San Francisco Airport

San Francisco International Airport (SFO) is located south of Downtown San Francisco California, and is the second busiest airport in California. SFO is also the fifth largest hub for United Airlines and functions as United's primary transpacific gateway. The airport covers 5,207 acres and has four asphalt runways, arranged in two intersecting sets of parallel runways. The airport has four terminals (1, 2, 3, and International) and seven concourses (Boarding Areas A through G) with a total of 115 gates arranged. With SFO handling 57,488,023 passengers in 2019, they ranked 24^th busiest airport in the world. Thus, SFO being such a huge airport and expecting so many passengers, its access modes will have to be carefully constructed.

It is also crucial to determine the access users in order to determine the access modes of an airport. There are 3 categories, Passengers (Originating, Terminating, Transit, Transfer), Employees (Airlines, Airport, Government, Concessionaires) and Visitors. For SFO, the bulk of the airport population are passengers.

Airport Access

Airport Access is simply the level of accessibility to the airport. Airports with a high level of accessibility would be where getting to the airport is convenient, affordable, fast, reliable and readily available to the public. Additionally, there should be sufficient parking space as an IATA survey has shown that 82% of passengers use a road vehicle to get to the airport. This includes parking for short term, long term, long term remote and other purposes. Furthermore, there should be various types of access modes, which include road, railway, water, air and others.

Access Modes

Public and Commercial Transportation

Bart Station

A BART station at the International Terminal provides heavy rail transit access to downtown San Francisco and the East Bay. BART also connects riders to the Caltrain commuter rail system via the Millbrae Intermodal Station.

Caltrain Commuter

The Caltrain commuter rail provides service between San Francisco (to the north) and San Jose (to the south), with further southern service to Gilroy during commute hours.

SamTrans

The San Mateo County Transit District provides the SamTrans bus service connecting the Airport to San Mateo County and downtown San Francisco.

A future California high-speed rail station at the Millbrae Intermodal Station would be accessible from the Airport via the existing BART connection.

Other commercial transportation modes available at the Airport include taxicabs, limousines, transportation network companies (e.g., Lyft, Uber), shared ride vans, Airporter buses, hotel shuttles, and charter bus services.

AirTrain

The AirTrain automated people mover provides passenger access between the terminals, garages, BART station, West Field cargo area, and RCC. The two-line, nine-station AirTrain system operates 24 hours a day. Additional vehicles, longer trains, and increased service frequency are planned to serve increased passenger demand throughout the planning period.

An Ongoing Project will extend the AirTrain system into Lot DD and a new station will be added to serve Long Term Parking Garages #1 and #2 and, eventually, the planned RCC and Long Term Parking Garage #3. Additionally, a new AirTrain station will be constructed along the existing guideway to serve the future Airport hotel.

Rental Car Center

The existing Rental Car Center (RCC) is nearing capacity in its operational areas and customer service lobby. A new Rental Car Center (RCC) and Quick Turn Around (QTA) facility in Lot DD would improve the guest experience and meet increased demand. This facility would provide approximately 4,400 ready/return spaces and 2,880 stacking spaces for a total of 7,280 parking spaces for rental cars.

Getting to SFO by Bicycle

To gain access to the airport via bicycle, BART and SamTrans offer a convenient bike/transit option that is safe and environmentally friendly.

SFO offers five courtesy bicycle parking areas at the airport. Passengers and airport employees may utilize courtesy bicycle racks located at:

· Valet Parking (Domestic Garage, Level 4)

· Courtyard A (International Terminal, Level 1)

· Courtyard G (International Terminal, Level 1)

· SFO Rental Car Center (Level 1)

· Westfield Garage

Evaluation of Access Modes based on the 3 Key Considerations

Length of Access Time

The length of access time is the time taken for people to travel to the airport. Based on SFO's website, it is said to take 11-90 minutes to travel to SFO from downtown California. However, different acccess modes provide different access times. Public transport like SamTrans may take a longer time (11-82mins) compared to a private hire (20-30mins), but both of them can be delayed because of road congestions. Rail access like BART and Air Trains, may be faster if there is no technical delay.

Reliability of Access Mode

Reliability of access modes is based on the availability, frequency and dependability of the various modes of transportation to the airports.

AirTrain

SFO's AirTrain provides year-round service 24 hours a day, with station departures as frequent as every four minutes. This shows that it is highly reliable as it has no delays and a high frequency.

BART Train

BART trains typically run every 15 minutes, except at weekends when trains run about every 20 minutes. However, there have been several instances of delays due to breakdowns. Therefore, BART is unreliable for passengers travelling to the airport as unexpected delays might occur.

