AirTrain to LaGuardia proposed

[CHamilton]

For LaGuardia, an AirTrain that will save almost no one any time

» New York City’s LaGuardia Airport is its rail-inaccessible stepchild. A proposal to spend half a billion dollars on a new transit link there, however, may do little for most of the region.

 

[jerichowhiskey]

The only thing remotely good possibly coming out of this is the potential connection of the JFK AirTrain. I have used the Q70 from Jackson Heights and it can take me as little as eight minutes to get to Terminal B. People who would be served on the Port Washington branch of the LIRR could easily be accommodated by a Q48-Limited bus straight from Flushing to LGA than this proposal.

So yea, it is possibly easy to build, but it is nigh on useless.

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

WNBC was shoving a microphone in people's faces on last night's 6 asking them about this and the vast majority saw no need for it mainly because it will save no time and may even take longer than taking, for example, the Q70. LGA is just in an ackward place when it comes to smoothly linking up with transit.

 

[MattW]

Is there a specific need for a new technology? Why can't they just build it as an extension of the 7? Would the flushing line be capable of handling an extra subway line in addition to the existing 7 service?

 

[afigg]

The Second Avenue Blog is also discussing Cuomo's proposal and the response by and large is not positive in the comments on the blog: Out of nowhere, Cuomo announces an AirTrain to LaGuardia. People living in NY would like to have a rail transit connection to LaGuardia, but this one would be accessible near the end of an already very heavily used #7 line and through a LIRR branch line with 1/2 hour service frequencies. Appears that Cuomo's office threw this plan together with little, if any, input from the MTA or LIRR planners.

Even a cursory read of the map on the Transport Politic blog shows that the Jackson Heights route would provide far superior connections to LIRR and the NYC subway system. But that route has long been blocked by NIMBYs, so Cuomo's office came up with this out of the blue plan. Honestly, neither Cuomo nor the big guy in NJ have impressed me at all as legitimate Presidential candidates, despite their obvious ambitions, in how they have run their states, especially with regards to addressing their state's transportation needs.

 

[afigg]

Is there a specific need for a new technology? Why can't they just build it as an extension of the 7? Would the flushing line be capable of handling an extra subway line in addition to the existing 7 service?

There is nothing new about this technology. This would be the same Air Train technology used for the train connections to JFK.

As for a branch of the number 7 line, that is discussed in the comments on the Second Ave Saga blog. Flushing Main St station to the west on the Number 7 line is a very busy subway stop. Splitting the line off to LaGuardia would severely crimp service frequencies to the western end of the line. With the NYC subway now sometimes hitting 6 million passengers on weekdays, many of the lines are hitting peak capacity limits, so any new branch lines have to be viable within those constraints.

 

[spacecadet]

People thought the existing JFK AirTrain was a boondoggle and it ended up being very successful. Connecting to the LIRR turns out to be pretty important (Penn Station is a transit hub that the N/R lack). This proposal has the advantage of connecting to both Times Square *and* Penn Station, which are two of the most densely populated areas in Manhattan for both residents and business, and with connections to pretty much everywhere. And a lot of people would be all too happy to save $30 on cab fare.

I don't really see much of a problem with this proposal. It has the advantages of having better connections than the prior proposals, less neighborhood resistance, and it's cheaper to build.

As for LIRR frequencies, do people think those are somehow unchangeable? The LIRR updates its schedules once every few months. They've got plenty of time to plan for this.

 

[tp49]

JFK Airtrain made sense because on the LIRR end it terminated at Jamaica where every line in the system save Port Washington comes through.there so it's central and provides for roughly a two minute frequencies into Manhattan during the AM rush. The Port Washington branch has always had longer headways and all things considered barring a major shift in ridership that's not going to change anytime soon.

The best possible routing would be through Jackson Heights and the Woodside LIRR where you can connect to all branches of the LIRR and several major subway lines to different parts of Manhattan and beyond. However, that routing faces very strong opposition from surrounding Community Boards and barring a miracle is unlikely to happen.

In the meantime a better use of the state funds would be to repairing the Bay Park sewage treatment plant heavily damages in Sandy.

 

[jis]

'Tis the season for proposing silly projects. First we have the PATH extension to EWR, a $1.5 billion boondoggle, which does not gain us much. More would be gained by spending that money on the Portal Bridge/Gateway, or even starting to build 7 to Secaucus. Then we have this which will increase the time it takes to travel to LGA from Manhattan, not decrease it. It is these sorts of ill begotten projects that give rail projects a bad name.

The fastest and easiest way to achieve solution would be a high speed ferry from LGA to one or two suitable piers in Manhattan, connecting with bus and subway there, instead of an AirTrain headed the wrong way.

 

[XHRTSP]

No love for the MAT I guess.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

I don't know enough about NYC zoning and scheduling to speak to the specifics of the plan but I do like the general idea of having train service to LGA. Not sure if this plan can be modified to improve efficiency and gain more support or if it's simply doomed to fail from the start but I hope they eventually find a way to properly plan and fund this.

 

[jerichowhiskey]

The problem I have with the Jackson Heights and 61St Routing is, it pretty much terminates over the BQE on Roosevelt Avenue and there is simply no room to extend it west unless they are serious about building over the 7 train which frankly would be a heavier burden than what people at Astoria has to experience since it would affect the whole line.

If they want to turn at 37th Avenue onto Broadway towards the Jackson Heights station, I can see this as possible. There is room on the northwest end of the station to build a terminal there, but then you might as well just keep using the Q70.