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JFK Airtrain: Good News, Bad News, Good News and Bad News
While attending the Linux World trade show in Manhattan, I decided to
check out the new, long-awaited Airtrain at John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens. There is good news, bad news, more good news and more bad news about this project. The good news is that the JFK AirTrain is a massive, efficient, attractive system that fills a major hole in the New York City transportation grid. The bad new is that it is far more difficult to use the JFK Airtrain than it should be. The good news is that simple, inexpensive steps could remedy many of the usability issues. The bad new is that responsibility is so fragmented that nothing may be done. Two billion dollars well spent The JFK AirTrain is a project that New York City should be proud of. It provides a fast, frequent, and quiet ride between the eight airline terminals at Kennedy, a rental car center, long term parking and not one, but two mass transit facilities. The AirTrain stations have automatic doors that line up with the doors on the cars, so travelers stand in a comfortable, indoor space while waiting for their train. The cars are well lit and have plenty of space for luggage and even luggage carts. Since the AirTrain is fully automated, there is no cab for an engineer. Instead a picture window allows passengers to see where the train is going. AirTrain is now the primary way JFK travelers move between terminals to make connecting flights. It also replaces the swarm of car rental vans and brings people to the long term parking lot. These internal airport rides are free and are expected to be the most common use of Airtrain. Trips to either transit station cost $5. Subway or commuter rail fare is extra. Airport workers can buy a monthly pass for $40. There are ample automated ticket machines at both transit stations. Can we make Airtrain harder to use? There is an old adage: never ascribe to malfeasance what can be adequately explained by incompetence. None the less, I can't help wondering if there isn't a conspiracy to keep Airtrain ridership down. Perhaps officials are still pouting because the JFK Airtrain doesn't provide a "one seat ride" to Manhattan. It doesn't cure cancer either. Whatever its merits, it's built, it cost a lot of public money, and it should be utilized to the greatest possible extent. Here is a summary of the problems I found. Problems at Penn Station The best connections to the JFK AirTrain from Manhattan are from Penn Station, the busiest train station in North America. From there you can take either the NYC Subway or a Long Island Railroad commuter train to the Jamaica AirTrain terminus. The subway is less expensive but takes longer. Yet there is almost no hint in the entire Penn Station complex that a link to JFK even exists. All I could find was one blue banner hanging in the Long Island Railroad waiting area deep in the bowels of the station. The information booth in the main rotunda still has a big sign advertising bus service to JFK and Laguardia Airports. By contrast, the rail service to Newark Airport, also called AirTrain, is prominently advertised. I found three Newark AirTrain kiosks in the Amtrak/New Jersey Transit area, each with an ample supply of leaflets describing only the Newark service. On the main display board, trains that stop at the new Newark Airport station, where passengers transfer to the Airtrain monorail, are clearly marked. By contrast, the LIRR has not modified any of its train displays to include mention of JFK. Amtrak also ignores the JFK Airtrain. Amtrak's Web site makes no mention of JFK. Yet with a little effort, Amtrak could develop a thriving airline connection sub-market on its Northeast corridor, which has rail connections to Baltimore-Washington, Boston, Islip, JFK, Newark, Philadelphia, and Washington National airports. Penn Station's favorable treatment of the Newark AirTrain while ignoring the JFK AirTrain is hard to justify. Both involve taking a commuter train to a stop near the airport and then transferring to an airport circulation system for rides to the individual terminals. The ride from Penn Station to the Newark Airport station takes 25 minutes. It's only 20 minutes from Penn Station to Jamaica. Ticket prices are about the same. Jamaica LIRR trains are more frequent than Newark Airport trains and JFK handles slightly more traffic than Newark (31.5 Million passengers per year vs 29.5). Problems at Jamaica The new AirTrain terminal at Jamaica is a bright, attractive space. Connections from the LIRR are simple. There are well-marked stairs and elevators at the west end of the LIRR platforms that lead up one level to the AirTrain upper lobby and center platform. Direct connections to the subway station are still under construction, so for now you have to exit the subway and walk around the block under the LIRR tracks to the impressive AirTrain street entrance. When you arrive at the AirTrain lobby at Jamaica, you are confronted with a bank of eight automated MetroCard ticket machines. There are no fare booth on the automated AirTrain system. Six airline check-in positions have been installed, but none are in use. The displays on the MetroCard machines will confuse many visitors. Someone who simply wants to get to the airport has to wade through seven levels of screen to buy a ticket: 1. Touch Start to Begin [this screen is only in English] 2. Which Language? English / Spanish / French / German / Chinese / Italian / Japanese / Korean [The choices are at least labelled in the actual language, e.g. Deutch] 3. Please select card type: MetroCard / SmartLink [There is no further explanation for this confusing choice. SmartLink is a monthly pass for New Jersey Transit and Newark Airport. How many New Yorkers know this, much less visitors from out of town?] 4. Refill your card / Get card info/ New card 5. Regular MetroCard / AirTrain 30 day $40 6. $5 JFK / $7 JFK + Subway/ $10 / $20 / Other amount 7. Cash / ATM / Credit See http://www.railfanwindow.com/gallery/album69 for some screen photos. Remember this is in the upper lobby facing the ticket