How Can I Travel Between JFK and EWR Airports?

There is no direct bus, train or shuttle between JFK and Newark Liberty (EWR) — no single vehicle runs nonstop between them, and every trip needs at least one transfer. The four real ways to travel between JFK and EWR airports are a private car, the train chain through Manhattan, a shared shuttle van, and a taxi. A car is fastest when the roads cooperate at 45 to 100 minutes; the train is cheapest at about $29 per person but takes two to two and a half hours with four separate rides and your luggage; a shared van splits the difference; and a taxi runs about $160 on the meter before tolls and tip. The two airports sit roughly 27 to 36 miles apart by road, and on a bad day the drive can take two hours — so the choice is really about how much time your connection allows. For JFK to EWR travel, the private car is the only option that goes door to door, while the train chain is the cheapest honest route.

The 4 real ways across — travel between JFK and EWR airports

• Private car — 45 minutes on a clear run, 60 to 100 minutes normally, fixed written quote, door to door to travel between JFK and EWR airports
• Train chain — AirTrain JFK, LIRR or subway, NJ Transit, AirTrain Newark; about $29 per person, two to two and a half hours for JFK to EWR travel
• Shared shuttle van — the scheduled direct ride between the terminals, 60 to 90 minutes plus stops, priced per seat at booking to travel from JFK to EWR
• Taxi — about $160 on the meter per the Port Authority, 60 to 100 minutes, before tolls and tip to travel between JFK and EWR airports

Every scheduled ground link was built as a spoke into Manhattan, so an airport-to-airport trip means riding one spoke in and another spoke out. That is the whole difficulty: the map makes the airports look like neighbors, and the transit network treats them as two separate trips. The bus from JFK to EWR guide lays out all seven real ways to make the run with honest costs and times, and the JFK to EWR shuttle guide compares the train, the vans, the taxis and the private car on the same route. That hub-and-spoke shape is why travel between JFK and EWR airports always costs a transfer, whatever mode you pick. For JFK to EWR travel with luggage, the car or the van beats the four-ride train chain.

By train: the cheapest honest route — travel from JFK to EWR by train

The train chain is the backbone option and the one most New Yorkers would take, and it is four rides. From any JFK terminal, ride AirTrain JFK to Jamaica Station — $8.75 when you exit, free between terminals. At Jamaica, catch the Long Island Rail Road to Penn Station: $5.25 off-peak or $7.25 at peak, about 20 minutes — or take the subway for $3.00, which is cheaper and closer to an hour. From Penn Station, NJ Transit’s Northeast Corridor or North Jersey Coast Line runs to Newark Liberty International Airport Rail Station in about 26 minutes; the through-ticket including the AirTrain Newark access fee runs about $15 to $19 one way. Then AirTrain Newark carries you to your terminal. Total: roughly $29 to $33 per person with the LIRR, or about $27 to $31 with the subway, and 90 minutes to two hours door to door if the connections cooperate — two to two and a half hours with luggage and transfers. The tightest budget of all swaps the rail for a crawl: subway ($3.00) to 33rd Street or World Trade Center, PATH to Newark Penn Station ($2.90), then NJ Transit Bus 62 to the EWR terminals for about $1.60 to $2.00 — all in, around $7 to $8 per person, and 70 to 90 minutes on a kind day, well over two hours when traffic clogs the approaches to Newark. Check NJ Transit on the day before you rely on the rail chain: the AirTrain link to the train station has had weekday shuttle-bus replacements in fall 2026, and a replacement bus adds time. The four rides that make up travel between JFK and EWR airports are AirTrain JFK, the LIRR or subway, NJ Transit, and AirTrain Newark, and each one adds its own fare. To travel from JFK to EWR by train, budget two to two and a half hours and about $29 per person.

