: AirTrain Jamaica: Still Awaiting The Payoff

Though the Port Authority’s AirTrain Jamaica has just celebrated its first birthday, Southeast Queens community leaders and local business owners wonder when the neighborhood surrounding the terminal will begin to benefit from its arrival.

Supporters say this birthday is in itself, a success.

Hopeful Beginnings

The AirTrain Jamaica terminal opened its doors to riders Dec. 17, 2003, and prior to the first passenger gracing the seats of the light rail system, word was already out that it was going to improve the community.

“Once construction is completed, the community will be stronger and nicer to do business,” said Zohrab Marashlian, president of Perini Civil Construction, the company that built the terminal.

Even now, supporters consider this birthday triumphant. Gov. George Pataki said, “One year and nearly nine million passengers later, it’s proven to be a success.”

“Surprised At The Number”

The year-old AirTrain system surprised City Councilman Leroy Comrie (D-St. Albans), who said the operation both exceeded, and fell short, of his expectations. Comrie, head of the Queens City Council delegation, said, “I’ve been surprised at the number of people that are taking it, which are higher than projections.”

At its inception, the Port Authority predicted 34,000 people per day would opt for a seat on the AirTrain, instead of the back seat of a car on the Van Wyck Expressway. The number of paid daily passengers though, one year after its opening, hovers at about 8,000, according to the Port Authority’s own calculations. The only riders who pay are ones who enter AirTrain at either the Jamaica or Rockaway stations. All others ride the $1.9 billion system for free, according to Port Authority spokesperson Pasquel DiFulco.

The number of unpaid riders, he said, brings the daily average to around 32,000.

According to Port Authority figures, the average number of daily passengers jumped from 4,747 in January, up to 8,505 in August, and dipped slightly since then, to 7,990 in October and 8,089 in November.

Spurring on the Economy?

Whether its paid or unpaid riders, what they all were expected to bring to the borough were their dollars. Businesses and officials who pinned their hopes on the system now say the riders might be there but their dollars aren’t.

When the train opened, Comrie said, “We’re hoping at the very least it serves as an economic engine for the region.” A year later, he told the Tribune, “We haven’t reaped all the benefits from it because the things that are supposed to built around the AirTrain station have not yet been completed in full.”

Echoing the “it’s too early to tell,” perspective is Sam Samuels, spokesman for the Greater Jamaica Development Corporation.

When asked if there has yet been an economic boom, Samuels, who rode the AirTrain for the first time last month, said, “Boom is quick and speedy and dramatic. I don’t’ think anybody thought the minute the first train pulled out that office buildings would start going up.”

Samuels said his ride from the long-term parking to the airport was great. Those accolades will translate into dollars at local cash registers once passengers like him spread the word. That he said, takes time.

“I think it [AirTrain] certainly has been a success, and the prospect is that the more people who ride it, the more the word of it will spread,” he said.

Retailers Still Waiting

Although construction on the terminal reportedly brought 1,000 jobs to the Downtown Jamaica area, local businesses still await the economic benefit predicted for the area. According to business owners and managers of Sutphin Boulevard storefronts, there has been no increase in shoppers coming into the area and everything has been business as usual. “There is no difference. I wish business had improved,” said the manager of Cashzone Check Cashing.
While most Jamaica Avenue stores are heavily trafficked the week before Christmas, a clerk at the Duane Reade Pharmacy on the corner of Jamaica Avenue and Sutphin Boulevard said nothing has changed since AirTrain came to Jamaica, and “I’m not holding my breath.”

As business owners complained that they have not seen the benefits at the cash register, Melva Miller, Sutphin Boulevard Business Improvement District executive director, said she believes that the AirTrain has motivated many business owners to beautify their property.

“People are interested in the area because of the terminal,” she said. “The reality is that [they] need to improve the general opportunities, like façade improvements, on their own,” Miller explained.

Although she cannot predict when businesses will begin to flourish from the AirTrain, Miller said she hopes the area will begin to see the benefits of the light rail system by the end of 2005, which is also when construction on the Long Island Rail Road renovations are scheduled for completion.

Moving Beyond the Past

No matter what dollars the AirTrain brings to Jamaica and to Queens, one thing it won’t do is bring back 23-year-old Laurelton resident Kelvin DeBourgh, Jr. He was killed Sept. 27, 2002, while test-driving the AirTrain. Between Federal Circle and the Lefferts Boulevard station, cinder blocks intended to simulate the weight of passengers dislodged from their seats, crushed the driver and caused a derailment.

The probable cause of the derailment, according to a September 2003 investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board, “was the failure of the train operator, for undetermined reasons, to keep his train below maximum authorized speed and to stop his train at the location specified in the design for the test.” The Turkish national working for AirTrain found to be responsible for the crash was transferred back to Turkey shortly after the accident.