports would not be eligible for this funding. Thus, the idea of AirTrains were born — rail lines that served the airport exclusively.
This has meant that projects such as the nearly-finished Washington Metro Silver Line project was not eligible for funding with the airport fee, as it served other stations other than Washington Dulles Airport.
However, the rule was officially rescinded by the FAA earlier this year, and so it means AirTrains are no longer necessary in order to rail projects to be eligible for the extra money. This means that other options, such as extending the subway, are now suddenly more viable.
The second is simply due to the routing of the AirTrain. Now, there are perfectly valid reasons as to why Mets-Willets Point would be a good choice for the AirTrain’s terminal. These include the major developments it would bring to the area and help the city completely transform the neighborhood into a newly redeveloped area with convention centers and hotels. It would also facilitate for AirTrain LaGuardia and AirTrain JFK to potentially be linked in the future, as extending either line along Interstate 678 could allow the two airports to be directly connected, which would be huge for connectivity between New York’s airports.
Unfortunately, for the average airport user, AirTrain LaGuardia in its current form is just not useful to them. In its current routing, taking the 6-minute AirTrain to Mets-Willets Point would require eastward travel in the opposite direction of Manhattan. Then, one would have to take either the crowded 7 subway for 18 stations in order to get to Manhattan, around 30 minutes. Alternatively, travelers could also connect to the LIRR commuter rail to take a 20-minute train ride into Penn Station (or Grand Central when East Side Access opens.
This means that it could be faster to take the current Q70 LaGuardia Link Select Bus Service to 61st Street/Woodside station and connect to subways or the LIRR from there, as that station is only nine stations away from Manhattan, while Woodside has trains to all LIRR branches (Mets-Willets Point is only served by the Port Washington Branch, meaning that connecting through Woodside is likely to be more convenient for most LIRR riders, too).
In essence, the routing means that the AirTrain won’t be an attractive option to most travelers, as it would probably be quicker and easier to use current transit methods. In fact, one stated objective of the AirTrain terminating at Mets-Willets Point is increased parking that could be built near the Citi Stadium. This defeats the point of having mass transit as transit should be intended for riders to use it solely to get to their destinations, not drive a car and connect to it.
One fact to consider is that the already-crowded 7 train is undergoing improvements to increase its headways while East Side Access would allow the LIRR to run far more trains along the Port Washington Branch, so concerns about connecting train frequency and capacity may be unfounded. Another argument is that regardless of which way the AirTrain goes toward, it would still be attractive as the goal of getting riders to the airport would still be achieved as people wouldn’t need to drive and an extra 10 or so minutes is not likely to deter many people away from that option.
However, the MTA has signaled that even if LIRR train service were to be increased, they would only come every 30 minutes during off-peak hours, rendering the time savings by using LIRR useless.
In addition, the massive, massive cost that will come from building this not-so-great AirTrain alignment will likely dig even deeper into the MTA’s debt-filled pockets. It seems unrealisitic that, given all that’s going on with the Second Avenue Subway and other MTA projects that this AirTrain would be completed on time and within budget (even if a large part of it is built by the Port Authority). That money might be better used elsewhere.
There are some alternative options that may work better for LaGuardia Airport. If the AirTrain format is to be kept, it could be tp run east along Interstate 278 instead, then underground to Woodside. This would definitely cost a lot, but it would benefit riders the most as travelers can connect to both the 7 subway, access all of the LIRR’s branches, and have a one-stop ride into Midtown Manhattan on westbound LIRR trains.
Alternatively, linking to Jackson Heights/Roosevelt Avenue Station could also be an attractive option. This would remove the option to connect with the LIRR, but would offer connections with the 7, E, F, M, and R subway trains. Taking the E and F express trains into Manhattan would be a three-stop ride. However, there is, once again, the issue of crowding on many of the Queens Boulevard subway trains. (The option to extend the AirTrain 2,000 feet to Woodside would remain, but it will, once again, likely be extremely costly.)
Another option to extend the Astoria Subway Line, which serves the N train, from its current terminal at Astoria/Ditmars Boulevard to the airport directly. This would mean that passengers can directly take the subway out of the airport and into Manhattan directly. If express trains were ran on the disused single-track express line along the Astoria Line, Times Square would only by around five subway stops away. This was proposed by Republican Mayor Rudy Giuliani in the 1990s, but was ultimately canceled due to opposition. It would also be a fairly costly option as the trains would likely have to run underground, as no existing right-of-way exists.
The diagram shows that by far the fastest way for a connection from the airport to Manhattan would be a connection to the LIRR at Woodside. If this alignment were built with a stop at the Jackson Heights subway station, it would provide widest rail coverage. Notably, though, current transit options don’t actually take that long — they’re just not on the rails, which puts many people off. If, instead, the N train were built, connection times to Flushing could be made much faster if the N train were also extended to Mets-Willets Point. (This, clearly, is a far-fetched dream.)
In summary, the current alignment of the AirTrain LaGuardia is probably not the best option, and studies should be conducted to determine if this really is the best way to connect to LaGuardia by rail.