I’m ending my business trip to New York this Friday afternoon and have to catch a late afternoon plane out of LaGuardia.
What’s the fastest way to get from Wall Street to LaGuardia? Money is not an issue as I will be reimbursed. After looking at the maps I’m thinking I should take the 4 or 5 train to Grand Central, transfer to the 7 train to Junction Blvd and then grab a cab for the last mile or so. I’m thinking that Friday afternoon rush hour this close to Christmas could lead to horrible traffic jams.
BTW, thanks to all who helped me get out of NYC to Newark Airport a few months ago. PATH to NJTransit was much faster than a cab.
If you do this, you’ll likely miss your flight while sitting on the 7. Honestly, I’d grab a cab or a Town Car downtown. Depending on traffic conditions, your driver can then decide whether to head over the Brooklyn Bridge and hit the BQE, or head up the FDR and try the Midtown Tunnel, 59th Street Bridge or whatnot.
Yeah, my intuition says that a cab or car service is your best bet. The subway to Queens and then switching to a cab is not nearly as seamless as the public transportation to Newark.
What time exactly are you able to depart Wall Street?
You won’t be able to hail a cab in Queens – they only (are supposed to) stop for hails in Manhattan.
You could take the subway to E. 125th Street and then catch the M60 bus at 125th and Park. That goes right to LaGuardia though it isn’t terribly fast.
The Port Authority also offers some express buses that go directly to LGA, but might not be terribly convenient to Wall Street. The first one there stops at Grand Central, though, so you can take the 4/5 there.
At $100+taxes, it seems almost rediculously reasonable; barely more than a cab. I think the trip itself takes about 10 minutes. Also, you go through security at the heliport. I stopped in when I was in New York out of sheer curiosity and it seemed like a very low-stress way to go. There were just two guys behind the counter that did the security screening as well so you don’t have to go through security at the airport depending on the airline.
N train at the Rector Street stop (pretty sure it stops there, haven’t checked on a subway map). Take it to the Astoria Boulevard stop. There’s a city bus there that goes to all the terminals at LaGuardia. Total cost, $4.00. $2.00, if you’ve got a monthly Metrocard that permits transfers.
You’re right; I’m sorry, I should have checked that over more carefully, I guess they only go to JFK and Newark. I checked out the news, and I guess they were trying to add service to La Guardia back in October but weren’t able to do so for some reason.
Oh, then I say definitely cab/car service. If you were leaving at 4:30 for a 6:30 flight, I would be more concerned. The receptionist where you are having the meeting will be able to tell you if it will be fairly easy to hail a cab outside of the office building. In general, cabs are pretty easy to find on a weekday in the Wall Street area, but you might as well ask. If not, he/she will be able to recommend a car service. While you can get a car from a service with fairly little lead time, it is better to make the reservation in advance, even that morning. You could also do it now, that would work as well.
Car service cars will all take credit cards. The service we use at my office costs about $67 to the airport, including tolls. We are in the Village, I suspect Wall Street is one additional zone away, so maybe a little more. Some cabs can take plastic, but many take only cash.
Or die trying. I’ve taken a taxi from Wall St to LaGuardia at about 2:30, but my flight was at 5:00. We made it in time, but it took a few minutes to unclench my fiingers from the seats.
Taking public transit might be faster - or it might not be. I work in the Wall Street area and used to live fairly close to LGA. If everything went well, it took me approximately 55 minutes on the subway (taking express train to Times Square, changing to the N that runs out to Astoria). Then you’d have to hail a cab (not always an easy proposition in Queens - most of the taxis I saw in Queens weren’t yellow cabs, they were dispatch cars working for a car service). Not to mention that there have been a lot more than usual random subway delays lately.
A car service will cost you more, but they’ll try a whole lot harder to get you to your destination in time than the subway will. Not to mention, most of the car service people are good about keeping track of current traffic nastiness (and the various ways to avoid it). Some even keep an eye on your flight status for you (the one my firm uses does).
