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Comment by jhoechtl | Hacker News Reader

Another indication of the super-poor state of public transport in the US.

This super-nation is so ridiculously behind in this regard in every aspect of development of public transport that you have to consider if the people in force have all their senses together.

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Well it is a self-reinforcing loop. Cites are not designed for walking, there are huge areas used for parkings, the own car is really the only choice when there is no huge public transport network. And there won't be one when everyone has a car.

This is private transportation, addressing needs that public transportation doesn't address anyway (mostly random residential to/from airports).

Why wouldn't that be a need public transport addresses? Most airports are connected via railway or subway, right?

In the US? My experience is that most airports are not connected by railway or subway. Admittedly most of my trips were more than 10 years ago, but I would be very surprised if things have drastically changed. Yes, in Europe it starts to be become rarer that major airports have only bus connections.

There's probably no more than twenty airports in the US with rail/subway connections. Notably the second busiest (LAX) does not have a rail connection but they're finally building one.

I count 25:

Boston, Cleveland, Chicago O'Hare, Chicago Midway, Providence, JFK, LGA, Newark, Philly, BWI, DCA, Atlanta, SFO, Oakland, Denver, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Portland, Seattle, Dallas/Fort-Worth, St. Louis, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Milwaukee, Salt Lake, Phoenix.

If you include proposed or in construction links, there's also Honolulu, Washington Dulles, Orlando, LAX. There's also a few more airports that have bus service to the light rail line (e.g., San Jose airport).

Essentially, every city with a subway system has a stop at the airport, LA and San Juan being the two exceptions here. Some commuter rail networks stop at the airport. Several light rail systems don't stop at the airport, particularly if the airport is well out of the center of town. So it's more of indictment of the degree to which US cities lack rail transit.

Thanks for that list! I haven't lived in the SF Bay Area for ten years and I totally missed that Oakland has a BART station now.

LGA has no rail connection and JFK isn't directly connected, you have to transfer to and pay extra exorbitant fare for the AirTrain.

Fort Lauderdale's rail link is basically the same as San Jose's: you take a shuttle bus connection to a rail station off airport grounds.

True, it always shows me that I have arrived in an underdeveloped country when I arrive at an airport and there is no reasonable public transport available. SFO and JFK being some laudable exceptions.

On the positive side a SuperShuttle ride can be a great experience. You get to know 5 locals and half of the city already in your first 2 hours there.

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