Ground Access to Major Airports by Public Transportation (2008)

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The objective of this ACRP project was to build upon previous research undertaken within the Transit Cooperative Research Program to provide an updated summary of the role of public transportation services in providing improved ground access services to America’s airports. The ACRP project was designed to build upon and update the results of TCRP Report 62: Improving Public Transportation Access to Large Airports (2000) and TCRP Report 83: Strategies for Improving Public Transportation Access to Large Airports (2002). Six Steps in a Market-Based Strategy for Improving Airport Ground Access Chapter 1 presents a shortened summary of the key elements in the creation of a market- based strategy for improving the quality of public mode services at U.S. airports. The airport manager faces a wide variety of challenges in the creation of a successful ground transporta- tion strategy, which almost certainly will comprise several separate services to respond to the needs of several separate market segments. This introductory chapter reviews the key steps for improving public transportation access to airports and presents some information that is further developed in later chapters. The chapter is intended to point the reader to best U.S. practices that can be explored for additional information contained in later chapters. There are six steps in the process outlined in Chapter 1: 1. Establish the public policy goals for airport ground access (a theme that is further devel- oped in Chapter 2). • Form the collaborative effort that will be needed for implementation. • Understand the travel behavior of the longer distance traveler. 2. Undertake the program for data gathering and system monitoring (a theme that is fur- ther developed in Chapter 6). • Design the survey to reveal key market characteristics. • Emphasize accurate geography and market segmentation for both air passengers and airport employees. 3. Understand the markets revealed and their relationship to candidate solutions (a theme that is further developed in Chapter 6). • Understand the composition of the overall airport market. • Establish the target markets at several levels of trip-end density. • Understand the precedents for market support of various modes and services. 4. Design a program of services and strategies for airport ground access (a theme that is fur- ther developed in Chapters 3 and 4). • Understand the quality attributes achieved by successful services. 1 S U M M A R Y Ground Access to Major Airports by Public Transportation

• Match modes with markets. • Acknowledge the role for dedicated, higher cost services. 5. Manage the airport to encourage rather than discourage higher occupancy use (a theme that is further developed in Chapter 7). • Examine priorities and implications of curbside allocation and pricing. • Evaluate the level of amenity experienced by the public mode user. 6. Present the ground access services to the traveler (a theme that is further developed in Chapter 9). • Provide basic service description to the users. • Develop programs for integrated passenger information and ticketing. Chapter 1 proposes a planning process based on the needs of the consumer of ground access services. The chapter notes that it is important to apply the tools of analysis to understand the particular travel demand behavior of the individual taking a longer distance, multimodal, mul- tisegment trip. The long-distance traveler makes logical and rational economic decisions, and those decisions are different from those made in daily commuting. The longer distance trav- eler is making a different set of decisions from those of the metropolitan-scale traveler. These decisions are different in terms of uncertainty and lack of knowledge about the non-home end of the trip. The decisions are different because of the amount of baggage being carried by the traveler, the traveler’s sense of apprehension about the reliability of the trip and arriving on time, and the total trip costs. The six-step planning process is designed to support planning and implementation decisions based