Intermodal Passenger Facility Planning and Decision-Making for Seamless Travel (2024)
Chapter: 1 Introduction
CHAPTER 1
Introduction
TCRP Research Report 250/ACRP Research Report 275/NCHRP Research Report 1129: Intermodal Passenger Facility Planning and Decision-Making for Seamless Travel is a guide for intermodal passenger facility planning and decision-making in an era of accelerated change and uncertainty. It combines research and analysis, practitioner interviews, and discussions of published reports. Its intended audience is those who plan, own, and manage intermodal passenger facilities, as well as the transportation providers that serve these facilities. It is a resource for others who consult on or interact with intermodal passenger facilities, such as government agencies, real estate developers, and the broader community.
Intermodal passenger facility projects addressed in this report include new facilities, expansions, and renovations. Since each project is guided by a facility owner’s specific needs and priorities, the report provides context and knowledge of important trends to support future decisions.
The report emphasizes two key themes applicable to all intermodal passenger facilities:
- The intermodal passenger facility can play an increasingly important role in supporting seamless travel by prioritizing the customer experience in planning, decision-making, and daily operations.
- In an era of changing conditions for travel, demographics, the environment, and technology, flexibility and adaptability are increasingly important.
What Is an Intermodal Passenger Facility?
An intermodal passenger facility is a transportation hub served by at least two modes of travel with at least one travel mode being air, rail, bus, or passenger vessel. These facilities are also known as multimodal centers or terminals, airports, transit centers or stations, ferry or cruise ship terminals/docks, or mobility hubs. (Some practitioners refer to intermodal passenger facilities as mobility hubs, and while all intermodal passenger facilities are mobility hubs, not all mobility hubs are intermodal passenger facilities. For example, a mobility hub served by one local bus route or a hub with no transit service is not, for the purposes of this research, an intermodal passenger facility. These types of hubs are often known as neighborhood hubs, micromobility hubs, or local hubs.) For the purposes of this report, a further distinction is made for airports, which have publicly accessible landside components and secure airside components. Intermodal passenger facilities have varying levels of activity; facilities located in more urban environments often include other commercial uses and nearby or integrated activity generators, while other facilities are exclusively for transportation.
Prioritizing the Customer Experience for Seamless Travel
The U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) describes seamless travel in the context of the complete trip, the idea that any individual traveler must be able to execute every part of their trip from origin to destination regardless of location, income, or disability. Prioritizing the customer’s experience means considering how different customers experience intermodal passenger facilities, particularly during complex trips. This includes trips that may require purchasing multiple tickets; transporting, checking, and claiming baggage; passing through security screening or customs and immigration; and navigating unfamiliar spaces. For travelers with disabilities, those who speak a different language, or those with low incomes, completing complex trips can be even more stressful or impractical.
Throughout this report, reference is made to four categories of intermodal passenger facility user groups:
- Customers: transportation passengers and other visitors who use or interact with intermodal passenger facilities.
- Planners: professionals who plan intermodal passenger facility projects or plan new facilities.
- Owners: public or private entities that own, manage, or operate intermodal passenger facilities, as well as their employees (owner-employees).
- Providers: airlines, ferry and cruise ship operators, public transportation agencies, and other shared-mode transportation providers.
An intermodal passenger facility has a larger ecosystem of stakeholders, and this is discussed further in Chapter 7.
Planners, owners, and providers all play a role in facilitating seamless travel, which typically begins and ends beyond the sphere of the intermodal passenger facility and includes entering, using, transferring, and exiting the facility. The research uses a typology framework to place intermodal passenger facilities within the community context, which can help broaden the reach of facilities and strengthen neighborhood partnerships. In addition, the research takes into consideration other facility users [e.g., visitors, service-provider employees (e.g., bus operators), tenants, and vendors].
Flexibility and Adaptability in an Uncertain Future
Designing, constructing, and maintaining intermodal passenger facilities is a complex undertaking. Rapid cost escalations and implementation delays are common. A project can take 10 years or longer to construct, often following a multiyear planning and permitting process. Assumptions made during the planning phase may no longer apply. Decisions made today cannot fully anticipate the future as intermodal transportation continues to evolve and changes occur in the private sector, government policy, and society at large.
This report discusses how changes in travel and other trends might alter how people will use intermodal passenger facilities in the future and offers ways to plan accordingly. It suggests resources to support decision-making and provides examples of how other facility planners and owners have invested in features and amenities to serve their customers. It emphasizes the importance of flexibility and adaptability. Flexibility includes designing or programming spaces that can be reconfigured or repurposed. Adaptability includes understanding usage patterns and redeploying resources, retraining staff, or establishing new partnerships if warranted.
To measure changes in usage and other patterns, this report describes ways to obtain, collect, and analyze data and measure performance. It also describes different models of project
governance and project delivery and emphasizes the importance of establishing and maintaining strong partnerships. The report also offers information on project funding and financing.
