Howard Beach A Train Shuttle Be Damned, The $1.9 Billion JFK AirTrain Is Still Worth It

The Queens Chronicle questions whether the JFK AirTrain was worth it:

The AirTrain may be the cheapest way to get to Kennedy Airport, but the cost of running the futuristic rail system is adding up.

The rail link that runs from Howard Beach and Jamaica to the airport has hemorrhaged nearly $70 million since it opened on Dec. 17, 2003, according to Port Authority of New York and New Jersey documents obtained under Freedom of Information laws.

The numbers, which run through the first quarter of 2006, detail losses of $800,000 during the system’s first two weeks of operation, followed by shortfalls of $34.2 million and $28.7 million in 2004 and 2005, respectively. The system ran $5.5 million in the red for the first three months of 2006 for a total negative balance of $69.2 million.

Port Authority officials counter that — like most, if not all, public transportation projects — the point is not necessarily to make money:

Officials at the Port Authority said the lackluster financial performance was not alarming.

“AirTrain was not created as a revenue generator but as a service for travellers,” said Port Authority spokesman Pasquale DiFulco. DiFulco pointed to another Port Authority system, the PATH trains, which run from New Jersey to New York and lose about $250 million a year. He said the AirTrain system is not expected to approach break even numbers in the near future.

Not to quibble, but the AirTrain isn’t the cheapest way to get to JFK — you can still take a bus there. It takes about twelve days, but you can do it . . .

See also: A Ride On The JFK AirTrain.