on the needs of the traveler. From the outset, the analysts need to see the problem in terms of the full trip of the trav- eler. The choice of a mode to or from an airport is part of a larger set of decisions made in the process of going from the door of origin to the door of destination of the full trip. It is critically important to establish early in the process that the needs of the long-distance traveler most probably will require solutions that are not simply extensions and elabo- rations on service concepts already provided for the metropolitan context. The operation of traditional, low-fare, multistop street bus service to major airports may be a critically important element of a program to get workers to jobs, but such services only rarely have the ability to attract air travelers. The process has been designed to support the development of services unique to the needs of the airport and to the users of the airport. The Context for Public Transportation to Major Airports Chapter 2 presents the context within which the airport manager must form policies toward airport ground access and summarizes the reasons for a policy interest in the subject in the United States. It reviews the present state of the airline system, including a review of variations in air traffic over the period before and after the events of September 11, 2001. It presents a brief update of the major recommendations presented in the previous TCRP reports, which called for a planning process based on the revealed characteristics of the sev- eral submarkets within each large airport’s overall ground access market. As it has evolved, this approach to airport ground access planning focuses more on the understanding of mar- ket segments than on the inherent characteristic of any particular mode or technology. The chapter reviews the extent to which concern about the quality of airport ground access has become an integral part of the process of environmental and political approval of airport expansion and efficient utilization of key national assets. 2 Ground Access to Major Airports by Public Transportation

Understanding the Scale of Airport Ground Access The scale of public transportation markets varies by the size of the airport and by the propen- sity of the airport region to support public transportation. This ACRP project has ranked 27 U.S. airports in order of their use of public transportation—defined as rail, bus, and shared- ride vans, but excluding single-party limousines, courtesy shuttles, and charter operations. These 27 airports have public mode shares of 6% or more. Table S-1 reveals the scale of each airport in terms of the absolute number of passengers who are transported to the airport by a public mode. Importantly, these calculations are based on the number of originating passengers rather than on total enplanements, i.e., passengers who are changing from plane to plane are excluded. What Has Happened over the Last Decade? Much of the data presented in the original TCRP report were based on 1998 statistics from the FAA, and from Airports Council International–North America. There has been a 21% Summary 3 Rank by transit volume Airport Public transport users to airport (in millions) Market share to public modes Originating enplanements 1 New York JFK 2.2 19% 11,602,440 2 Los Angeles 2.1 13% 16,441,180 3 San Francisco 2.1 23% 8,938,170 4 Las Vegas 2.0 12% 16,339,950 5 Atlanta 1.9 14% 13,696,770 6 Boston 1.9 18% 10,428,620 7 Chicago O’Hare 1.8 12% 14,923,320 8 Orlando 1.5 11% 13,792,840 9 Newark 1.5 14% 10,375,220 10 Denver 1.4 14% 9,817,970 11 Reagan National 1.2 17% 7,003,410 12 Seattle 1.1 11% 9,898,290 13 Phoenix 1.0 9% 11,491,890 14 Oakland 0.9 15% 6,273,490 15 Baltimore/Washington 0.9 12% 7,637,130 16 New York LaGuardia 0.9 8% 11,291,970 17 San Diego 0.7 9% 7,833,280 18 Dallas/Fort Worth 0.6 6% 10,683,750 19 Philadelphia 0.6 7% 9,123,560 20 Tampa 0.6 7% 8,116,390 21 Portland (Oregon) 0.5 10% 5,373,750 22 Chicago Midway 0.5 9% 5,933,190 23 New Orleans 0.5 15% 3,472,780 24 Washington Dulles 0.5 8% 6,505,480 25 Indianapolis 0.3 9% 3,628,540 26 St. Louis 0.3 6% 4,845,770 27 Cleveland 0.2 6% 3,789,610 Table S-1. Volume of transit use at 27 U.S. airports.

