Tens of millions of people fly into JFK a year; millions leave the airport by cab (thanks to miserable public transport options near the airport). The current flat rate into Manhattan for yellowcabs is $52, and it's even more for other boroughs due to non-fixed metering (my part of Brooklyn is around $70). There's a lot of money floating around there!
Oh for sure... I'm used to waiting forever for a cab sometimes at JFK, which kind of suggests there's not a whole pool of cabs waiting to pick someone up. I guess I'm surprised that given these volumes cabs have to wait as long as travelers do. Seems like they need a whole foods style queue with multiple lines.
Ride sharing apps have decimated the taxi industry. I find that I must wait longer for a cab than in the past, presumably because there are fewer of them operating.
But this press release suggests otherwise! Apparently there are so many cabs that it's worth it for them to pay money to skip to the front of the line.
JFK has the AirTrain which takes you right to LIRR trains or subway connections. The Jamaica subway station needs a serious cleaning, but otherwise public transport there is far better than most other US airports.
"Far better than nonexistent" is not glowing praise! Most other countries I've been to have public transport that takes you from the terminal entrance to city center in under 25 minutes. It's never taken me less than 1.5 hours to go from JFK to anywhere in Manhattan by train or bus.
