1. Introduction

Airport access is the means of entering and exiting the compounds of the airport by passengers, visitors of the airport, and employees. The category of access modes includes Road Access for automobiles, taxis and buses, Rail Access, and other access modes for Water and Air Access

It is important for airports to have good accessibility In and out of the airport to ensure a smoother and more efficient journey to and from the airport for travellers.

San Francisco Airport has 2 competitor airports within 50 kilometres, Oakland International airport being just across the San Francisco Bay. As a result, it is important for San Francisco Airport to standout as the better option for travellers to fly to by staying competitive, one criterion being to provide better accessibility.

Another reason for San Francisco airport to have good accessibility is due to potential constraints the airport might have in the future as demand for air travel increases (unlikely anymore due to covid). Congestions and difficulties in accessing airports will directly hinder airport operations, from staff being unable to get to work on time, to passengers missing their flights due to complications accessing the airport.

2. Access modes at San Francisco Airport

San Francisco Airport has 2 main access modes, road, and rail. Road access are as follows. Access to SFO by road can be through private car, taxi, freelance car hire, limousine, charter bus, shuttle bus, SamTrans Public Bus Service.

For taxi services, there are designated taxi zones located at the roadway centre island, on the Arrivals/Baggage claim level of all terminals. Uniformed taxi coordinators are stationed at the taxi zones from 7:00am to 2:15am to assist passengers with concerns.

Ride-App pickup such as Uber, Lyft and Wingz can be utilized to travel to the airport. Ride-App drivers pick up and drop off on the centre island of the Departure-level roadway. App-Based rides can also be dopped of on the Arrivals curb side. For domestic terminals, Ride App driver picks up at level 5 of the Domestic parking garage and drop off curb side on the Departures or Arrivals level, or on Level 5 of the domestic garage.

For limousines, advanced bookings are required. Limousine operators are not allowed to solicit customers at the terminal building. Service may be pre-arranged with the limousine operator, or arranged upon arrival at SFO via the Lodging, Transportation and Attraction Boards, which provide free phone connections to participating limousine operators. Lodging, Transportation and Attraction Boards are located on the Arrivals/Baggage Claim Level of all terminals. One of the limousine operators is Sabet Transportation.

There are many options for charter service to San Francisco airports. Passengers must pre-arrange with the service providers. Examples of service providers are Bauer’s Intelligent Transportation and Blue Heron Custom Tours & Travel.

For private car, there are 3 main categories of parking facilities offered – long term, garage (domestic and international) and valet. A contactless payment system is in place, which means passengers can prepay for their parking online to receive a personalised QR code to enter and exit the carpark.

Airport shuttle vans provide service to and from SFO to passenger-specified locations. Depending on the number of passengers, shared ride vans may make multiple stops. Passengers must either have prior reservations, or check-in at the Shared Ride Van monitor located at the Arrivals level information booth of each terminal prior to proceeding to the Shared Ride Van location.

Lastly for road access, SamTrans Public Bus Service routes 292, 397 and 398 link SFO to San Mateo County, San Francisco city and Palo Alto. SamTrans Route SFO connects each Airport terminal with Caltrain’s Millbrae Station.

There are two rail access modes available for people to utilise for their trip to SFO. Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) Rapid Rail services northern San Mateo County, Downtown San Francisco, Oakland, and the East Bay. Trains to Millbrae Station offer connections to the Caltrain Commuter Rail. The BART station at SFO is located within the international terminal.

Hear are the BART operating hours:

Weekdays: 5am to 9pm

Weekends: 8am to 9pm

Next, the Caltrain Commuter Rail provides rail service between the cities of a San Francisco and San Jose. Express trains operate during weekday commute hours, and some operate to Morgan hill and Gilroy. The train is timed to meet each Caltrain service to and from the south, 7 days per week.

3. Evaluation

Time taken to travel to airport.

In accordance with the San Francisco airport website, it takes an estimated 11-90 minutes of travel time from Downtown, San Francisco, CA to get to San Francisco Airport, depending on the mode of travel. The fastest being SamTrans (11-73 mins), and the slowest being shared ride vans (35-90 mins). For the various charter operators, it takes an estimated time of 25 mins, similarly for limousine, freelance hire, and taxis. For Bart, it takes an estimated 15-40 mins.

