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LGA Traffic Nightmare: Redevelopment 2016–≈2020; New For-Hire Vehicle & Taxi Pickups

Old Aug 27, 2016, 7:54 pm
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Last edit by: progapanda
Effective MAY 5 2018 - FHV pickup for Terminal B permanently located on 2nd level of garage - https://twitter.com/lgacentral/statu...10117236142080 - exit the Departures level and proceed to the bridge at the far right, enter the Garage, and find your lettered pickup lane/column.

FHV pickup for Terminals C and D require taking a free shuttle to the Marine Air Terminal for pickup at that location. https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/new-...minal-c-d.html
As of August 2019, FHV pickup for Terminals C and D is now available in the curb area between the two terminals.

As of August 2019 - Yellow Taxi pickup for Terminal B may require shuttle bus transfer during peak traffic periods. Yellow Taxi pickup for Terminals C and D is via shuttle bus to Terminal A at all times! - https://twitter.com/LGAairport/status/994659741568774155/photo/1


LGA Airport Travel Advisories [Official Site]:
http://laguardiaairport.com/traveladvisories/

LGA Airport - Changes to MTA Bus Routes [Official Site]:
http://laguardiaairport.com/news/cha...-at-laguardia/

LGA-Area Traffic [Google Maps]:
https://www.google.com/maps/@40.7636.../data=!5m1!1e1

NYC DOT Traffic Camera - Grand Central Parkway at 27th Ave (LGA Central Terminal Entrance):
http://dotsignals.org/google_popup.php?cid=679

LGA Redevelopment Website:
https://www.anewlga.com/

LGA New Rideshare / For-Hire Vehicle Rules (as of 5 Apr 2017):
http://laguardiaairport.com/news/fhv-pick-up/
http://www.panynj.gov/press-room/pre...adLine_id=2667
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LGA Traffic Nightmare: Redevelopment 2016–≈2020; New For-Hire Vehicle & Taxi Pickups

Old Jul 19, 2019, 9:19 am
  #361  
 
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Does anyone know whether there is access to Terminals C and D across the 102nd Street bridge from Ditmars Boulevard? For someone who doesn't want to wait, it might be worth hailing a ride-share from Ditmars if that's available.
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Old Jul 19, 2019, 10:50 pm
  #362  
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Are we going to start seeing FIDS for ride-sharing?

From Terminal C yesterday, meandered to the ridesharing area, only to abandon ship and hop on the fortuitously-placed LGA Link to Jackson Heights. Took about 20 minutes from C to JH, including five minutes of Uber jostling to exit C.

Its a summer Friday so really not too busy on the subway, thus saved a bit of Grabd Central Parkway agita right there.
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Old Jul 21, 2019, 3:36 pm
  #363  
 
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This looks like it's only for the central terminal, but Lyft announced on Friday that starting 7/20/19 they have a new pickup procedure for Lyft Standard (i.e., not Line, XL, Lux, etc.) rides at LGA:

https://blog.lyft.com/posts/making-a...er-for-you-lga

In short, they're essentially setting up a taxi-style queue. Instead of guessing at when you should request a car and then getting matched with a specific driver and waiting for that driver to make his way from a holding area to the chaotic pickup area where you have to find each other, you request a car when you're on your way to the pickup area, and it gives you a 4 digit code that corresponds to your ride (your pricing, destination, etc.). then join a passenger queue at the pickup area, and there's a corresponding driver queue, and they match passengers to drivers as they work through the queue. You give your code to the driver and you're off.

This seems sensible since it should in theory take the guesswork out of when you should request your car, and make the pickup area far less chaotic.. It will be interesting to see if it works well in practice, though.
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Old Jul 22, 2019, 8:38 am
  #364  
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They started doing this at other airports earlier this year:
Lyft trials taxi-like lines at airports

I think it makes tons of sense at LGA with the traffic situation. As I posted in the linked thread, finding my specific driver at LGA is an enormous hassle. I also think it's very inefficient in the grander scheme and is partly responsible for the traffic problems.
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Old Jul 30, 2019, 6:17 am
  #365  
 
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The yellow cabs must really be hurting with the current setup in Terminal B (possible to walk to Uber but have to take bus to yellow cabs). I arrived at 4 PM yesterday and was literally the only person on the shuttle bus to the cabs. Plenty of taxis available. A little annoying to take the bus but the taxi stand is in a much less congested area now.

