On the heels of my post earlier in the week about the Port Authority’s proposal to extend PATH from Newark Penn Station to Newark Liberty International Airport, Gothamist explains why a rail connection to LaGuardia has never happened—and, at the rate we’re going, probably never will. (Though never say never, right?)
“As late as 2003, $645 million was budgeted for an N train extension to La Guardia,” Christopher Robbins writes. But it was “torpedoed by elected officials from Queens. When can we expect direct service to LGA to be a priority again? ‘Don’t hold your breath,’ says Jeffrey Zupan, a senior fellow at the Regional Plan Association.”
Mr. Zupan continues:
It’s very much a businessperson’s airport. … A high share of people are using it for business, so they don’t carry a lot of luggage, which does speak in favor of adding public transit to La Guardia. But it also means that if they’re using it for business, they can afford a cab.
Unlike Newark, where there’s a rail solution, it’s very hard to find an answer to La Guardia. … I looked around the room at a panel discussion on this the other night, and I told them that even the youngest among you, not in your lifetime.
Read more
“Here’s Why You Can’t Get To La Guardia By Train” by Christopher Robbins
Gothamist.com, 6 February 2014
Photo
As long as there has been a LaGuardia Airport, this has been the only way to get there.
9 August 2008
Doug Kerr via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0
Dustin Tyler Joyce 