growth in enplanements at all U.S. airports in the time period from 1998 to 2005. Most of the gains of the first 3 years were lost by 2002; however, the growth in volume in the airline system from the nadir of 2002 to the present has been strong, with a 21% increase in the most recent 4-year period. Over the past decade, changes in the management of the airline industry have had pro- found effects on the ground transportation patterns to major airports. These changes fall into two general categories. First, the non-legacy airlines have not sought to mimic the hub- and-spoke system that often results in the potential connection of all airports of origin with all airports of destination in a time-sensitive manner. In other words, lower cost airlines go to those airports they choose to serve, and only those airports they choose to serve. The result of this initial pattern by the low-priced carriers was a significant increase in the length of ground access travel that airline passengers would be willing to undertake to travel on the lower cost airline. Second, a new wave of low-priced carriers has incorporated a business strategy that does indeed serve existing major airports, such as New York’s JFK airport. How Have the Transit-Oriented Airports “Bounced Back” from the Decrease in Air Traffic? For the nation as a whole, enplanements grew by about 20% between 1998 and 2005; but, at the 27 most transit-oriented airports, total enplanements increased by only 13%. Logi- cally, this statistic suggests that the growth in total enplanements has been considerably stronger in the airports outside of the sample; these other airports tend, with few exceptions, to be smaller and more difficult to serve with public transportation. Turning our attention to the number of origin–destination trips being made through the 27 airports, only an 8% increase has occurred overall, with 10 of the major airports having fewer originating passengers than in 1998. Clearly, part of the 13% increase in total enplanements in the sample is associated with an increase in the number of transferring passengers. The airport- by-airport changes in originating passengers for the 27 airports are presented in Figure S-1. Chapter 2 presents a set of calculations from which peak-hour volumes of public mode users can be estimated. Virtually all of the transit-oriented airports have total peak-hour vol- umes for all public modes combined (rail plus bus plus van) of less than 1,000 passengers per hour. Clearly, the transit infrastructure must be able to accommodate volumes in the range of 500 to 1,000 passengers per hour to an airport. However, it is important to note that capacity alone should never be the sole justification for rail investment; in many corridors in the United States, buses regularly carry more people than they would need to carry to serve all airline passengers at an entire airport. For example, through the Lincoln Tunnel in New York City, buses carry more than 40,000 passengers per hour in the peak direction. There are many powerful reasons to select rail services to airports, based mainly on the existence of a grade-separated right-of-way not subject to the daily congestion plaguing such airports as New York’s JFK and Chicago’s O’Hare; but, in theory, the capacity constraints of rubber- tired services should not be used as a justification for such a selection. Attributes of Successful Ground Access Systems Chapter 3 explores the question of what makes a public transportation access system to a major airport successful. The breadth of travel patterns detailed in Chapter 4 will document the wide variety of experience around the world in the design and implementation of pub- lic transportation strategies to major airports. Those patterns range from the remarkable 4 Ground Access to Major Airports by Public Transportation

public transportation share in Europe to the more specialized role played by public trans- portation to most U.S. airports. Chapter 3 interprets best practices and attempts to draw out lessons learned from this wide variety of experience. Chapter 3 examines the implications of certain attributes of successful services, whether those services are in operation in the United States, Europe, or Asia. One lesson is clear at the outset—there is no particular modal solution that is optimal everywhere: a simple focus on line-haul speed of the vehicle does not produce a high mode share to public transporta- tion, as revealed in Shanghai; the adoption of high-cost, high-quality rail design does not convince more Hong Kong travelers to ride the train than the bus; direct on-airport rail connections to an advanced regional rail system do not attract a higher share of travelers to choose the rail transit to San Francisco airport than the less direct connections in oper- ation at nearby Oakland Airport attract. This chapter looks at service attributes of successful systems, without regard to the dominant mode that resulted in those high mode shares to public transportation. As discussed in the final section of this chapter, capital investment decisions about new rail systems are being made in Summary 5 -40% -20% 0% 20% 60% 80% 100% 40% JFK Oakland Las Vegas Dulles Midway Tampa Philadelphia Orlando BWI San Diego Phoenix LaGuardia Denver National Indianapolis Seattle Boston Portland Atlanta DFW Newark O’Hare Cleveland Los Angeles St. Louis New Orleans SFO SOURCE: U.S. Department of Transportation/Federal Aviation Administration, Origin-Destination Survey of Airline Passenger Traffic, Domestic. Figure S-1. Change in originating passengers for the 27 U.S. airports, 1998 to 2005.

