Author: Diane M. Ricard

Publisher: Transportation Research Board

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 79

ISBN-13: 0309223717

Airport employees are vital to the operation of an airport. They staff the airport on a daily basis from well before the first flight operation until after the last flight operation, which at many airports is 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Airport employees generate a significant number of vehicle trips to and from the airport each day, which impacts air quality, airport traffic conditions, and traffic in the communities surrounding the airport and on the freeway system. The purpose of this report was to determine what is known about airport employee commute patterns and commute modes, what programs are being offered to airport employees by the airport operator or a transportation management association (TMA) to provide them with alternatives to the drive alone commute to work, how progress is being monitored, what is known about the effectiveness of airport employee commute options (ECO) programs, what the challenges are for the providers of such programs, and to research some ECO programs offered by non-airport employers for program elements that may have applicability in the airport environment. This report was accomplished through a literature search of airport employee commute programs, commute programs offered by non-airport employers that may have applicability in the airport environment, and through interviews with four U.S. and one U.K. airport operators (of 16 airports and 3 TMAs identified, 84 percent interviewed) that offer comprehensive airport ECO programs. Each of the five case studies provides an example of how ECO strategies are applied in the airport environment.