JFK Express

JFK Express

Company type	Limited express subway service
Industry	Public transportation
Founded	1978
Defunct	1990
Fate	Discontinued due to low ridership and high operating costs
Headquarters	New York City , United States
Area served	New York City (Midtown Manhattan to JFK Airport)
Products	Subway express service to JFK Airport

The JFK Express, promoted as The Train to The Plane, was a limited express route within the New York City Subway system that connected Midtown Manhattan to John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK Airport) from 1978 until 1990. This service charged a premium fare and was identified by a turquoise-colored route marker displaying an airplane icon.

Throughout most of its operation, the JFK Express traveled via the IND Sixth Avenue Line, IND Fulton Street Line, and IND Rockaway Line, running between its northern endpoint at 57th Street–Sixth Avenue in Manhattan and its southern terminus at Howard Beach–JFK Airport in Queens. At Howard Beach, passengers transferred to shuttle buses to reach the airport terminals. In the last six months before discontinuation, the service extended northward along the IND 63rd Street Line to 21st Street–Queensbridge. The trains primarily utilized R46 subway cars.

Fares

Premium tickets were sold onboard and validated by transit clerks, while transit police ensured security on the trains. Initially, the fare was $3.50 for the train ride plus an additional $1.00 for the shuttle bus connection. Beginning January 1, 1979, discounted ticket books became available for airline and airport employees. The fare increased to $5 by July 1981 and ultimately reached $6.75 when the service ceased in 1990.

JFK Express – train and bus loop fares (compared with regular subway fare)

date	to JFK Airport via JFK Express	from JFK Airport via JFK Express	from JFK Airport via A train	JFK Airport Loop Express Bus only	regular subway fare
September 23, 1978	$3.00	$3.50	$1.20	$1.00	.50
June 28, 1980	$3.40	$4.00	$1.50	$1.20	.60
July 3, 1981	$4.25	$5.00	$1.80	$1.50	.75
January 2, 1984	$5.10	$6.00	$2.00	$1.80	.90
January 6, 1986	$5.50	$6.50	$2.25	$2.00	$1.00
January 1, 1990	$5.60	$6.75	?	?	$1.15

Rolling stock

The JFK Express predominantly operated with R46 subway cars but switched to R44s following service modifications in December 1988 near the end of its tenure. Initially, trains consisted of three cars measuring approximately 225 feet in length; later they were lengthened to four cars totaling about 300 feet—roughly half the size of a standard B Division trainset. These subway cars included luggage racks specifically designed for travelers heading to the airport.

Introduction

In early 1978, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) partnered with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) to create enhanced transit options serving JFK Airport. By mid-1978, plans had been finalized for a service terminating at Howard Beach—JFK Airport station, which was renamed and outfitted with a dedicated shuttle bus transfer facility. The target market was air travelers willing to pay higher fares for improved convenience; thus, the initial fare was set at $3.50—below competing Carey Bus Lines prices.

The route was routed along the Sixth Avenue Line due to its accessibility to Midtown Manhattan’s commercial districts and hotels, with 57th Street–Sixth Avenue chosen as the northern terminal because it was underutilized at that time. Announced as an "experimental" subway-bus connection on June 27, 1978, the JFK Express commenced operations on September 23, 1978, deploying three-car trains starting from 57th Street.

To boost awareness of the service, the MTA produced short television advertisements. Trains operated daily from 5:00 a.m. until 1:00 a.m., departing every twenty minutes. The service ran express on the Sixth Avenue Line up to West Fourth Street–Washington Square station, then switched onto the Eighth Avenue Line express tracks toward Jay Street–Borough Hall in Downtown Brooklyn before continuing nonstop along the Fulton and Rockaway Lines to Howard Beach–JFK Airport.

During its inaugural year, ridership totaled approximately 832,428 passengers, surpassing projections which ranged between 550,000 and 850,000 trips annually. The JFK Express captured about one-quarter of all Manhattan-to-JFK travel trips and helped increase public transit’s share of airport access trips overall. However, operating expenses amounted to $6.5 million compared with revenues of only $2.63 million—resulting in a deficit of roughly $3.9 million, which exceeded initial forecasts by about $3 million due largely to onboard ticket collection costs and extended hours during a Carey Bus strike in mid-1979.

On November 4, 1979, adjustments were made to service frequency: trains ran every thirty minutes between 5:00 and 6:00 a.m., every twenty minutes from 6:00 a.m. through 9:00 p.m., and every twenty-four minutes from 9:00 p.m. until closing at 1:00 a.m.

