[MTA] Modified transfers at Howard Beach-JFK Airport during 2025 Rockaway Line reconstruction

[Dillon Shen-Cruz]

Hi MTA developer community,

As you may know, the MTA's Rockaway Line reconstruction project (from January 17 evening to May 2025) will introduce major changes to transit service. We wanted to alert you to modifications to transfers at Howard Beach-JFK Airport subway station which will affect trip planning algorithms on all third-party navigation apps.

A and S train service south of Howard Beach-JFK Airport subway station will be replaced by shuttle buses. These shuttle buses will operate to/from temporary bus stops established within the airport parking lot east of Howard Beach-JFK Airport subway station. Customers can transfer between the A train and shuttle buses (in either direction) using the temporary entrance and fare array in the southeast corner of the parking lot, via a route that is normally closed to the public. Customers will not be able to freely walk between these shuttle bus stops and the B15/Q10 bus stops at the Lefferts Blvd AirTrain Station.

For the duration of the Rockaway Line outage, all third-party navigation apps should allow pedestrians to walk directly between Howard Beach-JFK Airport station and these temporary bus stops, and prohibit pedestrians from walking directly between these temporary bus stops and other parts of airport parking lot area (and other bus stops within them).

I've attached an image demarcating the temporary bus stops and routes at Howard Beach-JFK Airport. The IDs of the temporary bus stops marked on the image are listed below. Note that the lat/long values in our GTFS data for these stops may not precisely match their actual locations:

• Drop off (northbound): 904983
• Q97 (southbound): 904984
• Q109 (southbound): 982464
  

Please let us know if you have any questions.

Thanks,

Dillon Shen-Cruz