(The following story by Joshua Robin appeared on Newsday?s website on December 14.)
NEW YORK — The AirTrain is finally here, even if it’s not quite all there.
The first direct rail service to a New York airport, which opens Wednesday, has Gov. George Pataki glowing and the Port Authority patting itself on the back.
Kennedy Airport travelers, meanwhile, are considering the promise of a viable alternative to traffic-clogged trips along the Belt Parkway and Van Wyck Expressway.
But one word deflates the good news: Transfer.
The AirTrain does not provide a direct ride from Manhattan to Kennedy terminals. A switch is required at either Howard Beach or Jamaica, where customers arrive via the subway or the Long Island Rail Road.
That has many thinking the first AirTrain is not the last word on getting to the airport. “If they can have one train to JFK from Penn Station, that would be wonderful,” said Ockert Du Plooy, exiting the Howard Beach subway station, bound for his native South Africa.
The Port Authority, which runs the region’s three major airports, doesn’t dispute that the ballyhooed project isn’t as convenient as it could be. And, at Pataki’s behest, planners are studying the possibility of a link from lower Manhattan directly to Kennedy. “We needed to get this first piece in place,” Port Authority spokesman Pasquale DiFulco said. “There’s no reason why we should have held up this project just because it couldn’t be the one-seat ride initially.” The AirTrain project has not been without problems. At $1.9 billion, the project cost $400 million more than anticipated. Funding came from $3 surcharges on departing air passengers and Port Authority coffers.
A September 2002 test-drive ended in a fatality, when driver Kelvin DeBourgh, 23, derailed on the outskirts of Kennedy. A National Transportation Safety Board report concluded that as a result of poor training and a lack of communication, DeBourgh had rounded a curve too quickly; he was traveling about 55 mph on a stretch designed to handle a speed no faster than 25 mph. When the AirTrain begins operating, it will be automated.
Previous plans for rail service to Kennedy also have encountered problems. DiFulco said there simply was too much community opposition and too little funding to build the one-seat ride New Yorkers have long craved.
“This is a very long and complicated history,” said George Haikalis of the Institute for Rational Urban Mobility, who added that the Port Authority could have done more to advance the reality of a one-seat ride.
In the late ’60s, Gov. Nelson Rockefeller proposed a train from Penn Station to Kennedy, using the now-defunct Rockaway Beach branch of the LIRR that runs through Forest Park. But the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said Penn Station couldn’t accommodate more volume, said Bob Olmsted, a former MTA planner.
Olmsted said that a decade later, the Port Authority mused paving over the Rockaway Beach branch and running buses to Kennedy. Those living near the rails fought the plan.
There were other more recent attempts. Most notable was the ill-fated “Train to the Plane” — express service on the A line from midtown. The name was misleading: getting to Kennedy required a bus from Howard Beach. After initial enthusiasm, it ended in 1990 because of low ridership. Then, Gov. Mario Cuomo proposed a series of new rail links connecting midtown to Kennedy, LaGuardia and Jamaica. City planners ended up scrapping most of the bold but costly plan, except for one piece — connecting the Jamaica station with Kennedy. The Port Authority attached a 3.3-mile loop to Howard Beach. The AirTrain was born.
Construction began Sept. 16, 1998. A single ride from Howard Beach or Jamaica to the airport costs $5 — monthly unlimited passes are available for $40 — and a ride from midtown is expected to take about 45 minutes. Passengers using AirTrain within the airport will not be charged.
The only other airport in the region with an AirTrain is Newark Liberty International, which closely follows Kennedy in the number of passengers. The Newark AirTrain travels between the airport and stops on the the Amtrak and NJ Transit lines.
Although passengers still have to transfer, the stations where the schlepping will take place are polished and sleek. There are glass elevators, high-tech ticket machines and, at Howard Beach, an inspiring view of the airport and a nearby marsh that is a resting place for flocks of seagulls.
Antonio Goring, a JetBlue customer service representative from Harlem, said a one-seat ride from Manhattan certainly would have been his first choice.
But he wasn’t complaining. Goring, 25, has had to take the A train to Howard Beach and then transfer to a crowded shuttle bus. “It’s better than nothing and it’s appreciated,” he said of the new service. “Hopefully, it works out.”