JFK Express

infobox NYCS service
service=JFK
name=JFK Express
terminals=21st Street–Queensbridge to Howard Beach–JFK Airport
note=note: service began at 57th Street prior to 1989The JFK Express, advertised as The Train to The Plane, was a premium-fare service of the New York City Subway, connecting midtown Manhattan to Howard Beach–JFK Airport on the IND Rockaway Line, where a bus connected to John F. Kennedy International Airport. AirTrain JFK now serves the purpose of this bus. Howard Beach is currently served at all times by the "A" train (Eighth Avenue Express). However, AirTrain also connects to Jamaica with Long Island Rail Road service to Manhattan.

The premium fare was collected on board the cars. The JFK Express used exclusively R46 cars for most of its existence though near its end R44 cars were used when the R46 cars began to enter midlife overhauls.

JFK Express service began in September 23, 1978; the Metropolitan Transportation Authority created a few 30-second long television commercials to promote the service [http://youtube.com/watch?v=qkL1LIUsmqc] . The JFK Express was not a success, seeing low ridership, in part because the train did not actually serve any airline terminals, but rather transferred passengers to a shuttle bus. The train was discontinued on April 15, 1990, long before AirTrain JFK opened. [http://www.panynj.gov/aviation/traffic/r431.htm]

At times, regular passengers were allowed on the trains due to disruptions on other services; this included the 1988 closure of the Williamsburg Bridge [http://www.nycsubway.org/articles/history-nycta1980s.html] , after a painter discovered a hole in a girder.

To use the service, one had to first buy a subway token to enter the subway system. JFK Express riders were directed to stand in a particular spot on the platform, where they queued up and paid $5 in cash to a conductor who put the money in a freestanding "Johnson Box." In the late 1980s, New York Newsday reported that MTA workers were routinely splitting the day's fares behind closed doors. Apparently, no headcounts of passengers were taken, and with no oversight, the theft of cash was quite easy. This along with low ridership led to the demise of this service. Also, Howard Beach residents often paid the extra money ($5) to avoid making stops in the Brooklyn neighborhoods that were notoriously dangerous during the height of the street wars over crack (notably, East New York and Bedford-Stuyvesant). This was also around the time of the racially charged issue of Howard Beach teenagers chasing black men onto the local highway, resulting in one man being killed by a car. The JFK Express allowed white residents to bypass black neighborhoods. The train also afforded a ride with seating; A and C trains during rush hour were typically standing room only.

The following lines were used by the JFK Express service:

tation listing

NYCS service legend
alltimes = show

ee also

*Train-to-the-plane
*Transportation to New York City area airports
*Lower Manhattan-Jamaica/JFK Transportation Project - Proposal to use the LIRR Atlantic Branch and Air Train in a new direct JFK connection to Lower Manhattan
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkL1LIUsmqc "Take the train to the plane!" JFK Express Ad on YouTube]

References

* [http://members.aol.com/bdmnqr2/linehistory.html Line by Line History]
* [http://nycsubway.org/maps/historical/ NYCsubway.org - Historical Maps]