The airport shuttle was one of the many victims of the pandemic on the 19th. Throughout the United States, a bunch of shuttle buses went bankrupt and most people didn’t come back.
But Uber may be entering a blank space. In the pilot program, the ride platform is recently in Manhattan or Brooklyn and Brooklyn and New York CityLaGuardia Airport (LGA) in Queens. Prices are significantly lower than taxi or regular Uber rides (more below).
If the shuttle proves profitable and there are a lot of customers on the two boats I rode – it’s safe to say that Uber will start offering shuttles to other airports.
How is the journey? read.
Book an Uber shuttle
If you already have Uber app On your phone, booking a shuttle is very close to what happens when you book a ride in a car. The biggest difference is that you have to go to the Suggestions section to click on the shuttle icon.
After you have done this, you will get three options if you are leaving from Manhattan: near Grand Central Station, Pennsylvania Station or Port Authority Bus Terminal. Brooklyn has a stay at the City Mall.
Apart from the port permissions option, the route for each location is a route that directly shoots LaGuardia, although the app is not yet clear on the app. This route usually includes parking at Grand Central, which means another 5-10 minutes on the shuttle, depending on the traffic.
The shuttle has two pick-up points at the airport: in Piers B and C.
During normal working hours, the shuttle bus leaves every 15 minutes or so, although not every site, so you need to be locale and timing compatible when choosing where to pick up. Once the service becomes more well-known and the van starts selling out, it is difficult to know if the frequency of the shuttle will decrease. I counted 12 seats on each of the two shuttles, but Uber said some vans can accommodate up to 40 people.
Alas, the schedule reappears in the early morning and evening.
For me, it means the problem of returning from LaGuardia. My plane arrived at 9:02 pm and I noticed a bus back from the airport at 9:24. When we were paying taxes on the runway, I was about to click on the Book when I realized I didn’t know how long it would take to get from the flat seat to the shuttle area to the shuttle area.
So I insisted on keeping my shuttle seats and was lucky: the plane couldn’t use the original door we were approaching and had to taxi to another one. So I didn’t get off the plane until 9:25 (yes, I checked the exact time) and it took me 10 minutes to get to the shuttle area. At that time, there was a shuttle bus heading to Pennsylvania Station at 9:55 and no longer arrived at Grand Central Station that night.
From there, the route back to my apartment wasn’t that convenient and I had to wait for another 20 minutes, but I’ve dealt with a bigger trip disaster.
Find a bus departure location
There is no sign of where the shuttle pickups are happening, but it turns out that’s not a problem. For rides to the airport, the app told me to stand in front of the large entrance to Cipriani on 42nd Street (pictured above), and since this is a very obvious landmark, I was able to easily find the shuttle (shown at the top of this page) even though it was an unmarked van.
Apart from the fact that there are no Uber-related signs at the pick-up point, the app doesn’t have a way to show vans on the map like a car. Instead, a guy who came out of the van shouted “Uber Shuttle!” before checking us on his phone.
Instructions for the shuttle stop at Laguardia were just as easy to follow, I boarded without any incident.
journey
Have something to say? The van is brand new and spotless. The driver is not the greatest dialogueist, but he does his work lightly and safely (albeit monosyllable). He even helped load and unload the luggage.
This is my journey when I forgot the moment I went to the airport, and that’s what you want From the shuttle, right?
Is the Uber Laguardia shuttle worth taking?
From Midtown Manhattan to LaGuardia, the service costs only $18. Did I bury Ryder here? This is much less than what you pay for a traditional Uber or Lyft ride, about one-third of the price you pay for a taxi to cover the same ground. During peak hours, travel to LaGuardia through the cab can be particularly expensive (JFK International Airport does not have a unified LaGuardia, so when traffic is not good, the rates may increase by 25%).
Taking a public transport bus to the airport is still the cheapest option, but a suitcase can be challenging.
In short, I will take the Uber shuttle again.
Even though I had been commuting from living in Greenwich Village, it was a huge win, Costwise. Hopefully Uber can expand its services to other cities as soon as possible.