3 ms·
The utility of an airport train is pretty much directly correlated to a) how good the network it's connected to, and b) how slow/expensive the alternatives are.
by jpatokal 10y ago
The utility of an airport train is pretty much directly correlated to a) how good the network it's connected to, and b) how slow/expensive the alternatives are.
For example, everybody uses the airport trains in Tokyo, because Tokyo's train network is awesome, and the trains are both faster and cheaper than taking a taxi. The Tokyo Monorail, which is only one of two links to one of Tokyo's two main airports, has a ridership of over 300,000 pax/day. By comparison, DFW's airport link gets under 2,000 pax/day -- in large part because the total ridership of the entire DART light rail network is barely 100,000 pax/day!
- aninhumer 10y agoAnd the Tokyo Monorail isn't even that well connected, relatively speaking. It doesn't go to any major stations, and only interchanges with one other line before terminating at a smaller station on the orbital Yamanote line. (Although there are apparently plans to extend it to Tokyo station eventually.)