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An airport serves as an interface between ground and air transportation; the efficient processing of ground transportation arrivals and departures is, therefore, an important part of airport operations. At many airports, the current pickup and dropoff locations for taxis and other passenger cars are along the terminal curb or in existing parking facilities, and many of these pickup and dropoff facilities suffer from excessive congestion. In addition, in recent years there has been growth in the use of on-demand ground transportation to and from airports, with the increased adoption of ride-hailing services, resulting in increased congestion. Since most airports are severely space constrained, there is a need to consider pickup and dropoff facilities that are more efficient (in vehicle throughput per unit space) than terminal curbs. In this paper we compare the throughput capacities of different pickup and dropoff facility layouts. We take into account the effect of the facility layout and operational rules on conflicts between the movements of different vehicles, the resulting delays in the movements of vehicles, as well as the spatial requirements of different layouts. We demonstrate the impact of mean service times, variability in service times and vehicle movement times, and operational rules on the relative throughput capacities of different facility layouts.

As automation becomes more capable, the need to craft designs compatible with people becomes more important. This is particularly true with increasingly autonomous vehicles, which have begun to change what it means to drive. Kaber (2018) argues that the levels-of-automation framework provides a useful perspective to guide design, but he acknowledges that others, such as Dekker and Woods (2002), have argued otherwise. The levels-of-automation perspective addresses an essential issue of “who does what,” and the Dekker-Woods perspective addresses an equally important issue of how to coordinate automation and people: “how to work together.” Kaber argues for greater precision in describing human behavior as it relates to automation, but this commentary argues for greater precision in describing automation as it relates to people. This paper describes a perspective that received little attention in Kaber’s review: automation elements as part of a network, addressing the issue of “what’s connected.” Applying this perspective to the challenge of increasingly autonomous vehicles shows that considering several perspectives may be more effective than fine-tuning the single perspective of “who does what.”

Across a wide variety of systems, from aviation and ground transportation to energy and financial systems, there continues to be a move toward introducing more powerful technological support. Research and practice have clearly demonstrated that, for these complex systems, human centered designs are critical, especially when anomalous scenarios arise. As a result, one important focus of research in cognitive systems engineering has dealt with understanding how brittle technologies influence joint cognitive system performance. This panel will address three issues: 1) What do we know about how system design affects human performance when the competence envelope for the incorporated technology is exceeded? 2) What guidance is available for the design of joint cognitive systems so that they are robust or resilient when these competence envelopes are exceeded? 3) What important research questions need to be addressed to further extend our understanding regarding how to design and integrate cognitive tools into the work environment and to translate this understanding into effective system designs.

The affordability of wearable psychophysiological sensors has led to opportunities to measure the mental workload of operators in complex sociotechnical systems in ways that are more objective and less obtrusive. This study primarily focuses on the sensors themselves by investigating low-cost and wearable sensors in terms of their accuracy, obtrusiveness, and usability for research purposes. Two sensors were assessed on their accuracy as tools to measure mental workload through heart rate variability (HRV): the E3 from Empatica and the emWave Pro from HeartMath. The BioPatch from Zephyr Technology, which is an U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved device, was used as a gold standard to compare the data obtained from the other 2 devices regarding their accuracy on HRV. Linear dependencies for 6 of 10 HRV parameters were found between the emWave and BioPatch data and for 1 of 10 for the E3 sensor. In terms of research usability, both the E3 and the BioPatch had difficulty acquiring either sufficiently high data recording confidence values or normal distributions. However, the BioPatch output files do not require postprocessing, which reduces costs and effort in the analysis stage. None of the sensors was perceived as obtrusive by the participants.

This study explores how different asset management, traffic forecasting, performance, and economic models can be integrated to show the national economic implications of transportation funding and performance gaps under different scenarios. Asset management models have often been utilized to assess and forecast the condition and performance of current infrastructure. Travel demand models have been used to anticipate how traffic volumes are likely to develop over time depending on capacity improvements. User-cost models have been used for cost–benefit analysis and the management of trade-offs, and economic impact models have been used to characterize transportation choices in terms of earnings, output, and employment. This study explores how a sequence of these models when applied to a consistent data set with consistent assumptions can address the overall relationship between physical transportation system conditions and performance, traffic patterns, transportation costs, and economic impacts. The results point to a vertically integrated and economically defensible approach to needs-based planning with an understanding of the national economic significance of transportation investment choices.

