I know it's been free for a while, but I can't find a thread discussing it, so figured I'd make one.

Today I took the Q70 for the first time (and second time) in a long time. Most of my LGA travel in recent years has been with small children and/or big luggage (or involves very late arrival into LGA) so we usually opt for a car service, but I've always been a big fan of public transit and today I was dropping off an unaccompanied minor with just a rollaboard so it was the perfect opportunity to reacquaint myself with the Q70 in its fare free era.

And I was extremely pleased to see that the buses were running frequently and were FULL (not so full that people couldn't get on, but standing room only) in both directions. I arrived at LGA around noon and left a little after 2pm, and the Q70 was perfect. On the way there we were running a little late and the F train was running local so I considered bailing from the train at 65th St and grabbing a Lyft, but I don't think it would have saved us more than 5 minutes vs. the bus. Making the bus free was a really great decision--it loads super fast even with a ton of people trying to get on at the same time with luggage, and the publicity seems to have attracted a lot more passengers than the last couple times I've taken it (which were a few years ago). It's ludicrous that they considered spending billions to replace this with an AirTrain to Willets Point.

Also, I know this has been said before, but if you're going to Terminal B, it's DEFINITELY faster to hop off the Q70 at the LaGuardia Rd/94th St stop (the first stop at the airport) than to wait for the bus to loop all the way around to Terminal C and back. The walk from LaGuardia Rd/94th St to the official Terminal B stop is under 1,000 feet, while the bus drives an extra mile and a half, and drops off and picks up a ton of passengers at Terminal C before getting back to the same spot.