Originally Posted by
sbm12
What's your sample size? That's a pretty poor track record, even for NJT's ops. I've had occasional delays and such but none more than 15-20 minutes in the decade I've been riding the train to EWR.
Depends on where you're starting from and your preferred mode of transportation. In all the examples you cited the costs for a car are about the same from either and travel time to Manhattan, subject to which tunnel traffic you get stuck in, is often a wash. JFK is cheaper on mass transit but not necessarily faster.
Here is a sample of NJT from Newark airport to Penn station this coming Sunday afternoon from NJT website:
Depart : 12:18 PM - Northeast Corridor #7830
Arrive : 12:25 PM
Travel Time : 7 minutes
Fare Info
Depart : 12:59 PM - Northeast Corridor #7632
Arrive : 01:07 PM
Travel Time : 8 minutes
Fare Info
Depart : 01:06 PM - Northeast Corridor #7832
Arrive : 01:12 PM
Travel Time : 6 minutes
Fare Info
Depart : 01:15 PM - North Jersey Coast #7232
Arrive : 01:22 PM
Travel Time : 7 minutes
Fare Info
Depart : 01:17 PM - Northeast Corridor #7834
Arrive : 01:24 PM
Travel Time : 7 minutes
Fare Info
Depart : 02:04 PM - Northeast Corridor #7836
Arrive : 02:10 PM
Travel Time : 6 minutes
Fare Info
You can see there are at least 2 gaps here of over 40 minutes. Sure, you could get lucky and arrive at a time when they get 4 trains in 18 minutes, but 2/3 of time you will end up in that long gap. It's not bad during weekday evenings, but on late night and weekend afternoon, it could get quite long. A/E train, worst case I wait for 15 minutes.