This study aimed to assess the time needed by rats, which had not been previously transported, to acclimatize to a new environment after 5 h of van transport, using physiological parameters as measures of acclimatization. Animal shipping boxes and transport van conditions were standardized to minimize stress factors that could be associated with transport. Heart rate (HR), body temperature and activity levels were measured in the rats before and after transport using previously implanted radio-telemetry transmitters. Body weight was also recorded. All parameters were changed significantly except for body temperature. Results suggest that rats take three days to acclimatize to a new environment, as measured by the physiological parameters of body weight, HR and activity.

Airport ground access mode choice models provide an essential analytical capability to support airport ground transportation planning studies as well as studies addressing the allocation of air travel demand among multiple airports in a region. A growing number of such models have been described in the literature: the models vary widely in functional form, explanatory variables, and estimated parameter values. However, almost no attention has been given to how reliably these models predict air passenger mode choice for time periods different from those for which they have been estimated or when available ground access services change. Both considerations are critical to the application of such models for forecasting. In attempting to rectify this situation, the predictive reliability of typical airport ground access models is addressed from two perspectives: ( a) the variability of airport ground access mode use over time and implications of this variation for the application of ground access mode choice models and ( b) how well models estimated on data collected at one time predict air traveler ground access mode use at other times or in different situations. The requirements for an empirical analysis that would apply an existing model to predict mode use in a later year or for a different airport are discussed, and the predicted mode use is compared with the actual mode use observed in air passenger surveys to assess the predictive reliability of the model.

The need for high-speed ground transportation systems (HSGT) has become more urgent than ever, evidenced by congestion in both urban and intercity travel. Congestion problems are no longer confined to densely developed urban areas or industrialized countries but also spread into suburban regions and developing countries. Characterized by high speed, operating reliability, passenger riding comfort, and an excellent safety record, HSGT presents a vital solution for our congestion problems, intercity or urban. There are two distinguished technologies under the general HSGT umbrella: high-speed rail (HSR) and magnetic levitation (Maglev). Sharing some common characteristics of HSGT, such as very high speed and riding comfort, these two technologies are dramatically different in guideway requirements, propulsion sources, operating characteristics, environmental impacts, and costs. Ongoing debates among the academic community have not presented any strong evidence to favor one over another in lieu of specific corridor alignment. A focus is on the engineering comparison of HSR and Maglev systems and their potential implementation in the Beijing and Shanghai corridor. It is undeniable that cost, political will, and social and cultural acceptance play vital roles in the eventual realization of any technology. An emphasis is on the overview of technology, comparison of operating characteristics of HSR and Maglev, and the implications of their potential application in a 1,300-km-long corridor from Beijing to Shanghai—the top economic, population, and culture engine in China.

Shortly after the passage of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991, the Federal Highway Administration and the Federal Aviation Administration recognized that there was very little guidance available for airport operators and metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) to use for planning intermodal access to airports in the United States. As a result, the Intermodal Ground Access to Airports: A Planning Guide was developed. This Guide is designed to provide guidance to states, MPOs, and airport operators on the types of analyses that should be performed when airport access is being planned. It describes the airport access planning process and procedures for performing analyses. During the development of the Guide, relationships were developed between the level of originating passengers at American airports and the characteristics of airport access and landside facilities. The types of characteristics that were related to originating passengers included public parking, vehicle trips, terminal curbside design, and mode of access. Some of the relationships that were developed, how they were derived, and their importance to airport access planning are now presented. In addition, some additional relationships that should be developed are suggested.

