And on a side note....after i got in my car I wanted to use the bathroom at the subway station I found the doors locked. :-(

Apparently you left out whiny tax consumers who jump at the opportunity to complain about anything. Otherwise you would still be working on it.

Um, you'll get a 20% bonus, that's $2.00 and that gets you one ride these days on the NYCMTA.

But yeah, it's still a great deal easier than buying the ticket on BART. Of course BART fares are more equitable in that they are charged based on distance, something the NYCMTA would love to be able to do on their subway.

I stand corrected - 20% bonus.
What was I thinking.

Washington, DC does the same thing. It's not equitable, it's stupid.

Even in NYC, the farebox is not the primary source of revenue. Taxes pay the bulk of costs (similar to roads).

If you make the ticket purchase too complicated, you will piss off people, and some of them won't come back. It's ironic that in NYC, where usage of public transport is virtually required, buying just one fare is very simple -- it's $2.00, period.

Amtrak has the same foolish thinking with their long distance train pricing. A ticket on a short route (e.g., San Antonio to Ft. Worth) is very cheap. A ticket going a long distance is very expensive.

The result is the few people who take long distance trains short distances save money on a trip they were going to take for fun anyway, and few people are riding long distances because it's cheaper to buy an airline ticket.

Tried the Airtrain on 2 occasions only to discover it is more expensive but no more convenient or faster than other alternatives.

I traveled Airtrain Jfk - Jamaica in the late weekday afternoon, then used the E train($7.) and probably arrived at 74th/Bway, Jackson Hts a little faster than Q-10 to Kew Gardens and E train($3.)

Returning to Jfk late morning from midtown, waited 20 minutes for A to Howard Beach,
then waited at least another 10 minutes for Airtrain($7.), A to Lefferts Blvd and Q-10 would have been faster($2.).

The only advantage with Airtrain leaving the airport seems to be for those going to Long island or Penn Station.

A note to anyone going to Long Island on a weekday morning. Due to the constant trail of commuters going into Manhattan there is very limitied service between 6am and 9am going east from Jamaica. This is even more fustrating given that most red-eyes arrive just a little too late to catch the pre 6am trains thus a 2+ hour wait.

example: Huntington (a very high demand station) has nothing in between 6:12a and 8:15a

In that situation, I suppose one just has to stop and have breakfast -- either in the airport or in Forest Hills. I recently ate a great (and cheap) b'fast at the T-Bone Diner on Queens Blvd/Continental Ave. There are also decent breakfast possibilities at JFK, such as the Au Bon Pain branches (terminals 8 and 9 have them and they're OUTSIDE security; don't know if they are in other terminals since I'm only acquainted with 7, 8, and 9).


Kathy



[This message has been edited by KathyWdrf (edited Mar 13, 2004).]

Ewwww... you've actually eaten at the T-bone diner? I used to walk past that place every day, and I wondered who would eat there. From the outside it smells like a grease vat -- like a McDonald's minus the McDonald's flavoring.

OK, after reading all the messages, I am a little confused.
I will be leaving Penn Station for JFK, what is the best way to get there?

Thanks for the ringing endorsement!

It is actually MUCH better than McDonald's, I assure you.


Kathy

That is exactly how I feel. For Long Islanders, this is great. For people who start from Penn Station or end there, then AirTrain makes some sense and has a higher value that previous options. For the rest of the travelling public into and out of JFK, the AirTrain is only a marginal change at best and not a financial saving of any significance. For some, the switch to the AirTrain is actually a poorer value proposition than what was had before. I am talking about people who could benefit from taking the A train from Howard Beach for 2 bucks who now must spend 7 bucks but have gained nothing of real value.

[This message has been edited by GUWonder (edited Mar 15, 2004).]

I've taken the A train from Upper Manhattan to Howard Beach to the free shuttle bus for a long time. I definitely appreciate the AirTrain much more than waiting for the shuttle bus, waiting for the bus driver to show up, waiting through all the parking lot stops where people get on with tons of large baggage, waiting as those same people have to haul off their baggage at terminal stops before mine, etc. Switching to the E train to Jamaica and getting the AirTrain there has made getting to JFK a faster option for me.

A train between JFK and Upper Manhattan? Talk about painful. Now I see why you have become a Jamaica convertee.

The A train isn't bad if it's going express all the way. (about 1 hour 15 minutes on subway alone) It's the bus I don't miss.