Opportunities and obstacles in obtaining air connectivity for the residents of federally designated essential air service communities

The Essential Air Service (EAS) program was established in 1978 to guarantee air connectivity for residents of small communities to the national air transportation system. Currently, over half of EAS communities are within 70 highway-miles of another airport leading to passenger leakage at EAS airports and rising program costs. However, communities have shown no interest in accessing federal funds for creative alternatives to air service to connect their residents to the national air transportation system. This paper presents five case studies of EAS communities to understand the reasons why local proponents support air service that is rarely used. The case studies present three main findings: the EAS program is a gateway to federal airport infrastructure funds of the Airport Improvement Program; there is an information gap between the US DOT and the EAS communities regarding existing alternate programs; and local politics and airport administrators’ personal professional concern sustains support for local air service. These dynamics lead communities to ignore better alternatives to air service that currently exist or are potentially viable in many EAS communities. The findings of this study have important policy implications: the Congress and the DOT need to define the purpose of the EAS program to target federal funds more efficiently. Further studies on decoupling the impact of general aviation and commercial air service at small airports can help structure an effective federal response to address local concerns regarding the adoption of alternatives to air service with a loss of AIP funds

Is This Seat Taken? Multifaceted Research Study to Inform the Chicago, Illinois, Transit Authority\u27s Future Rail Car Seating Design

The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) in Illinois conducted a research study to inform the purchase of rail cars. The study comprised customer surveys, qualitative observations of customer behavior, and quantitative analysis of station dwell times. Traditionally, CTA rail cars were configured with transverse seats of various quantities, standing areas, and supporting infrastructure for standees, such as poles. Since November 2011, CTA has been phasing in the 5000-series car, which offers longitudinal seats with the potential for more standing room and increased capacity especially during peak periods. The study reported in this paper used multiple methodologies to compare customer preference, passenger flow and behavior, and train operation of three rail car types on the basis of the impact of seat configuration. Results indicated that most customers preferred transverse seats. Rail cars with longitudinal seats were unable to accommodate more people than other cars, because the varied length of people\u27s legs restricted room for standing riders. Customers found comfortable standing spaces in existing 3200-series cars with 2 x 1 seating, which created staggered standing room in the center aisle. The availability of many poles in this series and fewer weather panels led to shortened dwell times and increased capacity. The study questioned whether longitudinal seats could increase car capacity. Contrary to theoretical estimates and expectations, CTA found no evidence that more standing room increased car capacity. Further research is encouraged on systems in which rail cars differ in their dimensions from narrow CTA rail cars to understand how customer interactions and preferences for other seating configurations affect rail car capacity

Data-Driven Opportunities from an Account-Based Fare Payment System

The development of an account-based transit card has provided an opportunity for the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) to examine transit usage differently. This new automated fare card/smart card system integrates many parts of a transit fare system, such as physical card, fare product, purchase information, and transit use location. The data are also integrated on a much longer timeframe than the previous generation transit card system. Increased data longevity allows the CTA to embark on a longitudinal study of transit card usage by separating cards in a priori groups. In a period between May 2016 and May 2017, a slight decrease in cards used in the system led to a small ridership drop, but a larger drop in ridership was found in passengers who used the system from one year to the next. This longitudinal application of passenger utilization of the transit network provides the agency with additional information that can be used to adjust fare policies and start marketing campaigns based on customer usages. This allows the agency to improve decision-making ability with greater insight on customer behavior