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Quotes: "It's been awesome. It's always on time. You don't have to worry about sitting in traffic." - Lisa Weisfelner, AirTrain commuter
On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, the busiest travel day of the year, traffic stalled on the Southern State Parkway and a steady rain slicked the Long Island Expressway.
But Nick Marchand, 25, had just flown in from Vermont, boarded the AirTrain at John F. Kennedy International Airport and was at the Long Island Rail Road station in Jamaica in about 10 minutes. Then, it was about an hour to Coram to see family for the holidays.
"It's fast and convenient," Marchand said. "It saves the family a trip to the city and then back out."
Friday marks the one-year anniversary of the $1.9 billion AirTrain, a light rail system to Kennedy Airport that launched with a few technical bumps along the way. But now Port Authority officials say the problems have been worked out and ridership on the service has continued to grow, near the projected goals of up to 34,000 a day.
About 30,000 to 33,000 people ride the AirTrain every day, either riding free from terminal to terminal within the airport or paying $5 to ride from Howard Beach or Jamaica.
On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, the service hit a one-day paid ridership...
