In article , says...
One of those mass transit facilities used to have *free*, regular,
quick shuttle-bus service to all areas at JFK. That shuttle bus
service was discontinued when the AirTrain came online. The result?
The AirTrain actually *increases* the cost and time required to
get from JFK to many parts of Manhattan -- any part served by the
"A" train of the subway system, and offers no improvement in
convenience whatsoever -- it's still a two-seat ride.

It just costs $7 now instead of $2. Yeah, that was worth spending
two billion dollars. *Sure* it was.

The folks making those decisions don't care. They know they have the only
train ride to the airport, so they charge what they want. If they really
cared, they would have worked with the MTA to give us a single ride to the
airport. If they had done that, the $5 fare would be fair.
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Alex