Uber wanted almost 2x the typical taxi fare... no thanks. I guess Uber has enough market penetration now that plenty of tourists just pick it assuming it will be cheaper.
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Old Aug 9, 2019, 9:12 am
  #366  
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So I reported on the hell getting into/out of LGA upthread, but seems it got even worse with the perfect storm of...a storm, as well as the peak travel, and I'm sure it being a Thursday didn't help (but Wednesday was bad too). Making a lot of local press, particularly videos of people walking on the roadways.

https://abc7ny.com/traffic/drivers-f...-walk/5453616/
https://pix11.com/2019/08/09/laguard...ffic-gridlock/
https://nypost.com/2019/08/08/gridlo...-to-terminals/
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Old Aug 10, 2019, 6:58 am
  #367  
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Thankfully, the roadways were clear this morning at 0800.
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Old Aug 12, 2019, 3:58 am
  #368  
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What's it like arriving at 7pm a week from now and getting a taxi at terminal B? Should I count on $50 or more to get to midtown or will jams bump up the cost on the meter?
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Old Aug 12, 2019, 9:31 am
  #369  
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Originally Posted by FlyinHawaiian
Thankfully, the roadways were clear this morning at 0800.
My guess is that the worst times are Thursday and Friday afternoon/evenings, as you've got business people returning from business trips and leisure travelers departing on weekend leisure trips at the same time, jamming up the roads. I think the business travelers are probably the worst offenders as they're most likely to be a single passenger in a vehicle.

Even on say, a Monday morning, you only really have the road warriors (and maybe some tourists) departing, no arrival-related traffic.
Saturday morning is probably mostly families going on vacation, so 3-4 passengers on average in a vehicle.

But I'd love more data points.
Based on Google maps at the present time (11:30am local time Monday), looks relatively ok at Terminal B, and only a little bad at Terminals C/D. No backup all the way onto the GCP.
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Old Aug 12, 2019, 3:19 pm
  #370  
 
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About Right

Originally Posted by stimpy
What's it like arriving at 7pm a week from now and getting a taxi at terminal B? Should I count on $50 or more to get to midtown or will jams bump up the cost on the meter?
You will take the shuttle bus from terminal B to the taxi pickup at Terminal A. $50 with toll and tip to Midtown is about right. Add another $5-$7 for heavy traffic which will probably be the case.
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Old Aug 12, 2019, 5:22 pm
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Last edited by stuyguy; Aug 12, 2019 at 7:55 pm
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Old Aug 13, 2019, 8:25 am
  #372  
 
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Originally Posted by stimpy
What's it like arriving at 7pm a week from now and getting a taxi at terminal B? Should I count on $50 or more to get to midtown or will jams bump up the cost on the meter?
You can also hop on the Q70 bus from the terminal to Jackson Heights subway station (the bus makes no stops between the airport and the subway) and transfer to express subways serving 6th Ave (F train) or 53rd St/8th Ave (E train) in Midtown. For $2.75 all-in* it's a great deal, and it can sometimes be faster than taxi or FHV, especially if your destination is close to an E or F station and there's traffic at the East River crossings.

*$2.75 is the fare (including free transfer) if you have a metrocard. If you don't have a metrocard, you'll need to get one before you board the bus.
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Old Aug 13, 2019, 2:45 pm
  #373  
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Originally Posted by themicah
You can also hop on the Q70 bus from the terminal to Jackson Heights subway station (the bus makes no stops between the airport and the subway) and transfer to express subways serving 6th Ave (F train) or 53rd St/8th Ave (E train) in Midtown.
Unless the routing has changed, I'm pretty sure the Q70 goes Queens-B-D-C-Queens, so while it wouldn't be a bad idea to take the Q70 *to* Terminal B at LGA, I would highly advise taking it *from* Terminal B at LGA, especially since the worst traffic seems to be around C/D.

ETA - the routing has not changed, I wouldn't take it from Terminal B.
http://web.mta.info/mta/planning/sbs/Q70SBS.html
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Old Aug 19, 2019, 7:55 pm
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For anyone traveling in the next few days, the Q70 is free all summer -- until September 2 for 2019. Just board the bus using any available door.

Originally Posted by themicah
You can also hop on the Q70 bus from the terminal to Jackson Heights subway station (the bus makes no stops between the airport and the subway) and transfer to express subways serving 6th Ave (F train) or 53rd St/8th Ave (E train) in Midtown. For $2.75 all-in* it's a great deal, and it can sometimes be faster than taxi or FHV, especially if your destination is close to an E or F station and there's traffic at the East River crossings.

*$2.75 is the fare (including free transfer) if you have a metrocard. If you don't have a metrocard, you'll need to get one before you board the bus.
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Old Aug 20, 2019, 10:40 am
  #375  
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Originally Posted by progapanda
For anyone traveling in the next few days, the Q70 is free all summer -- until September 2 for 2019. Just board the bus using any available door.
FWIW, I assume most people transfer to/from the subway, so the bus ride is "free" anyway, but this definitely helps if you don't have a metrocard when arriving LGA, one less thing to worry about there. It also eliminates the risk of a bus pulling away while you're getting the SBS ticket from the machine (which has happened to me...).
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