On the taxi-or-train conundrum to get from an airport in Europe

Don't forget airport express buses. These are often a great deal and easy to find and board at the airport.

Quite right, Andre. Paris is a great example, where the RER can get you quickly and cheaply into the center and a taxi can get you that "last mile" to your hotel. It also works vice versa, allowing plenty of time. The major airports I've used all have good rail service to and from the city, and a short taxi ride within the city costs a lot less than a long one to or from the airport.

I think the deciding question is how many are you and what are you carrying?

I'm alone and carrying only a small shoulder bag. It's easy for me to hop on the RER into Paris. I wouldn't waste money on a taxi that has to drive in traffic.

If I had four people with luggage, however, a taxi is not only more convenient but almost the same price per person. Probably a better value. I wouldn't want to be jet lagged on the metro, if I also had to keep track of multiple bags.

Andre, I was in Las Vegas this last summer. Did you know that they have a Monorail that does not go to the airport? That's right, their big public transportation project stops a few miles short of the airport. So if you want to use it you'd need to take a taxi to get to it. I could not believe it.

The monorail in Las Vegas was never meant to be airport transportation. It was built to help alleviate traffic along "The Strip."

Frank II is correct about the monorail in Las Vegas. I have also lived in Miami, where the raised rail didn't go to the airport, either. Who makes these decisions?

Thankfully, I have never seen this problem in Europe.

I don't know if that is so unusual. Denver has been in the process of building a light-rail system for the past 15 years. And only last year was the line to the airport completed. The airport was well served with buses so the priority to get the train to the airport was not high. It was a part of the total plan but on the back half of the construction schedule.

Frank, I'm sure lobbying by the shuttle companies and taxi companies had a lot to do with the delay getting a train to the airport. The fare from DIA to downtown was around $50, and cab drivers would wait for hours at the airport just to get a fare into town. For $9 (Sr. fare) we (2) went from DIA to Union Station and then to within a short distance of home by light rail.

The big delay was obtaining right-of-way next to the existing train tracks/right-of-way because the US DOT changed the rules for using right-of-ways after the Southwest line was constructed. Question of mixing light and heavy rail.

And, of course, the train to DIA is made up of much heavier rail cars compared to the light rail cars on the SW line and elsewhere.

Just to elaborate on the wackiness of American politics and public transport . . . The extension of the Bay Area metro system, BART, to SFO, is newer than the system as a whole, by decades. Initially, each county had to vote to become part of the system.. The county in which the airport is located opted out. As years passed, and traffic became worse and worse, the extension to the airport gained favor. However, a delay of a few more years resulted from a debate over whether the extension should go into the airport or go near the airport, with the last segment covered by some sort of shuttle. One would think it would have been a no-brainer; however, business interests kept the obvious decision from being made for a long time.

We now enjoy the convenience of taking BART directly to SFO. We live near enough to a station to be able to walk or to get a friend to drop us off. One swipe of our senior discount cards ($2.00/pp?) and we’re on our way , straight into the terminal, vs around $60 for the private shuttles we used to take.

Reagan National Airport is very close to downtown Washington, D.C. but for many years the Metro system stopped short of reaching it, supposedly due to taxi-industry lobbying. Now you can easily walk between the terminal and a Metro line that will take you anywhere.

Seattle had no rail connection to the airport until a few years ago -- no rail anywhere really. In recent years a light-rail line has reached SeaTac, a short walk from the terminal, taking about half an hour to get downtown.

American cities are slowly and tenuously evolving their transit systems to reach the speed and efficiency big European cities achieved many decades ago. Some day we may evolve to their advanced state!