For a few years, I've been having Lyft drivers drop me at P4 AirTrain stop at Newark Airport. Up until about a year ago, I was still calling taxis when I had to leave before dawn, and then I'd have them take me directly to the terminal, because traffic is never that bad at the crack of dawn.
But today, leaving my house at 4:45 pm for a 7:30 flight to Dulles, I couldn't get a Lyft. The app claimed to be finding me a driver, then looking for another driver, and so on for about 20 minutes! It finally gave up. Uber was a little better...for more money, Uber thought maybe it could find me a driver in about ten minutes. Maybe.
But the taxi company number was out of service last time I tried, and so were a lot of other taxi companies. I guess that's what happens when app-based rides take over.
Anyway, the benefit of going to P4 is I don't have to sit in a car waiting endlessly for the driver to edge past others in the infernal loop. It's not as bad as the U at LAX, but it's still annoying during peak times, so I go to P4 and the AirTrain whisks me over to Terminal C. All good.
To hell with it, I thought. I walked a block to the bus stop and boarded the #1 bus to Newark.
"Do you go to Newark Penn," I asked the driver. She nodded. "How many zones is that?" She held up three fingers. I used my NJ Transit app to buy a three-zone bus ticket. $3.15.
The bus ride went quickly until we hit Newark, and then it was excruciating watching the minutes pass by. The trains I might have caught the one stop to the airport were out of the question one by one as the minutes went by.
Finally, everyone on the bus disembarked, including me. That's it, Newark Penn Station! I looked at the times--I'd just missed the 5:32 and the next train was at...ugh, 6:13. But there was a bus in five minutes, leaving from the other side of the station.
I walked through en route to the other side...and noticed the 5:32 was late! And boarding. I hurried to the escalator. Which of course was broken, so I hauled my bag up the stairs to the platform. Just in time. The train was packed, but I wedged in.
$11.25 later, I was at Terminal C without having gotten into a car at any point, and without even using the PATH train.
I would feel more clever if I hadn't been so annoyed to be sitting in traffic in Newark all that time. And if it were a few dollars altogether instead of just a little less than a Lyft.
But I'll say one thing for the bus...it showed up. So...I can't wholeheartedly recommend the very long trip. It only took about an hour in the end, but it was an annoying hour. Still, I'm at the airport instead of staring at a phone while cursing rideshare apps. That counts for something.