Tish's Blog Skip the Shuttles in New York City
If you want to save money, but waste valuable time, take the Super Shuttle from La Guardia to your Manhattan hotel. My time in NYC is always limited — there’s way more I want to do than my time will allow. So when 3 hours of my time is totally wasted in transit, I get steamed. So would you …
On past trips, I’ve used cabs and town car services for transport to/from the airport. Fast and efficient but relatively pricey compared to public transportation and shuttle services. So on this trip, I opted to try the Super Shuttle (it could have been any shuttle service, for that matter). I booked online a day ahead and saved. Cost was $29.50 per person roundtrip. That sounded pretty good. But the experience was not.
Hurry Up and Wait at the Airport
Since Karen and I only had a carry-on, we didn’t have to wait around for luggage. We called the shuttle service upon arrival (as they request) to let them know we were waiting. About 20 minutes later, the shuttle driver arrived. Several people were already onboard. Still a few more to pick up. At one pick-up point, the driver went inside for 20 minutes and came back alone — no additional passengers. The van was hot and stuffy as the van and air conditioning were off. Passengers were annoyed.
So about 45 minutes or so after calling the shuttle service, we were finally on our way. Of course we didn’t know the destinations of the other passengers, but were to find out that they were on the south end of midtown Manhattan, while we were going much further north to Central Park West. The shuttle took us down the Brooklyn side through neighborhoods. Heavy traffic, lots of delays. I tracked our progress on a street map (to help me learn even more about NYC streets). Three hours after our flight arrived, we arrived at our hotel and we were irritated.
The driver (who knew all the stops in advance) could have taken the TriBoro Bridge on the north end almost straight across to our hotel in relatively short order. He could have then gone down the West Side Highway to the midtown area and cut across there to the other hotel stops. But this is all hindsight.
Looking Forward
I canceled our return trip with Super Shuttle and we opted for a cab. It did take an hour during rush hour and it cost us around $38, but it was so worth it. With the Shuttle, we would have had to leave a minimum of 3 hours ahead of our flight. With the cab, we gave ourselves 2 hours and it worked out fine.
Not Bad in Other Cities
Now I do have to say that I’ve used Super Shuttle in other cities, and it worked out just fine. I believe it’s just the complexity of NYC traffic makes it totally impractical for me in New York.
What do you think? Would you rather save $10 or so on each shuttle ride, but lose 3 hours of your shopping/sightseeing time –each way? Or would you prefer to spend a bit more and give yourself every possible minute enjoying the city?
I was planning on taking the shuttle you referred to. We have five in our party and it is my understanding that only four fit in a cab. So what are our alternatives getting from LaGuardia to Times Square?