How to Navigate the Report
Following this introduction, the report is organized into eight additional chapters, a reference section, a list of abbreviations, and five appendices. See Exhibit 1 for a summary of main body of the report.
Hyperlinks, Callouts, and Icons
This report includes internal hyperlinks, text boxes, and icons that are placed in the margin. Internal hyperlinks enable online readers to navigate to internal report topics. External hyperlinks enable online readers to easily locate relevant reports and other resources. Text boxes highlight information compiled during the research effort, including stakeholder interviews, workshop comments, and other important information.
Hyperlinks
This report makes extensive use of embedded hyperlinks. These direct online readers to related sections of the report and to external sources and materials.
Text Boxes
This report uses grey-shaded text boxes to highlight events, research findings, intermodal passenger facility projects, and notable practices.
Exhibit 1. Summary of report.
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Chapter 2 History of Intermodal Passenger Facilities Through 2020 |
This chapter offers a timeline of intermodal passenger facilities and intercity transportation from the early 1900s through 2020, noting key policy and legislative milestones, transformative external events, and changes in technology, business, environment, and society affecting how people travel. |
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Chapter 3 Recent Trends and Implications |
This chapter describes trends in and implications for intermodal passenger facilities since 2020, organizing the discussion into two broad categories: (1) transportation and (2) society, business, the environment, and technology. Companion Appendix A is a primer on advanced air mobility (AAM), which is a recent trend with implications for intermodal passenger facilities. |
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Chapter 4 A Typology of Intermodal Passenger Facilities |
This chapter categorizes intermodal passenger facilities by primary transportation mode or modes, network function, surrounding context, and activity generator or generators. For airports with scheduled commercial service, it discusses the intermodal components within airports (airside) and outside airports (landside). |
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Chapter 5 Planning and Decision-Making Framework |
This chapter introduces a framework for planning and decision-making, using a user-centric approach and considering current trends, and it applies the framework to managing passenger pickups and drop-offs, a critical but often challenging component of intermodal passenger facilities. |
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Chapter 6 Data and Information Needs |
This chapter explains how to plan and manage data collection, including methods, approaches to data stewardship, and the use of data-sharing agreements. It describes new sources of data and discusses data used for different travel modes and provides examples of using technology and systems to measure facility performance. Companion Appendix B provides information on private data sources. |
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Chapter 7 Governance and Partnerships |
This chapter explains the essential elements of intermodal passenger facility governance, and the assignment of roles and responsibilities throughout the facility’s life cycle. It introduces different models of project delivery and offers an overview of private development partnerships with references to resources and examples of joint development. Companion Appendix C offers a detailed discussion of project delivery methods. |
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Chapter 8 Funding and Financing |
This chapter explains ways to choose the right funding program and financing approach and summarizes the funding, financing, and innovative delivery options available. Companion Appendix D provides tables with funding sources available as of this report’s publication. Companion Appendix E presents a case study of Denver Union Station’s innovative financing and project delivery approach. |
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Chapter 9 Conclusion |
This chapter provides a brief summary of key takeaways from the report. |
Published Reports, Checklists, and Decision Points
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Potentially useful reports feature this icon placed in the report margin. |
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Useful checklists feature this icon placed in the report margin. |
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Narratives describing potential decisions feature this icon placed in the report margin. |
Typology and Planning Framework
The typology chapter (Chapter 4) categorizes intermodal transportation facilities by primary transportation mode or modes, network function, surrounding context, and activity generator or generators. It presents examples of existing intermodal passenger facilities, including facilities discussed in stakeholder interviews. It also includes examples of using typologies and goals in the facility planning process.
The planning and decision-making framework chapter (Chapter 5) introduces 10 categories of planning and decision-making and includes selected steps and decision-making considerations for each planning category as examples. Following a discussion of the complete trip in support of seamless travel, it presents an example of applying the typology and planning categories for managing pickups and drop-offs. This example may be applied to decision-making processes.
Existing Intermodal Passenger Facility Guidance
Almost all intermodal passenger facility projects are complex multiyear efforts, and no single report or guide can possibly cover all project elements. Guidance and manuals are available from multiple sources, including:
- At the federal level, the FTA, FAA, FRA, and FHWA oversee programs, issue regulations, and provide direction on modal projects.
- National organizations such as AASHTO and the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO), as well as architecture, engineering, and construction industry associations, publish widely used standards and guidance resources.
- TRB’s Cooperative Research Program has also published many relevant syntheses, web resources, and reports. The research team reviewed CRP reports and other resources and has identified the most useful publications for practitioners. Notable resources include an icon in the margin. The first such resource is TCRP Research Report 165: Transit Capacity and Quality of Service Manual (TCQSM; Kittelson & Associates, Inc., et al. 2013).