Chicago, New York, Paris, and Berlin. But, other than these, planning for new capital-intensive rail systems is slowing, with a growing emphasis on management of existing rights-of-way. Chapter 3 reaches the following conclusions: • In general, while airports need a certain size to support public transportation services, size alone does not explain high ridership. Distance traveled to the airport is worthy of more attention. • In general, the longer the ground access trip, the less competitive is the taxi, and the less attrac- tive is the casual kiss-ride drop-off trip. • In general, directness of the connections on the airport cannot explain the wide variation in mode shares reported in Chapter 2, although there is strong anecdotal data to support the idea that fewer transfers are better than more transfers. • In general, the speed of the public transportation service alone cannot explain the variation in mode share. Chapter 3 makes it clear that no single attribute—such as the speed of the vehicle, the direct- ness of the on-airport connections, or the connectivity to the rest of the public transportation system—can by itself explain the propensity for high market shares. Rather, it becomes evi- dent that a successful ground access system will need to combine various attributes from sep- arate services designed to meet the needs of the separate market segments. Most U.S. airports have at least three market areas: a dense downtown/inner market area; a distant set of dispersed origins, for which dedicated express buses can carry travelers collected by other modes; and a mid-suburban area, where door-to-door shuttle services can be supported. Public Transportation Market Share by Airport Chapter 4 presents an airport-by-airport summary of airline passenger ground access mode share by public transportation services. Part 1: Best Practices at U.S. Airports In Part 1 of the chapter, the public transportation mode share data for 27 U.S. airports are presented, along with a discussion of trends and patterns for each of the modes. Five cate- gories are used to summarize each U.S. airport: • The airport: Each U.S. airport is summarized in terms of its location, its traffic in terms of annual enplanements in 2005, and the number of those enplanements representing origi- nating passengers. Automobile travel times to downtown are presented, along with a rea- sonable approximation of the taxi fares, which will vary by the actual destination of the trip. • Connections at the airport: The discussion of this category examines the nature of the airport configuration and design, which influence the ability of both bus and rail services to serve the airport efficiently. • Rail: Rail services to the U.S. airports are described when they exist. • Bus: Bus services that are specific to the airport market (i.e., “airporters”) and more tra- ditional public transportation services by bus are summarized. In the case of Boston, bus rapid transit is discussed as a separate mode. • Shared-ride vans: Shared-ride vans are included in the analysis, but services such as lim- ousines and “black cars” designed to transport single parties are excluded whenever the original data will allow. The rail and bus/van market shares of the 13 U.S. airports with a public mode market share of 12% or more are shown in Figure S-2. The rail and bus/van market shares of the 14 U.S. airports with a public mode market share from 6% to 11% are shown in Figure S-3. 6 Ground Access to Major Airports by Public Transportation

Part 2: Best Practices at European and Asian Airports The second part of Chapter 4 briefly summarizes the salient characteristics of 19 of the most successful airport access systems in the world. For each of these systems, the combination of rail and bus services attracts more than 20% of airline passenger market share (Figure S-4). Certain information is provided for the European/Asian airports, such as their baggage- handling strategies and the relationship of ground access services to national transportation services, which is not provided for the U.S. airports because of a lack of relevance. Six categories are used to summarize each European/Asian airport: • The airport: Data are presented that describe each European or Asian airport’s size and location, and give a general estimate of taxi fares to the downtown area. Uniform data on originating passengers are presented. • Connections at the airport: The discussion of this category examines the quality of the connection between the rail services and the airport check-in or baggage claim areas. Physical and architectural details are reviewed as relevant, and the physical quality of the transfer from the airline passenger terminal to the rail system is described. Also noted is the nature of the configuration of the airport itself. The difference between centralized and decentralized airport layouts is examined. Summary 7 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% Sa n F ran cis co JF K Bo sto n Re ag an Oa kla nd Ne w O rle an s Ne wa rk Atl an ta De nv er Lo s A ng ele s BW I O'H are La s V eg as Rail Bus/Van Figure S-2. Market shares to rail and bus in the 13 most transit-oriented U.S. airports. 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% Or lan do Se att le Po rtla nd Mi dw ay Ph oe nix Sa n D ieg o Ind ian ap olis Du lles La Gu ar dia Ph ilad elp hia Ta m pa DF W St. Lo uis Cle vel an d Rail Bus/Van Figure S-3. Rail and bus shares for the 14th through 27th most transit-oriented U.S. airports.

