Came back from NY, the capital of public transport in America. Even at La Guardia (the third world airport Joe Biden was talking about), the terminal is not connected to the train. The bus is some disorganized stop outside the terminal. No signage or clear instructions. You have to take the bus for like 20 minutes (not including waiting time) then connect to the train.
#1: John Bidet and other Americans who refer to LaGuardia as a third-world airport are totally off-base. It’s. Not. Really. An. International. Airport.
It’s a domestic/local airport in a big city. London City Airport, LA/Burbank, and the former Berlin Tempelhof didn’t have hotels, golf courses, dancing girls, nor horse racing on the airport grounds either.
#2: I like it dirty and slightly chaotic. It keeps the Midwestern tourons looking for a “good experience” going to Newark or JFK. Which in turn keeps security lines at LGA relatively short, fares relatively low (under $300 r/t to the West Coast is possible), and the rabble out.
#3: Public transport: I suspect there will eventually be a subway extension. The bigger issue is the crappy public transport to JFK and Newark. You have to change to a monorail vs getting a one-seat ride from Midtown. Why?
In the case of JFK, pissing contest between MTA, which runs the subways and Port Authority, which runs JFK and the monorial. In the case of Newark, who knows? PATH runs from 33rd St. to Newark Penn Station. Extension to the airport via an elevated viaduct over the Northeast Corridor line was perfectly plausible. Perhaps not-in-my-backyard types, afraid that their view of beautiful downtown Newark would be ruined forever.
THAT’s the problem with public transport in the US. A unified policy is sorely lacking.
Update: apparently, they’re planning to extend the PATH system to Newark Airport. AFTER!!!! building the monorail. Yay for spending bucks on the same project twice — got to love government accounting.
