Options for travel from JFK Airport to Yonkers, NY?

Have you considered a different airport? If you are flying internationally, EWR (Newark) is considerably more convenient and the flights are typically cheaper. If you are flying domestically, there is Westchester County Airport (HPN).

Another alternative is eschewing public transportation. Uber Pool would be $80. You can also rent a car for as little as $20 a day, if that is appropriate to your needs.

If you are up to some car-free commuting, bicycle.

It is possible to reach the LGA airport by bicycle from the Yonkers, therefore from there you can go further to get close to the JFK airport, but you are likely to be bound to leave your bicycle by the car rental parks and then take the shuttle.

Mass transit really isn't so bad. I just tried Google and it doesn't seem to know what's available.

1. Take the AirTrain from JFK airport to Jamaica station. This costs $8.25 now, the ride takes 5-15 minutes, depending on which terminal you start at, and you may wait up to 10 minutes for the train.

2. Take the Long Island Railroad (LIRR) train from Jamaica station to Grand Central Terminal. The ride takes 19 minutes, and you may wait up to 15 minutes for the train, or even longer at night. The subwy-LIRR transfer in Jamaica is very fast. The fare varies depending on time of day: morning peak is the most expensive at $12.50, at other times you should get a CityTicket for $5.

3. Take the MetroNorth train from Grand Central terminal to Yonkers (YNY). The ride takes 33 minutes, and you may wait up to 30 minutes for the train, or even longer at night. The fare is $11.50 during afternon rush hours, cheaper at other times. The LIRR-MetroNorth transfer in GCT involves a long ride up an esclator and can take 10+ minutes.

Once you're in Yonkers, there are several local bus lines, or you can take a taxi.

You can see schedules for both the LIRR and the MetroNorth on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's web site: https://new.mta.info/schedules .

As you can see, 3 hours is too pessimistic.

Alternatively, in step 2 you can take the LIRR to NY Penn Station (NYP), rather than to Grand Central Terminal, which takes the same 19 minutes, and in step 3 take Amtrak from NYP to YNY, rather than MetroNorth, which takes 25-30 minutes. The LIRR-Amtrak transfer in NYP is much easier than the LIRR-Metronorth transfer in GCT. The main disadvantage is that Amtrak trains leave less than once per hour. You'd need to look at the Amtrak schedule and fares on http://amtrak.com to see whether a train leaves at a convenient time. Amtrak fares vary, I saw $17 when I looked.

My to-go solution in the public transit challenged places like most of the United States is a shared shuttle.

In this case, some Googling found (ie. I never tried them) http://shuttleme.net/

There's also http://www.allcountyexpress.com/westchester_schedule.html but I can't find a way to book it online.

This seems to be only marginally cheaper than the 67-80 USD taxi fare @pnuts found and for less than 90 USD you could even hire a private sedan to take you there.

Probably the best balance between price and convenience is the Airporter bus to Grand Central for $18 and then the Hudson Line (Metro-North) to Yonkers for $10.50 peak / $7.75 off peak.

The answer to how to do this trip by public transit is now improved!

The MTA has finally opened its "Grand Central Madison" project, so some Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) trips from Jamaica station now go to Grand Central instead of Penn Station.

The quickest travel public transit route at most times of the day is now to:

• take the Airtrain from JFK to Jamaica station ($8)
• take a LIRR train from Jamaica to Grand Central ($10.75 during rush hour; $5 "City Ticket" at other times)
• transfer at Grand Central to a Metro-North train to Yonkers ($11.50 during rush hour; $8.75 at other times)

So the total cost is something between $21.75 and $30.25 depending on the time of day. Approximate journey time is 1h 33m as per Google Maps.