SamTrans Public Bus Service

SamTrans operates 24/7 from SFO. They have bus schedules on the websites which indicates the time they leave and reach each station. Although there is a rough guide, you may want to take into account any congestion in traffic on the road that can cause a delay. Unfortunately, it is not too reliable at night as there is limited service to and from SFO late at night on Routes ECR and 397.

Rental Car Center

RCC is nearing capacity so it is not very reliable for now, however, they are revamping it to improve the guest experience and meet increased demand.

Private Hire ( Lyft, Uber, Shared Vans)

For private hire vehicles, each company's availability will be different because of the number of drivers in that company, the different prices and high demands, and some companies are more popular than others, making it harder to get a ride during a time of high demand. Despite that, most people are able to get a driver as there are many different companies to try from. However, private hire cars may get stuck in traffic during peak periods, so it is always important to leave earlier than usual.

Check in requirements

SFO suggests that you check with your 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.

Parking Facilities at SFO

Parking garages that accommodate short-term public parking are located in the terminal core (Central Parking Garage) and adjacent to the International Terminal Building (Garages A and G). Long-term public parking is provided in Long Term Parking Garage #1 in Lot DD and surface parking in Lots D and DD.

Parking Facilities Available

1. Domestic Garage: 2427 Spots

2. International Garage A: 728 Spots

3. International Garage G: 667 Spots

( For 1-3, $2.00 per 15 minutes ; $36.00 max per 24 hours)

4. Long-Term Garage: 1786 Spots

5. Long-Term Surface Lot: 737 Spots

( 4-5: $2.00 per 15 minutes ; $18.00 max per 24 hours)

6. Valet: 150 Spots

$45 for the first 24 hours

After 24 hours

$2.00 per 15 minute , $45.00 max per 24 hours

All Airport parking facilities have convenient parking for vehicles displaying a:

· DP (Disabled Person) license plate

· DV (Disabled Veteran) license plate

· Disabled Parking placard

The Domestic Garage has standard parking at all levels. Van accessible parking is available through ParkVALET. Follow signs to the Domestic Terminals Departures Level roadway, stay in the left lane, and turn left into the garage opposite the Delta Air Lines curb.

International Garages A and G have standard and van accessible parking at all levels.

In Long-Term Parking, accessible parking spaces for standard and van accessible vehicles are located on the first (ground) floor.

SFO's AirTrain, which conveniently stops at all garages, is also accessible. For more parking information, please see over height Accessible Vehicles and Electric Vehicle Charging Stations.

Book Your Parking at SFO Ahead of Your Stay

There is also a contactless system with no tickets to pull and no payment machines to visit. You can Prepay your parking online to receive your personalized QR code to enter and exit the garage. You are able to choose your parking dates and times, then enter your details and payment information to complete your booking. The booking is flexible and you can change or cancel your booking up to 2 hours before your booked entry time.

There is also valuable offers through our booking system, like this one:

· Book Long-Term Parking: Prepay 3 days for $12/day, and the longer you stay, the less you pay per day

Potential Constraints of these Parking Facilities

Inadequate Total Parking Supply

Inadequate parking slots occurs when the demands exceed the supply of public parking

Lack of Supply at an Individual Parking Facility

This occurs when parking facilities are unable to keep up with demand for parking at those facilities. An example of this is during peak leisure travel periods such as holidays or weekends. During these periods, short term or daily parking facilities may have excess capacity while other parking facilities are constrained. This scenario differs from the previous example as in this scenario, there is sufficient overall parking space but the allocation of supply within the facilities do not meet demand.

Imbalanced Allocation of Parking Supply

Parking for specific uses do not accomodate demand during high traffic periods while parking for other purposes are sufficient or underutilized. This scenario differs from the previous one as the previous scenario explains that multiple parking uses and products are allocated to one facility. An example of this is that airport operators issue airport parking permits for airport employees to use terminal area for parking. Other operators designate a section of the terminal parking area for short term parking and long term parking.

Limitations

SFO has many plans to improve their services and are planning upcoming projects to meet the needs of the increased demands. For example, adding 3000 more long-term parking lots, revamping the Rental Car Center,and a new AirTrain station will be constructed along the existing guideway to serve the future Airport hotel. However, financial limitation are possible as the costs for these projects are very expensive and the current pandemic has led to a huge decline in the aviation industry.

https://www.flysfo.com/about-sfo/sfo-tomorrow/ground-access-and-parking

https://www.flysfo.com/services-amenities/accessibility

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

https://www.flysfo.com/to-from/biking

https://www.nap.edu/read/14435/chapter/4