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Driver familiarity with the roadway system and the complexity of the system significantly influence ground access operations. Complex road systems, such as those often found at large airports, require quick decision making by motorists unfamiliar with the airport and often involve frequent merging and weaving. Traffic control devices at grade intersections also influence system performance. The management of taxi, limousine, and courtesy bus operations may also influence ground access operations. Control of taxi entry to the terminal area, issuance of taxi permits for airport service, and encouragement of limousine services are among the actions taken by management at some airports to improve ground access conditions. Control of cargo vehicles and employee access are also important at some airports. Aside from expansion or improvement of the road network leading to the airport, most effort to facilitate airport ground access has focused on substitutes for the automobile. Bus or airline limousine service has proved workable in some cities, but patronage is generally low because of the infrequency of service or the inconvenience of getting between origin or destination and a centrally located bus terminal. Helicopter shuttle between the airport and city center has been tried, but it is expensive, unreliable because of weather, and objectionable to the community because of noise. A solution that has been advocated by many planners is a rail rapid transit system, operated either exclusively to and from the airport or as part of a regional network. Cleveland, for example, built a rapid transit extension to Hopkins International Airport in 1968. Proposals to provide such service¡Ðeither by construction of a new line to the airport or by linking an existing line to the airport by a feeder bus¡Ð have been advanced for several other cities. In part, this interest has been stimulated by examples in foreign countries, which either have or are planning rail service to airports. Charles de Gaulle Airport in France has a rail station a little over a mile from the terminal with connection provided by shuttle bus. Amsterdam (Schiphol), Birmingham, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Gatwick, Heathrow, Orly, Vienna, and Zurich already have rail stations in or immediately adjacent to the airport terminal. Haneda Airport in Japan has a monorail line from the center of Tokyo to the terminal, which brings passengers to within 300 feet of check-in counters. Toronto and Montreal (Dorval) in Canada have rail lines that are close by but not integral with the terminal (a connecting bus or taxi trip is needed to complete the link), and Montreal International (Mirabel) now has direct service from the airport to the downtown area with 13 intermediate stops. Ridership statistics in the United States for existing transit linkages to major airports indicate an important, but distinctly limited, role for metropolitan rail systems. The most successful linkage is to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) via the modern and extensive Metrorail system. Transit has accounted for about 15 percent of trips to DCA and may reach 20 percent because the new terminal provides convenient access to transit. The next best performers are Atlanta's MARTA rail link to Hartsfield Airport, with a 9 percent market share, and Boston's MBTA rail link to Logan Airport, with a 7.5 percent market share. Transit links to Chicago O'Hare, New York JFK International, Philadelphia International, and Cleveland Hopkins airports all account for between 3 percent and 4 percent of airport access trips. Experience to date suggests that public transportation (bus, rail, etc.) usually will not attract more than 30 percent of ground access trips to major airports. The same appears to be true in Europe where higher market shares are achieved only by linkages to extensive national rail systems that connect to cities beyond the metropolitan area served by the airport. Unfortunately, rail transit is not a universal solution to the airport access problem. In most major U.S. cities, there is not a regional rail network to be tied into the airport, and without it there is little prospect that an exclusive line between downtown and the airport would be viable.
Approximate Word count = 2578
Approximate Pages = 10.3
(250 words per page double spaced)
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