Reliability of Access Mode

Road

For SamTrans, the bus service has a scheduled timetable, available for public access on their website which provides the time the bus leaves the origin stop from, and the time in-between stops. However, the bus service may be affected by exterior factors such as traffic during road peak periods, and passengers may want to plan for such occurrences, and allocate more time to travel to the airport. With that said, buses are often a wild card, with many factors playing apart in the reliability of it.

For private hire vehicles, the availability of the service will differ from company to company, depending on number of drivers in the area, attractive prices leading to higher demand, or popularity of companies. Despite this fact, it is still generally reliable, and almost comparable to private cars. However, like private cars, hired vehicles may get stuck in traffic during road peak periods or affected by an unforeseeable circumstance such as an accident causing a congestion, so passengers are encouraged to allocate time for such instances despite the relatively high reliability of the transport mode.

For hotel shuttle, the travel time will depend on the number of drop-offs it is going to make, therefore, it is important for passengers to know the estimated time taken to in order to allocate sufficient time to travel to the airport. Nonetheless, the reliability depends on individual companies, and it is important to check the reviews of the companies to determine the reliability of the service.

Rail

BART is relatively reliable. In the year 2020, the percentage of passengers onboard BART who were on-time at their destination was 93.14%. This meant that there was more than 93% chance of being on-time to the airport if passengers chose BART as their access mode. As a result, BART is highly recommended to passengers travelling to the airport.

Similarly, for Caltrain, the on-time performance is 93% for 2020. Meaning 93% of the time trains are on schedule. Unlike travelling by road, factors such as heavy traffic are negated, resulting in less external factors. As such, it is also recommended to passengers travelling to SFO to consider Caltrain as an access mode.

4. Check-in Requirements

Check-in requirements differ from airline to airline, so SFO suggests that passengers check with their airline directly for its recommended arrival time. For domestic flights, most airlines suggest arriving two hours before departure. For international flights, most airlines recommend arriving three hours before departure. Most international flights require that passengers arrive at least an hour prior to departure and may close their ticket counters at that time.

5. Parking facilities at SFO

Three types of parking facilities available at SFO: Short-Term Parking, Long Term-parking, Long-Term Remote Parking.

Garage Rate & Occupancy

Domestic Garage

· 2174 slots available

· $2 per 15 minutes

· $36 max per 24 hours

International Garage A

· 728 spots available

· $2.00 per 15 minutes

· $36.00 max per 24 hours

International Garage G

· 667 spots available

· $2.00 per 15 minutes

· $36.00 max per 24 hours

Valet

· 150 spots available

· $45 for the first 24 hours

· After 24 hours

· $2.00 per 15 minutes

· $45.00 max per 24 hours

Long Term Garage

· 2072 spots available

· $2.00 per 15 minutes

· $18.00 max per 24 hours

Long Term Surface Lot

· 737 spots available

· $2.00 per 15 minutes

· $18.00 max per 24 hours

Potential Constraints

A potential constraint might be lack of parking space for passengers to park in. Today in 2021, the total number of passengers in March is only almost a quarter of what it used to be. From 4,602,873 in 2019 down to 1,160,196 in 2021. Despite this fact, parking slot occupancy is more than 50% for all types of parking except long term. If air travel were to gain traction again, it is likely that the airport carparks will not be able to handle the traffic. In a 2015 study done by researchers, it shows that almost 38% of traffic to the airport accessed it by car, and or which 67% parked at an airport carpark.

Potential Limitations

Some potential limitations may include land limitations or financial limitations. If SFO were to expand their carparks, it may take them more time to breakeven the cost of constructing the carpark as there is less traffic to the airport as of now.

https://www.bart.gov/sites/default/files/docs/QPR_FY20%20Q4_Board%20Meeting_FINAL.pdf

https://www.flysfo.com/to-from/ground-transportation#

https://www.flysfo.com/to-from/public-transit

https://www.samtrans.com/schedulesandmaps/timetables/292.html

https://www.flysfo.com/faqs#:~:text=SFO%20suggests%20that%20you%20check,arriving%20three%20hours%20before%20departure.

https://www.flysfo.com/sites/default/files/as032021.pdf

http://ccgresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Final-SFO-OAK-report.pdf