• Rail: Most European airports rely on some form of rail service for ground access. This cat- egory includes a brief description of the nature of the rail service provided and whether the service is dedicated or shared. Fares are presented. When service is provided beyond the traditional downtown, the nature of the regional services is noted. • Baggage-handling strategy: In the discussion for this category, each airport access system is reviewed in terms of the strategies employed to deal with the baggage of the air traveler. Specific examples are presented for off-site check-in strategies, ranging from full-service downtown terminals to integration with other mechanisms for off-site check-in. When relevant, the status of such systems is summarized. • Bus: Although their relative importance in Europe and Asia is less important than in the United States, key services are provided by bus. Small buses (i.e., vans) are included in the overall mode shares for bus. • Relevant market characteristics: This descriptive information is reviewed in the context of any known market data for each of the systems. Market characteristics include the extent to which the market is oriented to the downtown or to other areas well served by the regional rail system. Integrated Baggage and Ticketing Strategies The goal of the airport ground access planner is to make full journey as “seamless” as pos- sible, often with separate services appealing to separate market segments. Chapter 5 deals with the integration of baggage and ticketing strategies. Around the world, a wide variety of strategies have been developed to create seamless trip experiences: providing airport-type baggage check-in at local off-airport locations and providing integrated ticketing between ground and airline services. In theory, a fully integrated national transportation system would have through ticketing and through baggage-handling services between ground and air. In practice however, these goals have proven elusive in major projects all over the world and are being re-assessed. In fact, the empirical data assembled for this report suggest that airline passengers are increasingly reticent to separate themselves from their bags, consistent with what seems to be an evolution in the nature of what the passenger hopes for, and expects from, the travel experience. Part 1 of Chapter 5 reviews recent developments, both successful and unsuccessful, in off-site baggage check-in services for passengers within the metropolitan area. Part 2 reviews the concept of integrating baggage and ticketing for passengers traveling longer 8 Ground Access to Major Airports by Public Transportation 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% Os lo Ho ng Ko ng Na rita Sh an gh ai Zu ric h Vie nn a Sta nst ed Pa ris CD G Am ste rda m Co pe nh ag en Mu nic h He ath row Sto ckh olm Fra nk fur t Ga twi ck Ge ne va Bru sse ls Pa ris Or ly Dü sse ldo rf Rail Bus/Van Figure S-4. Public transportation mode shares at European and Asian airports.

distances on the ground access system, noting the results of a recent national study on the subject by the Government Accountability Office. Part 3 examines present trends in the application of various levels of integrated ticketing, and integrated baggage, noting the lessons learned from the first two parts; this examination includes a case study of the ambi- tious programs in operation at the Newark Liberty International Airport Rail Station. A tabular summary is presented of major programs to unify air and rail through various baggage and ticketing strategies. Four categories of projects are presented: • Service from a downtown terminal to the local airport, with baggage • Service from a downtown terminal to an airport in another city, with baggage • Service to the local airport, no baggage • Baggage check-in at points adjacent to the airport Chapter 5 includes an analysis of the ridership impact that resulted from the abandon- ment of the elaborate downtown check-in facility at London’s Paddington rail station, serv- ing the Heathrow Express. The market data show that there has been no visible negative impact on rail ridership on the Heathrow Express attributable to the abandonment of the check-in services at Paddington. In fact, between 2001, when the first airlines began to aban- don the check-in services, and 2004, when the process was over, mode share increased by about one-tenth. After the events of September 11, the airline industry went through major reorganization and major shifts occurred in travel patterns worldwide. These changes (more reliance on discount airlines, for example) may be expected to cause changes in ground access patterns in some parallel way. The market data in Chapter 5 show that, in the case of the high-priced premium Heathrow Express, such parallel change simply did not happen. Applying Market Research to Airport Ground Access Chapter 6 focuses on the role of market research in planning public transportation ser- vices to airports. After an overview of market research techniques, a two-step approach is presented, using geographic and demographic information to better understand potential ground access markets. The previous airport studies (TCRP Report 62 and TCRP Report 83) concluded that there is no one market for airport ground transportation services: there are a series of clearly definable submarkets, or market segments, each of which requires specific services based on the analysis of need. This report advocates the creation of a planning process based on the needs of the trav- eler without regard to initial assumptions about the desirability of any given mode. In such a process, the needs of each market segment (a concept that includes