I'm going on an airplane trip later today by myself, which means that I need to leave the car at home for my husband and the kids and that I have to find a way to get to the airport (my husband will be at work when I leave and the kids will be with a babysitter). My immediate thought was to call a cab, but when I did I had major sticker shock: $84 + tip one way. It's never been feasible to take public transportation to the airport before (managing the kids, the bags, and the carseats would be impossible), so I wasn't even sure what getting to the airport via public transportation would entail. It took me a while to figure out the best way to go (I tried Hop Stop's new Metro North Area tool first, which was fine but I thought I knew easier and faster ways of making the trip, and then ultimately the MTA's Trip Planner tool combined with the Metro-North schedule), but I've decided that it's not too onerous and is infinitely cheaper to take public transportation. (I'll add a postscript to say whether it ended up being worth it!)
So here's my plan:
1. Take Metro-North into NYC (35 minutes).
2. Walk from Grand Central Station to the subway station at 53rd and Lexington (about 10 minutes).
3. Take the E train to Jamaica (30 minutes).
4. Take the AirTrain to JFK (10 minutes).
My cost: $13.50. If I hit every connection just right (which won't happen), it'll take an hour and a half to get to the terminal (I'm allowing a little over 2 hours). If I'd taken a cab, it would have cost $100 and I would have allowed for an hour and 45 minutes (without traffic it takes about 40 minutes to get to the airport, but I'd be traveling during rush hour). When I looked at it that way, it was pretty easy to decide to try public transportation. I admit that if some things had been different (if I were traveling early in the morning when train service is much more limited and traffic wouldn't be a consideration, for example) I might have opted for the cab, but the environmental impact and definitely the financial benefits of taking public transportation make this a no-brainer.
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P.S.: It took me 2 hours on the nose. I underestimated how long the walk between Grand Central and the subway would take (it was more like 20 minutes), and I made a few wrong turns along the way that added a few minutes here and there. It was worth it, though, and I'd do it again (and plan to for my return trip).
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P.S.S.: I decided to try a slightly different route on the return trip, thinking it might save me some time but cost a little more. I took the New York Airport Service bus from JFK to Grand Central ($15, for a total of $21.50), and it actually took longer than the subway + AirTrain combo from GCT to the terminal (we went around to other terminals for about 30 minutes picking up passengers before ever leaving the airport, then we hit traffic into the city... at 2:30 in the afternoon). It took me two hours and 20 minutes to get home. This way did have the benefits of not having to walk with my bag (it was small, but still on the heavy side) and not having to jockey for space on the subway, so the extra money and even the extra time were probably worth it.
The end result of my experiment is that (a) I know I can get to the airport on public transportation; (b) I can save a ton of money by not taking a cab; and (c) if I'm traveling during even a semi-busy time of day (not even rush hour, as evidenced by us hitting traffic today) the time element is a non-factor. The next time I fly out of JFK by myself, I won't think twice about taking public transportation to and from the airport.
