Visitors to New York arriving at LaGuardia will have to continue using buses and car services for the foreseeable future after plans for a rail link from the airport to the city’s subway and commuter rail system were abandoned.

In the wake of intensive criticism about its US$2.4 billion-plus price tag and the potential affects on surrounding neighbourhoods, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul accepted the recommendations made by a panel of transportation experts who determined it would be more feasible in the near-term to increase bus service and add a shuttle.

Hochul’s action effectively means that LaGuardia – in the borough of Queens, across the East River from Manhattan – will remain among the major US airports without rail service.

Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2015 proposed the 2.4-km elevated link, similar to one serving John F. Kennedy International Airport elsewhere in Queens. The link was originally estimated to cost $450 million.

Hochul ordered a review of the project after Cuomo resigned in 2021. Criticism of the plan had intensified by then, with elected officials and environmental advocates saying the new rail would harm the Queens neighbourhoods it traversed and wouldn’t be appreciably faster than driving, and that meaningful consideration of numerous alternatives to the rail link was pre-empted.

Some of those alternatives include ferry service, the extension of existing subway lines and optimized bus service using dedicated lanes.