both geographic loca- tion and demographic composition) have to be analyzed separately, with an appropriate service created for each segment. The attributes of good airport connections, good line-haul connections to downtown, good coverage beyond the downtown, and the need to accommodate baggage are all char- acteristics of services that could be supplied with bus or rail. It is a central theme of this report that a new planning process should be encouraged—one that does not focus on the applicability of any one mode, or even debates the relative characteristics of modes, but a process wherein the service attributes would be developed from an understanding of the separate needs of the separate submarkets existing at all airports. Developing a Market Research Study Before undertaking a market research study, the airport manager should develop a clear and unambiguous problem statement. The problem statement defines the purpose of the Summary 9

market research effort. For example, the following statement describes the basic informa- tion needed to begin a study of alternative modes of access: “What is the geographical distribution of this airport’s ground access market and the current modes of access used by the various market segments?” The principles of a market research–based planning process are examined in detail in Chapter 6, which documents five steps: • Step 1: Decide What Information to Collect • Step 2: Select the Data Collection Method • Step 3: Determine the Sampling Frame and Sampling Method • Step 4: Develop the Questionnaire • Step 5: Summarize and Analyze the Results This project advocates the application of a two-phase market research process based on first geographical segmentation, followed by demographic segmentation. Observing Geographic Market Characteristics First This report examines the nature of airport market segments and documents the character- istics of markets that support various forms of successful airport ground access transporta- tion. This documentation is largely, but not totally, based on the careful examination of geo- graphic trip-end density. The analyst is encouraged to create definitions of submarkets that are meaningful for the markets revealed by the initial exploration of the data. In the United States, the analyst is likely to find: • A densely clustered market of airport trip origins, potentially supportive of fixed-route and -schedule services, possibly ranging from simple hotel loops to regional rapid transit; this area is the downtown market, but there may be several “downtowns” in a given airport market area. • An exurban market of highly dispersed trip origins that can be intercepted in regional points of collection where the operation of high-density shared-ride door-to-door service is extremely challenging; these points of collection can include large parking lots or small hotel lobbies. • A “middle market,” where clustering of trip origins is not dense enough to support the clas- sic forms of fixed-route and -schedule service, where shorter trip lengths are not conducive to long-headway park-and-ride solutions, and where shared-ride door-to-door services can succeed in attaining high levels of vehicle occupancy. Along the way the analyst, supported by the market research data, will often find other markets—perhaps dominated by a center of education or a center of medical activity—and examine strategies to deal with each of the submarkets identified in the analysis. Adding Demographic Market Characteristics Categories of Trip Purpose The survey must be designed to support geographic segmentation and demographic segmentation. The point of origin must be defined with enough clarity that it can be inte- grated with geographic information systems. The origin of the ground access trip can be determined by either the zip code of origin or an address specific enough to support geocoding in the data entry process. The designer of the survey must deal with a basic trade-off between the amount of data desired and the need to keep the survey short. Spe- cific trip purposes such as medical, personal business, school, or vacation, are not needed 10 Ground Access to Major Airports by Public Transportation

for airport access analyses. For the survey, the most important trip purpose differentia- tion is simply “business” versus “non-business.” Categories of Residential Status The second element of the demographic segmentation concerns the residential status of the traveler. As documented in Chapter 2, the mode choice decision of the traveler at the non-home end of the full trip is fundamentally different than the mode choice decision in the geographic area in which the traveler resides. The level of automobile availability (whether for the drop-off mode or the drive–park mode) is substantially higher at the home end than at the non-home end of the trip. In addition, the level of familiarity with the details of the public transportation system is usually much lower at the non-home end of the trip. For these reasons, the survey must be designed to properly differentiate between the trav- eler commencing the ground access trip in his/her own residential area and the traveler com- mencing the trip in the non-home end of the journey. Market segmentation by geographic area, and then by demographic characteristics, is a powerful tool that allows the analyst to understand market conditions on a more disaggregate basis. It allows the comparison of “apples to apples,” which in turn can reveal pronounced dif- ferences in market behavior by parallel market groups in different cities, and on different con- tinents. It allows many variables to be held constant, while highlighting legitimate differences between target groups. Most