Getting from LaGuardia Airport to the city

The free bus

• The Q70 LGA Link is exactly what it sounds like: a limited-stop bus from Terminal B and Terminal C to the subway, and it carries no fare at all.
• It ends at Jackson Heights-Roosevelt Avenue and 74 St-Broadway, which between them give you the E, F, M, R and 7 lines.
• From there the subway into Manhattan is $3. That is the whole cost of getting from LaGuardia to midtown.
• It is also the fastest way in, and the airport says so itself.

Paying for the rest

• The subway and local buses are $3, and express buses $7.25.
• The weekly cap is $35. Tap the same contactless card, phone or OMNY card every time and once you have spent $35 in a seven-day period the rest of the week is free. With express buses the cap is $67.
• One free transfer within two hours, subway to bus, bus to subway or bus to bus. Transfer up to an express bus and you pay the difference.
• Three children under 44 inches tall ride free with a fare-paying adult.

Other routes

• Five bus routes serve LaGuardia, with MTA stops outside each terminal, connecting to the subway, the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North.
• If you use LIRR or Metro-North inside the city, a CityTicket is $5.25 off-peak and $7.25 peak, and a Combo Ticket for changing between the two at Grand Central is $8.00.
• All the airport buses are wheelchair accessible, with ramps.

What LaGuardia does not have

• No rail link. The plan to build an AirTrain from Willets Point was dropped, so the free bus is the rail connection.
• That is less of a problem than it sounds, because LaGuardia is the closest of New York's three airports to Manhattan.
• Traffic is the variable. The Q70 uses bus lanes for part of its run but it is still a road journey, so allow more time in the afternoon peak.