Comments on: The Daily Dig - Suburban Airship Edition

By: Chung-chieh Shan

Chung-chieh Shan — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 03:33:26 +0000

The NJ Transit train between New York Penn Station and Newark Airport does offer an off-peak round-trip discount, but in a roundabout way: buy an off-peak round-trip between New York and Elizabeth (which is cheaper than two one-way tickets) and add two airport access fees.

By: PdxNyc

PdxNyc — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 16:09:32 +0000

But the best way, still, about 75 percent of the time, to get to Newark Airport is to take the BUS from Port Authority Bus Terminal. It’s $15 one way, $25 round trip (the train offers no round-trip discount, idiotically) and the bus leaves every 15 minutes, every day, all day long (evenings every 20 minutes) takes you right to the check-in lobby curbside, and takes 29 minutes at the most.

The train, on the other hand, requires navigating Penn Station, an erratic train schedule (there are some gaps of 30 minutes or more - 50 minutes on wknds), during the day, when there is not a single train stopping at Newark Airport), competing with commuters for space on trains not designed to accommodate suitcases, a transfer to the pokey, bumpy and crowded airport monorail, which means navigating 3 additional sets of double-height escalators, a bank of turnstiles that aren’t user-friendly, and an additional 10-15 minutes, before reaching the check-in lobby. Oh, and if it snows, the monorail shuts down and they put you on a 15-minute waiting line for super-jam-packed buses that take a half hour to get to the airport. The only time the train is a better idea is when Lincoln Tunnel access is backed up, which is 3-6pm weekdays.

The airtrain option to Newark is one of the worst-planned rail transit systems I’ve ever seen, in comparison to train-to-plane configurations in every other city that has them. Even the JFK airtrain is superior, even though it goes only as far as Jamaica, because it’s cheaper, more reliable and faster. LaGuardia, of course, has no rail link at all, but at least has local bus service connecting to the subway, so you can rely on its consistency.

By: admin

admin — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 14:24:25 +0000

Chung-cheih,

Thanks — it was a mistake, meant to be “$15″:

“Travelers flying out of Newark can take a New Jersey Transit train from Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan to Newark Liberty International Airport station, where they pick up AirTrain Newark; the one-way fare for the entire trip is $15. By contrast, a one-way cab ride from Midtown Manhattan to Kennedy Airport is $45, plus tolls and tip, while a one-way cab ride from Midtown to Newark can go as high as $90, plus tolls and tip. ”

By: Sean

Sean — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 11:43:55 +0000

Would it kill Inhabitat to just once show an airship that is aerodynamically feasible rather than just striking to look at?

Airships do have a legitimate place in long distance and specialty cargo hauling. Imagine a wind turbine blade being delivered right from factory to construction site by airship rather than redoing right-of-ways and holding up traffic for miles for ground delivery?

This, though, is dumb. There was only once ever a reasonably successful intercity airship commuter network (Germany, pre WWI), and it was still far more an example of Prussian hubris than practical infrastructure.

By: Michael

Michael — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 04:17:10 +0000

What’s old is new again: the suburbs can be partially redeemed by being made back into streetcar suburbs.

By: poncho

poncho — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 02:32:03 +0000

the reburbia ideas are on the whole pointless cute theoretical exercises that architecture critics have a fetish for. theres a few decent ones but most are just sleek renderings of some half baked ideas. a zeppelin adds nothing to the dialogue of a new suburban lifestyle. another one is a rip off of habitat 67 in montreal as if that high density model is really an appropriate suburban scheme. considering its sponsored by dwell all you have to do is propose a mid-century architectural idea and computer render it all sleekly in V-ray and you are guaranteed a prize.

By: Chung-chieh Shan

Chung-chieh Shan — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 00:31:13 +0000

Where did you get the wrong information about trains from NYC to Newark airport? Not from the NY Times Web site, it seems. The JFK AirTrain is $5 (or $2.5 if you buy ten rides at once) from two subway stations and one LIRR station. The cheapest way to go from NYC to Newark by train is to buy an NJ Transit ticket to Elizabeth and costs more than $5 once you figure in the AirTrain access fee.

By: Matthew Pennington

Matthew Pennington — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 20:58:38 +0000

I used to be really taken with the idea of zeppelins, but then I looked up how many people they could carry. I doubt an airship smaller than one of those leviathans could carry enough people to make it worthwhile.