Understanding Issues in Airport Ground Access Modeling: Lessons from a Revealed Preference Study of New York Metropolitan Area Airports

Abstract

Airport ground access mode choice models can provide a great deal of utility for airport facility managers tasked with landside access planning. However, the absence of definitive standards to guide the development of these airport planning tools often results in wide variations in methodological approaches that in turn generate counterintuitive mode choice model parameters and that often leads to improper understanding of the air passenger ground access trip. A new regional airport ground access model was developed in support of the New York City Department of Transportation’s LaGuardia Airport Access Alternatives Analysis Study. The air passenger model developed for the study included a set of market-segmented ground access mode choice models, developed by using revealed preference data from a 2005 survey commissioned by FAA. The model estimation process tested a number of analytical strategies to address some of the challenges typically encountered with revealed preference data and, in the process, uncovered some findings that should both aid future airport ground access mode choice modeling efforts and further illuminate the modeling community’s understanding of the value of time, particularly as it interacts with household income levels and various dimensions of business travel.