Transit Capacity and Quality of Service Manual, Third Edition
TCRP Research Report 165: Transit Capacity and Quality of Service Manual, Third Edition (Kittelson & Associates, Inc., et al. 2013) is a cornerstone of the TCRP report series. It has consistently been TCRP’s most downloaded and viewed document and is used throughout
the United States by public transportation practitioners and other industry professionals. The TCQSM covers the principles and practices of transit capacity for all transit modes and quality of service from the customer’s viewpoint.
The Third Edition of the TCQSM, published in 2013, includes background, statistics, and graphics on the types of public transportation, and a framework for measuring transit availability, comfort, and convenience. The manual documents quantitative techniques for calculating the capacity and other operational characteristics of bus, rail, demand-responsive, and ferry transit services, as well as for transit stops, stations, and terminals. It describes station facilities of all sizes, ranging from individual bus stops to large intermodal passenger facilities, and includes concepts and detailed methodologies applicable to different operating environments and complexities.
TCQSM Third Edition, Chapter 9 (Ferry Service and Ferry Facilities)
Chapter 9 of the TCQSM provides information on terminals for water transportation, covering intermodal integrations such as transfers to park-and-ride lots; feeder bus services; roll-on, roll-off bus services (for auto ferries); and nearby rail connections. It distinguishes between passenger-only ferries such as in the New York and San Francisco Bay regions and passenger/vehicle ferries such as in metropolitan Seattle.
TCQSM Third Edition, Chapter 10: Station Capacity
Chapter 10 of the TCQSM includes extensive information on horizontal and vertical circulation within intermodal passenger facilities and includes ways to analyze levels of service. The horizontal circulation section explains the capacity and sizing of walkways, moving walkways, waiting platforms, and multi-activity passenger circulation areas such as the concourse at Grand Central Terminal in New York City. The vertical circulation section addresses the capacity and sizing of stairways, escalators, and elevators and the relationship between street level, concourses, and platform movements. This chapter also describes the circulation and queueing space requirements for fare collection machines and fare gates.
TCQSM Fourth Edition
The Fourth Edition of the TCQSM is being prepared. This edition will address recent developments in the public transportation industry, including a greater concern for equity. It will offer analytical procedures for assessing intermodal facility capacity and level of service, including increased use of simulation modeling. This includes simulating motor vehicle and bus movements to size pickup/drop-off zones, waiting areas, and parking areas. Such simulations help planners evaluate different vehicle staging and parking configurations.
The Fourth Edition will assess the impacts of electrification of ferry vessels on terminal space requirements, as well as the capacity impacts of alternate docking configurations to size gangways and vehicle holding areas.
Airport Terminal Design Information
ACRP Report 25: Airport Passenger Terminal Planning and Design, Volume 1: Guidebook (Landrum & Brown et al. 2010) provides information for planning and developing airport passenger terminals and to assist users in analyzing common issues related to airport terminal planning and design. It explores the passenger terminal planning process and provides, in a single reference document, the important criteria and requirements needed to help address emerging trends and develop potential solutions for airport passenger terminals. Volume 1 addresses the airside, terminal building, and landside components of the terminal complex.
Station Siting Resources
Guidance on siting intercity rail stations and high-capacity transit stations is available from the National Cooperative Rail Research Program (NCRRP), FRA, and TCRP.
Passenger Rail Stations
NCRRP Research Report 6: Guidebook for Intercity Passenger Rail Service and Development (Morgan et al. 2016) includes a chapter on design and construction that cites the following factors to consider when evaluating intercity passenger rail stations:
- Provision of facilities/services for connecting modes not available at site.
- Revisions to existing connecting services required.
- Proximity to major facilities and destinations.
- Effect on current railroad operations at existing station.
- Potential funding sources and costs.
- Development/redevelopment and tax base enhancement potential.
- Neighborhood impacts.
- Metropolitan urban form and socioeconomic impacts (Morgan et al. 2016).
FRA’s Railroad Corridor Transportation Plans: A Guidance Manual emphasizes the importance of intermodal transportation, stating, “Every effort should be made to have each station serve as a regional intermodal passenger terminal for all forms of regional and local transportation systems” (Federal Railroad Administration 2005). The report also suggests having at least one station located in or near a city’s central business district and, in larger regions, the report suggests siting suburban stations near a major highway (Federal Railroad Administration 2005).
High-Capacity Transit Stations
TCRP Research Report 153: Guidelines for Providing Access to Public Transportation Stations addresses planning and design for access to high-capacity transit stations, including guidelines for arranging and integrating various station design elements, and includes an eight-step planning process for effective station access planning (Coffel et al. 2012).
Mobility Hub Guidance
Numerous resources are available on mobility hubs including from the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE; ITE, n.d.) and the Shared Use Mobility Center (SUMC; SUMC, n.d.), and others such as the Broward County Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO; Broward MPO 2021), and the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG; SANDAG, n.d.). Given the range of applications—from intercity rail stations to neighborhood bus stops—the decision process for siting mobility hubs is context specific.
