The student guide to getting to JFK

As summer approaches, family vacations are coming up as well, and many Long Islanders are searching for the easiest, most cost efficient and timely way to get to the airport. The three most popular ways to get to JFK are by cab, train, and private automobile.

Depending on time constraints, and the amount of people in each party, different modes of transportation will work for different people. No matter what the condition, there is a smart and efficient solution for each party.

If traveling from the Hempstead area, it will take about 25 minutes to arrive at JFK by automobile, whether it is by taxi or by private car. However, if traveling with a private automobile, the long term parking at JFK must be taken into consideration. If using public transportation, such as the LIRR and the Airtrain, a time restraint also poses as a problem.

Selling JFK Airport Long-Term Parking « Thought Catalog

To the Port Authority, a recommendation.

In response to requests to find ways the Port Authority can maximize its financial potential at existing airport facilities, this provides results from our focus group survey of test subjects who responded to an ad to “Run the Gauntlet” at JFK Airport.

To entice volunteers, we portrayed it as a “Fear Factor” type experience, with the possibility of fame for those who reached goal. There was also the promise of a free one-year membership to the Auto Club, including all member discounts.

Test subjects were required to drive an obstacle course from an airport terminal to Kennedy’s long-term parking lot, find a parking space, find their way back to the terminal on the train, and then, upon their return to New York, navigate their way back to their cars and out of the airport while dragging two suitcases.

Some variations were arbitrarily imposed on the subjects: rain, sleet, darkness, screaming children were among the additional challenges. There were no permanent directional signs inside the train station; at times a friendly-looking life-size cardboard lady would be placed on one end of the train platform with a sign advising which train to take, but her appearance was intermittent at best, creating confusion and adding to the excitement of the “obstacle course.”

Static factors were the road and signage conditions on the drive to the parking lot: sudden forks in the road, no accompanying sign (or an indecipherable one), arbitrarily changing sign colors and sizes, blockage of key signage by light poles, trees, and other signs, fellow drivers under similar stress exhibiting erratic driving and screaming in foreign languages, exorbitant parking lot prices, an invariable lack of parking spaces. The trains have automatic doors, and we limited transitions on and off the trains to ten seconds, regardless of the number of travelers.

We experienced a 30% attrition of volunteers, despite the promises of fame and media coverage.  One volunteer had to be hospitalized (a mental hospital). One abandoned the project, saying she could not explain when her children asked “Mommy, why are you crying?” Four participants suffered vehicular accidents and could not complete the survey. One female participant got her handbag stuck in the closing train doors; we could not locate her for her debriefing interview after that.

Overall, it was a successful study, and we are now pleased to offer these results to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, along with our bill.

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