daybeers;
1. Never forget that PA was created to do just one thing - a rail tunnel from Brooklyn to New Jersey. Cong. Jerry Nadler reminds us of this once in a while. It's one thing PA has never actually started work on.
2. Sam Schwartz invited me to that 1990 infrastructure conference (he understood all those years ago how bad our infrastructure was thn). When that PA bozo said what he did, my jaw dropped.
3. About 15 years ago, I had several trips to Dusseldorf and then London, and on arriving in London we found the best way in was the Heathrow Express. Second decent way was the Underground line to Heathrow. Yes, with luggage. But when I think of the JFK Air Train; try to figure out how to buy a ticket at Penn. Then try to figure out which train goes to - hmm, where? You may eventually see the Air Train Logo and figure it out. Now, with your luggage, since the elevators and escalators tend to be well hidden and seldom work, fight your luggage down the steps (even more fun if coming into Penn). Crowd onto an overstuffed train with your luggage while everyone screams at you, hang on for dear life, and if you understand to get off at Jamaica, struggle off the train there. Then, look around - oh, that must be the Air Train off in the distance. But how to get there? Especially if you went to the west end of your train at Penn. So, you drag your luggage again east, oops, the escalator isn't running. You don't know about the elevator - if it's actually running, and drag your luggage up all those stairs. Finally, you get to drag your luggage across the bridge, then all the way west again to the Air Train area... Now you get to pay another fare. Wow, wasn't that fun?
Now I'm not saying that the subway would be a fun way to get to LGA, but I'd bet that a good designer could make it a lot easier than the JFK experience. Oh, and my wife, many years ago, used to use the JFK Express to commute from Howard Beach to Manhattan - worth every penny at the time. Point being, this can be done well.