Described are the results of an evaluation study of a demonstration program sponsored by the Division of Aeronautics of the California Department of Transportation, in which computer-based ground transportation information kiosks were installed in four California airports, in conjunction with a similar program undertaken by the Los Angeles Department of Airports. The study included an analysis of kiosk-use patterns derived from the logfiles of user keystrokes and various system actions, which are automatically maintained by the kiosks, and surveys of both kiosk users and airport users in general to determine traveler awareness of the new information kiosks, identify passenger ground transportation information needs, evaluate user satisfaction with the information provided, and determine general travel characteristics of kiosk users. Finally, the costs involved in routine operation and in maintenance of the kiosks are examined and a number of recommendations are made on the future use of the kiosks and on the need to preserve the information generated by the demonstration program.

The social, economic, and environmental benefits and costs of implementing high-speed ground transportation (HSGT) service could offset some of the investment required for implementation. These potential impacts are called “externalities” or “external benefits and costs” because they are external to the economic market for HSGT service. The methodology framework used to project external benefits and costs of HSGT for the commercial feasibility study under the auspices of the FRA is described. The externalities are defined and classified, and the general approach to estimating externalities and applying the resulting methodologies is discussed. The principles of two key methodologies for estimating reduced delay to airport and highway users from diversions to HSGT are summarized. A quantitative overview of the results is presented for the California, Chicago hub, and Northeast corridors. Social benefits and costs were found to be an important part of the potential benefits of high-speed rail. Except for some low-speed technologies, only the combined public and user benefits exceed costs. The “traditional” time-saving benefits dominate the public benefits, comprising 92 to 98 percent of total public benefit. Environment (emission) benefits went down with rail speed because of proportionately lower diversions from highway and higher diversions from air with higher rail speed. Significant work remains in developing and applying benefit/cost techniques to rail evaluation: procedures for calculation of environmental benefits are the most undeveloped; in general, procedures for rail impact evaluation are not yet standardized and are developed on a case-by-case basis.

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s commercial feasibility study (CFS) of high-speed ground transportation (HSGT) included a detailed estimate of operating and maintenance (O&M) costs for eight HSGT technologies across nine intercity corridors in the United States. The number of cases examined in detail provides a wealth of information that can support general conclusions about HSGT O&M costs under the normative assumptions of the CFS. These conclusions are expressed primarily in terms of six parameters: the nominal maximum authorized speed of the technology; revenue seat-miles; revenue seat-hours; corridor passenger traffic density; specific trip length; and corridor length. The total O&M unit costs per passenger-mile estimated for the CFS are related to these parameters: It is concluded that most of the variation among operating and maintenance cost estimates can be explained by a set of four descriptive parameters in conjunction with a choice of technology option; for a given corridor length and amount of transportation provided, the total O&M costs for other than maintenance of way increase only modestly with higher speeds and more advanced technologies; maintenance of way costs exhibit economies of scale but can vary widely among corridors, depending on the ownership and operating arrangement for the corridor, the lowest unit-cost option for a corridor is strongly determined by traffic density and by the potential for market growth with increased operating speeds; the importance of specific trip length relative to passenger traffic density increases with density; and generalizations drawn from CFS results in terms of corridor length or density alone do not necessarily apply to other corridors, particularly when one or more of the other four parameters differ.

America has come to rely on the automobile for most of its transportation needs, even in urban areas. Both federal and local mandates, however, may force this reliance to end. This article examines current developments in localized ground transportation and predicts their impact on the hospitality industry. America's most densely populated state, New Jersey, is used as the focus.

In an automated airport ground transportation system, passengers who are not familiar with the system nor oriented with respect to the airport, are faced with the problem of selecting a vehicle and destination to change between airlines. The design of an interface between an untrained human user and an automated system requires skillful application of basic human factors principles. An existing system was studied to determine its effectiveness. Passengers were interviewed to identify specific problems. An operational sequence diagram was used to analyze the interface problem. A simplified sequence is proposed in a design modification which can be implemented at minimum cost. A redesign of the complete interface, using the power of the computer which controls the system, and applying human factors principles, results in a greatly simplified operational sequence diagram and is recommended for future systems.