Buses to NYC Airports and AirTrain Post Record Ridership

[Matt Molnar]

The MTA and PANYNJ released ridership numbers today.

On the MTA side, ridership aboard NYCTA bus routes serving JFK and LGA jumped despite overall bus ridership remaining flat:

Several routes that provide service to local airports also saw increases in ridership. The M60 bus, which operates between Upper Manhattan and LaGuardia Airport, was up 5.5 percent or 751 riders per weekday. The Q3, which operates between Jamaica and JFK Airport, was up 4.8 percent in 2007, or 440 riders per weekday. Ridership on the B15, which operates between Bedford-Stuyvesant and JFK Airport, was up 3.0 percent or 663 riders per weekday.

Both JFK and Newark AirTrains also experienced surges in ridership:

AirTrain JFK served more than 4.4 million paid passengers last year, an increase of about 12 percent over 2006, marking the fourth straight year of increased ridership. AirTrain Newark handled nearly 1.8 million paid passengers, an increase of about 13.5 percent over 2006, and the sixth consecutive year of increased ridership.

Press releases:
NYC Transit Ridership Shows Continued Gains In 2007 (http://mta.info/mta/news/releases/?en=080207-NYCT23)
Port Authority’s airport rail systems continue to set records (http://www.empirestatenews.net/News/20080207-12.html)

[Nonstop2AUH]

Interesting, car services and taxis to the airports from Manhattan are getting pretty expensive and foreigners are especially used to using public airport transportation so I am sure this accounts for some of it.

[Matt Molnar]

More travelers in general, more foreign tourists due to the weak dollar, airports being more prominently displayed on MTA maps, more employees commuting to work at the airports to serve the increased number of travelers, more employees traveling via mass transit because driving is too expensive, all possible factors.

Since it seems an LGA AirTrain won't be happening in our lifetime, it would be nice if the PA subsidized extra service on the M60 since the MTA only adds service reactively rather than proactively.

[adam613]

Since it seems an LGA AirTrain won't be happening in our lifetime, it would be nice if the PA subsidized extra service on the M60 since the MTA only adds service reactively rather than proactively.

The problem with the M60 isn't so much the frequency of service as the fact that it's a city bus. It's a real pain to get any reasonable amount of luggage on a city bus...even carrying my camera bag is trying on a full bus, whereas a rolling suitcase isn't a problem on the LIRR or the AirTrain even during the evening rush. When I was in college and had no money and lived a block from the M60, I still used to take a cab to LGA.

(As much as I love spotting at LGA, I still avoid flying out of there like the plague.)