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MTA launches LaGuardia Link shuttle – Metro US

MTA launches LaGuardia Link shuttle

MTA launched a new service on Sunday for those trying to catch a flight at LaGuardia Airport.

The new Q70 LaGuardia Link SBS will provide travelers and airport workers with access from Woodside and Jackson Heights to terminals B, C and D.

The bus, which is clearly marked as a shuttle to the airport, according to the transportation advocacy groups that made the proposal last year, will link the airport with the E, F, M, R and 7 trains and LIRR.

The last piece of the proposal the citywide transportation advocacy groups Riders Alliance and Global Gateway Alliance are pushing for is to make the shuttle free to riders.

“In the wake of the traffic nightmares plaguing LaGuardia, this new innovative mass transit route to LaGuardia couldn’t have come soon enough,” Global Gateway Alliance chairman Joe Sitt said. “The quick and clearly branded route will get more passengers off the roads and onto mass transit, and finally provide the airport with 21st century mass transit access. But in order to be truly effective, the MTA must now also make the route free.”

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Executive Director of the Riders Alliance John Raskin explained that the shuttle is already “functionally free” for the 85 percent of the riders that are transferring to the shuttle from the subway. Making the shuttle free for everyone, including out-of-town travelers without a MetroCard, is a goal, but Raskin said he is more excited about the “step forward” than what part of the proposal wasn’t accepted.

A spokesman for MTA said making the shuttle free for everyone would “no doubt” increase use of mass transit, but that it “is simply not financially feasible.”

“If we get the word out, the new LaGuardia Link can even help untangle some of the airport’s notorious traffic jams by getting more people out of cars and onto public transit,” Raskin added.