Getting from Rhode Island T. F. Green International Airport to the city

The rail link is real, and it is a commuter service

• The InterLink at 700 Jefferson Boulevard, Warwick is joined to the terminal by a skywalk, and it holds the rail station, the consolidated rental car centre and a commuter garage. That much is exactly as advertised.
• What is not advertised loudly enough is the timetable. MBTA's published schedule data returns no departures at all at TF Green Airport on a Saturday, on a Sunday, or on Thanksgiving. Checked against several dates, the station is served Monday to Friday only. The Rhode Island Airport Corporation says the same thing in passing, describing it as "Weekday MBTA commuter rail service", which is easy to read past.
• On a weekday there are eight trains each way. Northbound to Boston South Station the first is 06:16 and the last 19:56. Southbound to Wickford Junction the first is 06:00 and the last 19:10.
• The practical consequence: a flight landing after about 20:00, or any flight at a weekend, has no train. That is a bus or a car, not a short wait.

It is not Amtrak

• Amtrak's PVD station is the Providence, RI Amtrak/MBTA station in downtown Providence, not this one. MBTA lists exactly one route at TF Green Airport, the Providence/Stoughton Line. The airport's own page is careful about this too: it offers "downtown Providence (connections to Amtrak)". If you want the Northeast Corridor, ride to Providence and change.

Buying a ticket when the station sells none

• TF Green Airport station has no fare vending machines. MBTA states it on the station page and points riders at nearby retail or cash on board.
• Buy in the mTicket app before you board, or pay the conductor in cash. MBTA's cash-on-board option carries a $3 fee only at stations where tickets can be purchased, so at this station it does not apply.
• Zone 9 fares: $12.75 one way, $6.25 reduced, $406.00 a month, or $396.00 for the monthly mTicket. Round trips are sold as two one-way tickets.

The parking arithmetic, which is unusual here

• The InterLink commuter garage beside the station charges $5 for 24 hours and then $35 for each additional consecutive 24 hour period. For a single day it is the cheapest parking at the airport by a wide margin. For three days it is the most expensive.
• On the airport side, Lot E is $22 for 2 to 24 hours with a free 24 hour bumper-to-bumper shuttle, Lot D has a $29 daily maximum and sits directly in front of the terminal, and Garage A is $7 for the first hour rising to $39 for 5 to 24 hours. Lost tickets are charged at the daily maximum from the date parked.

Buses, and the fare nobody will confirm

• RIPTA routes 1, 20 and 66 stop at the far end of the commercial roadway in front of the terminal. Route 14 does not: it stops at the InterLink, so allow the skywalk walk.
• Plymouth & Brockton runs a daily coach from PVD to Barnstable, Hyannis, Fall River, Falmouth, New Bedford, Sagamore and Woods Hole, which is the connection for the Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket ferries.
• The airport publishes no RIPTA fare, and RIPTA's own website refuses automated readers, so we could not verify the current figure against the operator. The Providence Warwick Convention and Visitors Bureau publishes $2 a ride and a $6 day pass for unlimited statewide travel. That is one publisher, not the operator, so treat it as indicative and check when you board.

Cabs, apps and car share

• Uber and Lyft pick up on the outer arrivals roadway, directly outside the lower level arrivals and baggage claim, and drop off on the upper departures level.
• Taxis wait at the Primary Taxi Pick-Up outside lower level arrivals and baggage claim.
• Turo exchanges happen in approved airport parking only: Garage A, Garage B, Lot E and Lot D, and Lot D has two marked Turo bays.