By car: the fastest when the roads cooperate — JFK to EWR travel by car

A private car is the only option that goes door to door with no transfers and no luggage hauling, and it is the only one that can absorb a delayed flight: the driver tracks the flight and times the pickup to the real landing. The standard route runs west from JFK along the Belt Parkway or the Van Wyck Expressway, through the Brooklyn–Queens corridor, and into New Jersey via the Holland Tunnel or the Goethals Bridge, then down the New Jersey Turnpike to EWR. Under genuinely good conditions it is about 45 minutes. In normal daytime traffic, plan on 60 to 90 minutes. In bad traffic — a Friday evening, a rainstorm, a tunnel incident — it can push past two hours. The crossings into New Jersey are tolled, and a car service also has to get its driver back across, so tolls sit outside the quoted fare in the same way they sit outside every other fare. A JetBlack JFK to EWR run is priced as a written per-trip quote — the published $65 flat is the JFK to Manhattan economy sedan, a different route — with no surge, and the quote comes back before you pay anything. Book through the booking form or by calling +1-646-214-4828. For scale on the alternatives, a yellow taxi between JFK and Manhattan runs on the TLC’s $70 flat fare — $76.75 at base with surcharges, $81.75 on a weekday rush hour — but that flat covers Manhattan only, and the taxi from NYC to JFK reviews show the real total running toward $90 to $115 once tolls and tip are added. The transfers from JFK Airport to Manhattan guide compares the car against the train and the taxi on the same route, and the JFK to Manhattan budget options page shows the flat-fare side of the same service. A private car is the only way to travel between JFK and EWR airports with no transfers and no luggage hauling, and the quote is fixed in writing. JFK to EWR travel by car is fastest at 45 minutes on a clear run and 60 to 100 minutes normally.

The direct shuttle van and the taxi

The Port Authority lists two scheduled shared-ride operators for this route, ETS Air Shuttle and All County Express, and puts the ride at 60 to 90 minutes. A shared van is a booked seat, not a private car: it stops at multiple hotels and terminals, the price is per person and set at booking, and the time depends on the other passengers. It is the only scheduled direct ride between the terminals, and it suits a solo traveler with one bag and a long layover. A taxi is the walk-up option: the Port Authority estimates about $160 on the meter from Newark to JFK, before tolls, surcharges and tip, and 60 to 100 minutes. LaGuardia is the closest of New York’s three major airports to Manhattan, and the public route there is the free Q70 bus to the subway — full details are in how to get to LGA Airport using public transportation — while a LaGuardia Airport transfer by car is quoted per trip, not metered. Compare the meter with the official NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission before you book a taxi, because the meter runs about $160 before tolls and tip, while a booked car is one fixed number for travel between JFK and EWR airports.

How much time to leave between flights

If you are connecting between flights, the transfer time is only half the math. Allow at least four hours between landing at one airport and taking off at the other, and five if you are flying out internationally with checked bags: two hours for the actual travel, and two hours for security at the next airport, plus the time to collect bags and re-check them. A three-hour connection looks possible on paper and fails on a Friday: one jam on the Van Wyck or the Turnpike eats the whole buffer, and there is no later flight to catch if the connection is the last one out. Book the connection with the transfer in mind, not in spite of it — and if the gap is under four hours, the car is the only option fast enough to be worth attempting, booked in advance with the flight number so the driver is waiting when you land. Four hours is the honest minimum for travel between JFK and EWR airports, and five hours is safer on a bad-traffic day.

So the short version: there is no direct link, the train costs about $29 and takes two-plus hours, the car takes 45 to 100 minutes on a fixed quote, the shared van takes 60 to 90 minutes, and the taxi runs about $160 on the meter. Leave four hours between flights — five for international — and let the connection, not the map, choose the ride. In short, travel between JFK and EWR airports takes a car, a train chain, a shuttle van, or a taxi — and the train is cheapest while the car is fastest.

Sources

• Port Authority of New York and New Jersey — traveling between airports (no direct link; car 60–100 minutes; taxi about $160 on the meter; shared-ride operators ETS Air Shuttle and All County Express, 60–90 minutes) — via 2026 transfer guides reporting the Port Authority’s estimates, read 2026-11-07
• Port Authority / MTA / NJ Transit fares (AirTrain JFK $8.75; LIRR $5.25 off-peak, $7.25 peak; subway $3.00; NJ Transit to EWR rail station about $15–$19 including AirTrain Newark; PATH $2.90; NJ Transit Bus 62 $1.60–$2.00) — via 2026 transfer guides, read 2026-11-07
• NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission — Taxi Fare (Rate #2 JFK Airport $70 flat; LGA meter + $5.00 airport surcharge), accessed 2026-11-06
• JetBlack Transportation — owner-confirmed service facts (booking channels, $65 JFK–Manhattan economy sedan flat, fixed per-trip quotes, flight tracking, no surge), confirmed 2026-10-26; JFK–EWR pricing is quote-only, not the $65 flat