Service Adjustments

Within a few years, the JFK Express attracted criticism for being an inefficient allocation of resources. Its ridership remained low partly because it did not provide direct access to airport terminals, forcing travelers to transfer to a shuttle bus located several hundred feet away. In May 1980, John Simpson, the MTA's executive director, suggested terminating the service, highlighting that ridership had leveled off at 1.3 million annually while the operating deficit reached $2.5 million per year. Nonetheless, in June 1980, the MTA board decided to continue the JFK Express, underscoring the importance of maintaining a mass transit connection to JFK Airport.

By June 1983, the New York City Transit Authority proposed several modifications: extending the JFK Express line to Rockaway Park–Beach 116th Street; removing the $5 premium fare and special security detail to align it with standard subway services; doubling train length from four to eight cars; and shortening intervals between trains from 20 minutes to 18 minutes. Additionally, the shuttle bus fare was proposed to be lowered to 75 cents, matching subway pricing, resulting in a total fare of $1.50 for travel between most subway stations and the airport. Although these proposals were under consideration as of January 1984, they were never implemented.

On some occasions, regular commuters used the JFK Express without paying extra during service interruptions. For example, during the closure of the Williamsburg Bridge in 1988 when trains were rerouted, and between December 1988 and October 1989 on weekday evenings when passengers could travel between 57th Street and 47th–50th Streets–Rockefeller Center without an additional fee due to reduced service. The surcharge was still applied on race days when the train made stops at Aqueduct Racetrack station.

Termination

In October 1989, the NYCTA recommended discontinuing the JFK Express in response to dwindling passenger numbers, which had fallen from an initial range of 4,000–5,000 daily riders to approximately 3,200. George Miller, NYCTA’s executive vice president, stated that shutting down the line would save $7 million annually and allow redeployment of 144 transit employees and 12 subway cars to more productive routes. Nearly half of those who continued using the service were commuters from Howard Beach and the Rockaway areas who appreciated its premium nature; however, by that time trains were operating only once per hour.

On October 29, 1989, the JFK Express was temporarily extended to 21st Street–Queensbridge via the IND 63rd Street Line, bypassing Roosevelt Island. This extension was brief as service ceased on April 15, 1990 due to insufficient ridership. The connecting shuttle bus between Howard Beach and JFK Airport remained in operation as the sole transit link at that time. Many passengers favored the less expensive and more frequent A train service, whose airport-related ridership increased to around one million by 1995.

Following the discontinuation of the JFK Express, Howard Beach–JFK Airport has continued to be served by the A train. The shuttle bus operated until it was replaced by AirTrain JFK on December 17, 2003. AirTrain JFK is operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and provides connections with both the Long Island Rail Road at Jamaica station and subway lines at Sutphin Boulevard–Archer Avenue.

A future initiative known as the Lower Manhattan–Jamaica/JFK Transportation Project seeks to establish express rail service linking JFK Airport with Lower Manhattan via Brooklyn. This plan involves extending AirTrain JFK along the LIRR’s Atlantic Branch to offer a direct one-seat ride to airport terminals similar to what was formerly provided by the JFK Express.

Service pattern

The JFK Express operated along these lines:

Line	Segment	Tracks
IND 63rd Street Line	entire line	all tracks
IND Sixth Avenue Line	north of West Fourth Street–Washington Square	express service
IND Eighth Avenue Line	south of West Fourth Street–Washington Square	local service
IND Fulton Street Line	from Jay Street–Borough Hall to Euclid Avenue	express service
	from Euclid Avenue to Rockaway Boulevard	local service
IND Rockaway Line	north of Howard Beach–JFK Airport	local service

Stations

colspan=4 align=center |Queens align=center |Template:NYCS SSI

align=center	Station	Disabled access	Remarks
Queens
Template:NYCS SSI		Disabled access	terminus established after IND 63rd Street Line opened on October 29, 1989
Manhattan
Template:NYCS SSI	Lexington Avenue	Disabled access	inaugurated October 29, 1989
Template:NYCS SSI			original terminal prior to the opening of the IND 63rd Street Line
Template:NYCS SSI
Template:NYCS SSI
Template:NYCS SSI
Template:NYCS SSI
Template:NYCS SSI
Template:NYCS SSI
Brooklyn
Template:NYCS SSI
		service available only on racing days

Station	Accessibility	Notes
Template:Rint	Disabled access	Connection to Port Authority shuttle bus for airport terminals

External links

• Comprehensive Line History
• JFK Express TV Advertisement "Train to the Plane" (1980) (35-second clip) – provided by the MTA's official YouTube channel
• Collection of Transit Fiscal Memorabilia & Exonumia – JFK Express, page 10