Best way to get from LaGuardia to Upper West Side today?

September 16, 2015 1:51 PM

My flight lands at LGA in a couple of hours, and I want to get to a place near the Natural History Museum as easily/quickly as possible. Willing to spring for a cab or car if it's substantially faster or just easier to deal with (I'm exhausted). I always use JFK and don't know anything about LGA- is there any advantage to taking Uber or Lyft over a cab? Is it possible that it will be as fast just to take the bus/subway if I'm landing at 6pm? If you see this in time to answer, thanks. :)
posted by three_red_balloons to Travel & Transportation (11 answers total)

Best answer: It depends on traffic, really. LGA cab fare is metered, not flat rate like JFK or EWR, which is just so obnoxious.
posted by poffin boffin at 1:54 PM on September 16, 2015 [1 favorite]

You might try the m60 bus to the b or c train [stops right at the museum]. It's a tough call at that time.
posted by the twistinside at 1:59 PM on September 16, 2015 [3 favorites]

No advantage to Uber other than comfort and maybe a shorter wait depending on the line.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 2:03 PM on September 16, 2015

Cab or Uber.
posted by AugustWest at 2:10 PM on September 16, 2015

I have found that the taxi lines at LGA tend to be longer/move slower than those at JFK, so that would be the only advantage I see for Uber/Lyft. Maybe check traffic/google maps or hopstop when you land to see if the traffic makes it faster to take public transit than a cab?
posted by Caz721 at 2:11 PM on September 16, 2015

Basically you have two problems, getting into Manhattan and getting cross-town. Once it took me 50 minutes to cab from the upper west to the FDR, and then only another 10 minutes to get to Laguardia. There certainly are bus/subway options that can get you into town pretty fast, but still, getting to the upper west will probably be fastest by cab.

Given the inbound triboro bridge traffic as of right now, I'd say take a cab/uber. The only advantage of an uber will be the wait time in the cab line, which will vary widely. Google says that the M60 will take about an hour, while a cab may take as little as 30 minutes.
posted by Phredward at 2:40 PM on September 16, 2015

well, there's the NYC Airporter Bus ($13) which leaves ev 30 minutes or so to Port Authority and there you can catch the subway or taxi, it's a straight shot up. The shuttle bus is more comfortable and you will have a seat and space for your bag.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 3:02 PM on September 16, 2015

Lyft is faster than Uber at LGA. Uber requires all their cars to wait at a distant parking lot until you request a ride. Lyft drivers can wait near the terminal.
posted by dcjd at 3:26 PM on September 16, 2015

I did this reverse once and was 99% leaning towards the bus (as I'm usually very pro public transport over paying for a cab) when I decided, cab for reduced hassle. Very happy with that decision as the bus looked really busy. And i wasn't tired.
posted by kitten magic at 4:44 PM on September 16, 2015

Response by poster: Thanks all. I didn't realize the cab fare wouldn't be a flat fee like the other airports. Since there was a lot of traffic and the express bus was pulling up as I walked out to the curb, I jumped on. Surprisingly easy. I got where I needed to go in about 50 minutes, after a couple of train changes.
posted by three_red_balloons at 5:35 PM on September 16, 2015 [2 favorites]

For future reference, the OpenStreetCab app will try to tell you whether a taxi or Uber will be cheaper for a given route (NYC only).
posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 6:55 PM on September 16, 2015 [1 favorite]