The US has a peculiar bit of transit bureaucracy that (until 2021) made it difficult to fund integrating airports into wider transit networks. Airports could c

The US has a peculiar bit of transit bureaucracy that (until 2021) made it difficult to fund integrating airports into wider transit networks. Airports could charge fees to passengers to fund transportation improvements, but only if those transit networks were exclusively for transit to and from the airport, so you couldn't just add a subway stop. JFK, for example, has its own train ("Airtrain JFK") that goes from a near-ish subway station to the airport. That makes it take more than an hour on transit (including ~2 transfers and 15 mins of walking) to get from Grand Central Station to JFK. It also costs more than $10 total, as opposed to the $3 that a subway ride costs.