Managing TNC’s at Large Transport Hubs...pick-ups, but at the cost of customer experience (LAX) •TNC’s adjacent to terminal frontage improve customer service but may increase

Managing TNC’s at Large

Transport HubsBest Practices from Around the World

Presentation at ITE Western District ‘Virtual’ Annual Meeting,

June 29, 2020

Ravi Narayanan, PE, TE, PMP in collaboration with

Jeffrey Lebsack, PE, AICP, ENV SP

Definitions

History of TNC’s and growth

Examples of TNC management

Evaluations of TNC management

strategies

1

2

3

4

Agenda

What are TNC’s?

A ridesharing company (also

known as a transportation

network company, ride-hailing

service, or for-hire vehicle [FHV] )

provides a service that matches

passengers with vehicles, via

websites and mobile apps on

demand.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passengers

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Website

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_app

Managing TNC’s at Large Transport Hubs

Mott MacDonald June 25, 2020

What are the TNC Best Practices?

Reduce congestion

at airport curbsides

Reduce travel and

congestion on

airport roadways

Provide accessibility

convenience for

passengers

Flexibility to

accommodate

modal changes &

new technologies



Brief History of TNC’s

Source: ACRP 215

TNC’s at Airports



TNC Services at Global Airports (as of 2018)

Summary Uber Lyft Uber Only

Lyft Only or Both

US 146 313 330

Outside of US 125 8 127

Global 271 321 462

Common 130 130 -

Worldwide Airports with TNC Service TNC Services at Airports

Source: Dr. Hermawan



TNC Growth in Mode Share at Major US Airports

Mode 2016 2017 2018

BART 8.6% 7.1% 7.3%

Private Vehicles 24.0% 6.7% 5.7%

Free hotel shuttle 7.5% 3.3% 3.4%

Taxi 5.6% 3.5% 3.1%

TNC services 17.5% 22.7% 25.4%

SFO Airport

0% 10% 20% 30% 40%

12/15

4/16

8/16

12/16

4/17

8/17

12/17

4/18

8/18

12/18

4/19

8/19

12/19

TNC Share

Tim

e (

mo

nth

an

d y

ea

r)

LAX Airport

Sources:

Dr. Hermawan, FlySFO.com, PANYNJ

Mode

AM Peak PM Peak

2015 2017 2015 2017

Private Vehicles 36.6% 26.9% 31.5% 26.5%

Airtrain 19.9% 25.4% 23.4% 29.7%

For-Hire vehicles (TNC’s) 19.0% 26.5% 21.5% 22.8%

JFK Airport



1. No special handling of TNC’s –

Default option at airports that have

no congestion. Generally small

airports

2. Dedicated TNC Facility Design

• Terminal Frontage/Curbside

or Ground Transportation

Center (GTC) Access

• Retrofit Existing parking

garages or fields

• New Remote TNC pick-up

areas

Strategies to Manage TNC’s at Major Airport Arrival Areas

Image source: ACRP 215



TNC Operations

FiFo – First In, First Out:

Queue management strategy

Geofencing – the practice of using global

positioning (GPS) or radio frequency identification

(RFID) to define a geographic boundary. Then,

once this “virtual barrier” is established, the

administrator can set up triggers that send a text

message, email alert, or app notification when a

mobile device enters (or exits) the specified area.

Rematching – finding a match at the arrivals area

for a TNC that has completed a drop-off at the

departures area. The objective of rematching is to

reduce VMT and airport roadway congestion.

FiFo

Staging

Area

IN

(from departures or

outside airport)

Geofence



TNC Operations at Airport Terminals

Step 2: Return to staging

area

Step 3 – First-In First-Out queuing

Step 1: Drop-off at departures

curbside

Step 4 – Pick-up at arrivals

curbside and leave airport

Step 5: Complete trip

Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson Airport (ATL)

Annual Passengers 107 Million Annual Passengers

Number of Terminals 2 – Domestic & International

TNC Management Domestic –TNC at remote area

– north and south parking

International – TNC at curb

Rematch Uber only

ATL has a centralized terminal, with TNC users

going to either north or south economy parking lot



ATL Domestic Terminal TNC Areas

Domestic passenger pick-up at North and South Economy Lot

Approximately 5 minute walk time from terminal

TNC holding area

3.2 miles (11 minutes) away from pickup area

Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)


Number of Terminals 8

TNC Management Lax-it – TNC at remote area

TNC mode share 30% (2019)

LAX has a decentralized terminal area, with TNC users going to a

centralized area



LAX TNC Area

Arriving passengers take a bus to LAX-it pickup area

Terminal Bus Time Walk Time

1 15 3

2 15 8

3 14 14

B 11 18

4 10 19

5 10 18

6 8 11

7 7 8

8 3 7

Design graphic of person

using this screen

Imager of person

hand with phone

JFK International Airport, New York City


Number of Terminals 6 – current

4 – future

TNC Management At curbside – current

GTC – future

TNC mode share 35% (2019)

JFK has a decentralized terminal area, with TNC users

accommodated at each terminal

JFK TNC pickup area is 220 feet from terminal

London Heathrow International Airport (LHR)


Number of Terminals 5

TNC Management Decentralized, use of parking

area at each terminal

LHR has a decentralized terminal area, with TNC users

accommodated at short term parking area adjacent to

each terminal

IMAGE OF LAXit busy

TNC staging area

• 7 mins. to T5

• 5 mins. to T2 & T3

• 10 mins. to T4

• TNC pickup is 3-5 minute walk from terminal

LHR TNC AreaLondon Heathrow International Airport (LHR)



Summary of Strategies

Terminal

Configuration

TNC Configuration

& Location

Facility Type Pros Cons Examples

Centralized Centralized &

Retrofit

Parking Lot

(adjacent)

Easy to

understand

Requires large space

requirements

ATL

Decentralized Decentralized &

Terminal Frontage

GTC / Parking

Garage

Proximity to

terminals

May lack spatial

capacity

JFK, LHR

Decentralized Centralized &

Remote

Dedicated lot Provides

adequate

capacity

Time to access, mode

of access

LAX

19



Summary of Key Performance Indicators by Airport

KPI ATL LAX JFK LHR

Access time from Terminal

to TNC pick-up area

5 minutes or less Bus time and/or walk

time (3 to 19 minutes)

1 minute or less 1 minute or less

Effect on VMT (Distance

from dropoff – to staging –

to pick-up)

6.4 miles 0 miles 3.0 miles 5 miles

Effect on curbside

congestion

None None Minimal Minimal



Closing Thoughts

• Curbside congestion can be eliminated by having remote TNC

pick-ups, but at the cost of customer experience (LAX)

• TNC’s adjacent to terminal frontage improve customer service

but may increase curbside congestion

• As Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) catches on, traditional taxis,

rental car and shared-ride/shuttle mode-share may well ‘morph’

into TNC mode-share over time, Can’t over-predict or double-

count demand for ridehailing services.

• Increase of Autonomous/Connected Vehicles market penetration

could increase TNC mode-share.

• Impacts of “post Covid-19” are anyone’s guess! Both TNC

demand and spatial considerations are in a state of flux.

Thank you

Contact: [email protected]



Acknowledgments

Dr. Karina Hermawan, UC Irvine

Maggie Cheung, Mott MacDonald

Airport Cooperative Research Program Report 40 and Report 215

Documents

Managing TNC’s at Large Transport Hubs...pick-ups, but at the cost of customer experience (LAX) •TNC’s adjacent to terminal frontage improve customer service but may increase