Reliability of JFK AirTrain
 

I'm not sure EWR is much better. But aside from JFK and EWR...

yeah....don't count on the JFK airtrain working as expected. But NYers are so used to stuff like this that we expect things by the MTA to not be working.

I don't think the MTA operates AirTrain

That's correct. The Port Authority does.

I got bit by an AirTran meltdown last night. Only a single car was running on the All Terminals Loop. There weren't any staff or signage in the terminal letting customers know of this fact or where to find the buses that were running as alternates. After surveying the crowd of people waiting for a bus and not seeing any for a good 10 minutes, I abandoned my plans to get to Federal Circle and my rental car reservation and ordered an Uber. Way to go, Port Authority!

??? the 'all terminal loop' train does NOT go to Federal Circle ever (unless its heading into out of service and then it wont stop there anyway on the way to the barn).

You needed to take either the Howard Beach or Jamaica Train, fwiw I never saw either the HB or JS train have only 1 car , but plenty of times the interloop will have just 1 and its usually pretty empty then too

In all terminal stations, one platform has inner loop (stops at all terminals), and the other platform terminates at Howard Beach/Jamaica (also stops at all terminals). The key is to make sure to get on the right train.

Is Airtrain at JFK the most efficient people mover? No. Is it unreliable? I am of the opinion that is largely exaggerated.

I was trying to get to Federal Circle but both the Howard Beach and Jamaica AirTrains were out of service. The only train in service was a single car running on the inner All Terminals Loop.

Now I understand, wish you said this in your 1st prior post.

Yep time to time they must shut down the lines for maintance, usually its over a weekend at times few if any folks will be using the train. But may not have been routine maintance but rather a problem that popped up. When they will be shutting down either the HB and/or JS line they have notices on a screen at each station and at the entrance to the stations as a placard telling folks to use the buses. When the interloop is shut no placards anywhere and only a message on the screens telling everyon eto use the trains on the other side for term to term, which means if youre at T2-8 and want to get to T1-7 you need to go to Fed Circle and then head back

The op did say so. You didn't understand what he was saying.

I've yet to see a time when "few if any folks will be using the train." Certainly there are times when it's less busy, but it's always in use. But you're also missing the point of this entire thread. Every system like this requires maintenance, whether routine preventative maintenance or unexpected maintenance due to breakdowns or other problems that crop up. But the AirTrain is operates "off plan" far, far more than any other similar system anywhere in the world. And when it is off plan, the Port Authority does a ridiculously bad job informing passengers of whatever poor alternative options they've put in place, whether that involves riding crowded and slow buses, riding to Federal Circle and turning around, riding to another terminal and turning around, or giving up and taking a taxi. I'm not a big fan of whining on this board, but if anything deserves whining it's certainly the JFK AirTrain.

Ive seen many a time a notice that was the LED boards saying that the system will be down say Sat Night 11:59pm till 5am for maintance, and this was during the week announcing that coming weekends work. But agree that for someone flying in theyd probably get no notice till they tried to get the AT. At times there are placards saying this before you enter the station from the outside at least I saw them @ T2.

Now I cant ever remember be it with JFK or any other airport where I checked the airport site to see if their trains will be running or not. FiH can I ask did you check prior to arrival to see if there was any mention of the AT not gonna be running? and what if anything was posted?

Its not only JFK but most US airports are light years behind Asian and European airports

Nope, I didn't check. The times I have been at JFK during a planned shutdown, there's been a decent attempt by the Port Authority of informing customers. My gripe this past Saturday evening was the shutdown wasn't handled very well. There weren't any signs or staff at the bottom of the escalators (I was in T4) up to the AirTrain warning of the outage; there was only a single person at the AirTrain lobby trying to direct traffic. The display monitors didn't give any helpful information on where the shuttle pickup was located, nor were there any signs or staff helping with that. At the shuttle pick up area, there weren't any Port Authority staff present and a lot of passengers were showing up who were told the entire AirTrain network was off-line so those trying to make terminal connections needlessly left the AirTrain station to go down to the waiting area. There was also no sign of any buses going to either Howard Beach or Jamaica during the 10 or so minutes we stood in the waiting area.

I get that stuff happens, but the alternate recovery operations was really sub-par in this case.

I agree with you AFAIK there is never any info posted on the platforms, except that its not running. There are suppose to be employees handling it all on the platforms , while if present the placards from what I recall have all the needed info

Ive seen then placards outside the stations dont recall if they were ever inside by the elevators or escalators

If was a Sat night then its routine maintance thats when the signs I see early in the week announce it will be down

the last time it affected me was after Sandy hit and the line was down for some time even worse when it came up the elevators @ HB were down for along time after that what a PITA having to walk up the stairs with 2 bags to check and my carry-on, had no idea the els were down

As for no placrds dont know whos to blame the PA or NYers who might have moved them simply to play with everyone, I saw a couple of kids 1 time moving it out of sight. The emplyees are usually preety well placed on each station platform

Not my experience in any way. More like - no signage directing you to the shuttle bus stop, incorrect info from airport and Port Auth employees, massive crowds of people milling about confused with no idea what's happening, then when the bus comes it's so overcrowded half the people in the crowd can't get on.

The last time I got caught in a scheduled AirTrain work stoppage coming back to JFK, they had all of one sign, positioned weirdly next to the men's bathroom, informing passengers that the train wasn't running that weekend. If you didn't just happen to walk by that one sign, there was nothing to indicate things were any different. No signs or anything at the stairs to the platform, so I and others just went up as normal. No signs or people standing in the terminal directing you to the bus stop. Airport employees insisting the AirTrain was running normally because they didn't know any better.

The EWR train is even worse, if possible. It's so slow you could arguably walk faster. One time it was shut down and replaced by a shuttle bus, but the driver went down an access road to a locked gate, and we all sat there on the bus for 20 minutes while they went and found someone who could open it. Port Authority unions make the MTA look good, and that's saying a lot.