important, the application of the two levels of market segmenta- tion allows the transportation manager to carefully design services that will attract more peo- ple into efficient, higher occupancy modes for airport ground access. The Role of Market Research Market research is used in all sectors of today’s economy to identify and target selected markets, to gain a competitive edge, to classify and retain customers, and even to determine the lifetime value of selected customer groups. With an ever-increasing number of products and services, the consumer market has become highly fragmented. Increasingly, identifying and targeting selected groups of customers has become important rather than trying to serve the entire market. In the same way, classifying air travelers according to factors known to affect ground access decisions can help airport managers understand how different types of public transportation service will appeal to targeted travel groups. By providing a detailed understanding about the access needs of air travelers, market research can help airport managers plan successful public transportation services. Chapter 6 outlines a method for identifying, classifying, and under- standing the air traveler on the basis of his or her ground access trip to and from the airport. Managing the Airport Landside System Chapter 7 reviews strategies for managing ground transportation services, including meas- ures to enhance public transportation services. The chapter further examines the operational and institutional challenges for implementing these strategies and identifies potential fund- ing sources. Airport Ground Transportation Management Strategies Most airport managers require all operators of commercial ground transportation services doing business at the airport to enter into a formal business relationship with the airport Summary 11

authority or operating agency. (In most communities, any vehicle is allowed to drop off pas- sengers at the airport, but only authorized or permitted vehicles are allowed to pick up cus- tomers.) Typically, commercial vehicle operators are required to obtain an airport permit in order to do business at the airport. By obtaining and signing the airport permit, the commer- cial vehicle operator indicates its willingness to abide by the rules and regulations established by airport management and to pay certain specified fees. Airport rules typically regulate (1) the use of airport roadways and other facilities; (2) the age, condition, and minimum insurance coverage for the vehicles used to transport customers; and (3) the behavior and appearance of the drivers or representatives of the commercial vehicle operators. Sources of Funding FAA grant assurances require major airports in the United States to be financially self- sustaining. Accordingly, rentals, fees, and charges must cover all operating and capital costs, including retirement of debt. The capital requirements of airports are significant today and are expected to increase in the future. The main sources of funds to build airport-oriented projects are reviewed in Chapter 7. Improving Public Transportation Mode Share for Employees Airport employees represent a large potential market for public transportation. The aver- age number of daily employees at major U.S. airports can exceed 40,000. There are a num- ber of challenges, however, to implementing successful public transportation services for airport employees. First, airports are usually located in suburban locations that can be dif- ficult to serve with traditional transit services. Second, airports are in operation 24 hours a day, and many work shifts do not coincide with typical transit schedules. Third, airports have multiple employers each of whom has a variety of constraints and regulations regard- ing shift timing, parking reimbursement, overtime, etc. Taken together, these challenges can affect employee mode choice. Chapter 8 discusses factors that influence employee use of public transportation, summa- rizes the results of a survey of the employee commuting patterns at representative airports, and presents key considerations for improving employee public transportation mode share at airports. Getting Ground Access Information to the Traveler Over the past 5 years, there has been a revolution in the way that airports can present ground transportation options to their passengers. Tools and media that would have been unimaginable just a decade ago are now readily available to the airport manager interested in creating better public mode ground transportation strategies to the airport. Chapter 9 examines those tools and those media in the context of the central theme of the report: that planning and implementation of ground access services must be undertaken to meet the needs of the user as defined and refined in a program of market research and segmentation. Chapter 9 examines the development of new and evolving information technology to bring airport ground access information and ticketing options to the traveler. The presentation of service options to the traveler is the last phase of an integrated program of market-based improvements to airport ground access public modes, as summarized in Chapter 1. 12 Ground Access to Major Airports by Public Transportation

