Bloomberg Wants to Build LaGuardia-Style AirTrains Across the U.S.
If you like Kennedy Airport’s train to the plane — and Gov. Cuomo’s much-derided plan for a similar train at LaGuardia Airport — you’ll like presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg’s latest gambit for votes.
Plans to build passenger rail lines to some of the country’s busiest airports are part of the former New York City mayor’s infrastructure platform to be unveiled on Wednesday.
Bloomberg wants to model those railways after Cuomo’s proposed AirTrain to LaGuardia, which has been been chided by community activists and transit advocates as a $2 billion “boondoggle” that’s a waste of taxpayer dollars.
“That is the type of project that we would be looking to prioritize under this plan,” Bloomberg spokesman Brian Reich said of the LaGuardia AirTrain.
If approved, the LaGuardia AirTrain would offer a two-seat, two-fare ride from Manhattan and other points in the city. The service would connect to the subway and Long Island Rail Road at a new station at Mets-Willets Point, forcing riders from Manhattan to trek to eastern Queens before doubling back to catch their flights.
Ben Kabak, who runs the transit advocacy blog Second Ave. Sagas and has led a campaign against the LaGuardia AirTrain, said Bloomberg should re-think his pitch.
“The LGA AirTrain, which would increase travel times for the vast majority of travelers and airport employees, is not a project we should be seeking to replicate around the country,” Kabak said.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) has joined a chorus of Queens residents who are protesting the AirTrain. She sent a letter Jan. 10 to the Federal Aviation Administration that asked the agency to look into alternatives, like an extension of the subway’s N line that would provide a one-seat ride to the airport.
It’s not clear which airports are covered under Bloomberg’s plan.
Reich said the billionaire will start with the country’s 10 busiest airports — six of which already have rail access.
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