gates to the AirTrain. Most visitors at this point simply want to buy a $5 ticket to JFK. A menu item marked "$5 JFK" could easily be displayed on the third screen. On the other side of the fare gate, there are eight more MetroCard machines and two LIRR ticket machines. I did not actually try it, but I fear that a traveler wanting to get to Manhattan from JFK via the faster LIRR route must negotiate two ticket machines, one to get out of the Airtrain and the other to buy a ticket for the train. Why not a one-ticket ride? The airport side of the Airtrain lobby would also be an ideal place to sell visitors a combine MetroCard with a round trip ticket on Airtrain and a one-week pass on the subway. Problems on the AirTrain The AirTrain itself is not as user friendly as it might be. Stops are announced in English inside the cars, but only the airport terminal number is given. There is a smallish card on each car listing the eight terminals and the airlines they serve. Howard Beach Howard Beach is where the Airtrain connects with the subway A train. Again there are banks of MetroCard machines. Here, the logical choice for almost all travelers (the exceptions are people who live in or are visiting the small Howard Beach community) is $7 JFK + Subway. To get to the subway, you have to go through two sets of ticket gates about 20 feet apart, one to leave the airport and one to enter the subway. The subway station is an open platform, but the station designers provided a window at the enclosed upper level from which you can see the train approaching. Cheap ways to make AirTrain easier to use Here are some simple ways ways to make AirTrain more usable. Some require an modest investment in time or money, but many are essentially free. At Penn Station o Include "JFK" in LIRR train announcements. The public address announcements for trains that stop at Jamaica usually end with "Change at Jamaica for..." followed by a long list of stations. Why not include "JFK" in that list? All it would take is a "make it so" phone call from LIRR management. o Add "JFK" to Jamaica sign over Penn Station LIRR next train display There is a large display over the LIRR ticket windows that lists, in alphabetical order, each station on the LIRR, followed by time and track number for the next train to that station. The times and tracks change, of course, but the station names are fixed, so it would be very easy to add the letters "JFK" after the word "Jamaica." This would be a huge aid for travelers unfamiliar with New York. o Stock AirTrain-JFK leaflets at existing AirTrain-Newark kiosks There are several kiosks at Penn Station advertising AirTrain Newark, each filled with flyers for the Newark service. All it would take is slapping on a decal that says "JFK" next to the word "Newark" and devoting half the shelves to JFK AirTrain Flyers. o Make sure the rotunda Information boot staff is cool with the JFK AirTrain There should be a supply of LIRR Jamaica schedules in stock at the booth. Lose the bus sign. o Display JFK AirTrain info in the main Amtrak NJT waiting area There is an auxiliary display board next to the main train listings that is used for special advisories. Usually it tells people not to leave baggage unattended. It could direct JFK passengers to the LIRR, perhaps "For JFK Airport connections follow signs to LIRR." o Put up some signs directing travelers to the JFK Airtrain Connections between NJ Transit and the LIRR should also be facilitated. o Modify LIRR video displays The New Jersey Transit displays include the letters "EWR" (the international airport code for Newark) next to every train that stops at the Newark Airport Station. The LIRR should modify its video display system to add "JFK" next to each train that stops at Jamaica. o Place a MetroCard vending machine in Amtrak/NJT lobby o Place an LIRR train display monitor in the Amtrak/NJT waiting area Or alternately, a monitor showing the next train to JFK. This could be accomplished by pointing a video camera at the Jamaica next train display described above. At Jamaica and Howard Beech o Easier ticketing The MetroCard machines at Jamaica and Howard Beach should be fixed to simplify purchase of the most common tickets, eliminating the current seven screen mess. It should also be possible to issue a single ticket that covers the JFK Airtrain and the LIRR to Penn Station. Making travelers to Manhattan navigate two separate ticket machines pretty much eliminates the time saving over just taking the subway, for which there already is a single ticket option. A single ticket between JFK and Newark Airport should also be feasible. o Help travelers figure out their terminal There should be flight displays at the Jamaica and Howard Beach AirTrain terminals (if there were any, I missed them). The information card on the AirTrain cars should be bigger and alphabetized by airline name instead of terminal number. o Place subway and LIRR maps in the Airtrain terminals Hopefully the new subway maps showing revised routes over the newly reopened Manhattan bridge will also show the AirTrain routes. Even better would be a special map showing the best connections from Manhattan to JFK. The map should show estimated travel times and clearly indicate cross-platform connections and handicapped accessible stations, a big plus for people with luggage. o The A trains that service the Howard Beach Station should have some clear airport marking. I suspect the a train fleet is still equipped with the old "Train to the Plane" signs. It might make sense to use them again. Who is in charge? While the steps listed above are mostly cheap and easy to implement, figuring out the agency responsible is a challenge. For example, AirTrain is owned by the Port Authority, Penn Station is owned by Amtrak. The LIRR and NYC subway both run trains that connect Penn Station with JFK Airtrain (they are part of the same agency, the MTA, but have incompatible ticketing). Transfers to Newark Airport also involve New Jersey Transit. I can only hope some political leader will take charge and whip this alphabet soup of agencies into shape. Arnold Reinhold |
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