Information about Ground Access at the Time of Trip Planning To an increasing extent, airline trip planning is either (1) accomplished by the traveler using the Internet or (2) accomplished by a travel advisor to the traveler using the Internet. Thus, Chapter 9 focuses on the manner in which airport websites are or are not providing high-quality information to the traveler (or advisor) about ground access services to/from the specific airport. Ultimately, information about local airport services will be interconnected with other media and tools used in the trip planning process. If each airport website can accurately describe the ground transportation services available at that airport, integration of that information with other media used by the traveler (such as airline websites, Expedia, Travelocity, Google, etc.) will logically occur over time. Airport managers will need to provide to the traveler several different kinds of ground transportation information, not only information about airport-managed, -regulated, and -monitored ground services that are operated specifically for the airport market— taxis, airport limousines, airport vans, and airport coach bus services (sometimes called “airporters”)—but also information about the regional public transportation sys- tem in general, including service details that are far beyond the responsibility of airport management. Thus, one of the challenges in the design of the airport-based website on the subject of ground access services is the need to provide direct, quick access both to those services that are well documented by airport management and to those services that are best organized and described by others in the region. Ground Access Information on Airport Websites Amsterdam At Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, a new ground access information program now pro- vides for a seamless integration of trip planning for ground access services managed by the airport with those services not managed by the airport. In concept, the new website is remarkably similar to the experimental airport ground access module being developed for the Baltimore/Washington International Airport. When the website user specifies a destination and a date, a sketch-level summary of all the travel options to that destination is presented. The user selects a mode for more informa- tion and then can proceed linearly to the process of buying/reserving the service. The Schiphol Airport trip planner is integrated in terms of all modal options and in terms of supporting reservations and sales. Narita At about the same time that Amsterdam Schiphol Airport was taking the lead in integrat- ing all ground access information, a new approach was launched by the ambitious e-airport program described in TCRP Report 83. Under the e-airport program, Narita Airport has developed the first ground access trip planning system that is tied to specific airline flights. Through a series of queries, the Narita Airport website user is offered a long list of hotels and rail stations in the area. With the ground access departure time established by the sched- uled arrival/departure time of the plane (via an Official Airline Guide static schedule), the user informs the system of his/her willingness to use bus, rail, or premium rail, and a set of recommended ground access trips are offered timed to the specific airplane flight. Summary 13

London Heathrow The ground transportation section of the Heathrow Airport website offers a link to the United Kingdom’s national program of traveler information called “Transport Direct.” The program provides both public transportation and automobile trip planning from every point in the UK to every point in the UK through a remarkable assembly and integration of national and local trip planning systems and databases. The program reviews all possible combinations of modal segments. The British program has the ability to include air as well as ground segments, although this is not relevant to the discussion of trip planning from the airport. Importantly, the program also includes travel times for automobile trips, which serves as a surrogate for taxi travel times in this context. Transport Direct can offer ground transportation advice between all airports in the UK and any point in the UK. Baltimore/Washington The Baltimore/Washington International Airport passenger information project seeks to use map-based interactions to simplify the airport ground access trip itinerary planning process, while at the same allowing for text-based data entry for those who prefer it. The project, which has been under development for several years, provides the traveler with immediate access to readily accessible information, followed by additional screens and hyperlinks to external sources only when needed and selected by the user. Thus, the airport- based website provides the user with an immediate summary of all modal options from the airport to the specified destination—including airport-based vans, as well as rail service provided by Amtrak, MARC, and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority MetroRail. In many cases, the potential users of public mode services simply do not know that high- quality alternatives to the automobile and taxi exist. The U.S. transit industry is now in the process of adopting highly effective origin–destination trip itinerary planning systems that show how any given trip, such as one to or from the airport, can be accomplished by public transportation. In Europe, these programs have been applied on a nationwide and even international scale. As yet, the full integration of ground transportation information with aviation-based passenger information has yet to be implemented anywhere. Planners imple- menting information systems should consider the needs of later systems that truly integrate information for all modes and provide for immediate ticket sales for all segments of the longer distance trip. Further Research The recommendations for further research presented in Chapter 10 are categorized by the six-step process described in Chapter 1. 14 Ground Access to Major Airports by Public Transportation