‘$350K PER RIDER’
Watchdog slams LaG AirTrain money pit
Ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s $2.1 billion pet project to build an AirTrain between La Guardia Airport and an eastern Queens subway/ LIRR connection would be the most expensive project per rider in history, according to a report.
The project and its questionable route — away from Manhattan — would attract just 6,000 new daily transit riders, government watchdog Reinvent Albany and former city DOT official Jon Orcutt said in the report released Friday.
That comes out to a whopping $350,000 per rider, the report said — nearly twice the $180,500 New York spent on the Second Avenue subway, the reigning most expensive transit line ever.
“Experts believe the current Second Avenue Subway was the most costly transit project ever built, but the La Guardia AirTrain will be about twice as expensive, when comparing construction costs to daily ridership,” the report said. “The LGA project is more about making it easier to drive and park at La Guardia than creating a superior transit option.”
Reinvent Albany’s “6,000 new riders” figure is based on the Port Authority’s official expectation of 13,117 AirTrain trips per day, minus the 3,547 riders it expects will drive and another 3,645 who would have otherwise taken the regular bus or subway.
“You dig deeper and you see a lot of the people coming are basically car trips,” Orcutt said. “They’re just moving the parking lot to a neighborhood over.”
The group wants Gov. Kathy Hochul to cancel the project — which was ready for a groundbreaking before her predecessor resigned last month.
Critics question the logic of the route, which would require Manhattan-bound riders to first travel east — away from the borough — before connecting to the subway or LIRR and heading back west. A federal review uncovered by the environmental group Riverkeeper argued that La Guardia passengers would get to the airport faster by cab or car.
Hochul has not said whether she plans to advance the project, but she has said she had “confidence” in PA Executive Director Rick Cotton, a Cuomo appointee who has defended the project.
“Governor Hochul is committed to a world-class airport and transportation network, and she is working with the Port Authority, community members, elected officials and advocates to ensure fiscal transparency and robust engagement,” a rep said Thursday.
The PA called the numbers from Reinvent Albany “breathtakingly wrong.”
“They use a ridership level that is literally one-fifth of the 10 million annual riders projected based on passenger surveys,” the PA said.
“And further, they have taken a 40-year capital investment and divided it by just one year of their underestimated ridership. The life of the AirTrain will be 40 years. Over that period, the capital cost per rider would be $5 or less.”