Westbury resident repeats odyssey to Manhattan restaurant, with some tweaks
Juan Perazo, of Westbury, near a NICE bus, part of an hourslong journey to work. Credit: Newsday/David Olson
Juan Perazo Monday had a three-hour commute to his job as a waiter at Grand Central Oyster Bar. He didn’t want a repeat so he drove from his home in Westbury Tuesday morning to catch a shuttle bus at the Hicksville LIRR station to the Howard Beach/JFK Airport subway station.
But he was too late. He didn’t realize the shuttle service only lasted until 9 a.m. He arrived 25 minutes too late.
“Right now you can take the city buses,” an MTA employee told him, referring to NICE. “The N22 or N24 will take you to Jamaica and connect with the subway.”
He headed across North Newbridge Road toward the bus stop. He didn’t mind the change in plans.
“Jamaica is OK,” he said. “There will be trains tonight, so I can come back here to pick up my car.”
On Monday, he had driven to a friend’s house in Bayside, Queens, parked his car, and then took a bus and a subway train to work.
“It was a lot,” he said.
David Olson covers health care. He has worked at Newsday since 2015 and previously covered immigration, multicultural issues and religion at The Press-Enterprise in Southern California.
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