Dataset of air travelers’ ground transportation choice at four airports in Northern California

Prior studies of travel mode choice in airport ground transportation identified several important relationships between traveler/trip attributes and their selected access mode. However, those studies did not comprehensively account for qualitative aspects of ground access mode choice, such as general and transportation-specific attitudes and perception of mode-specific airport infrastructure. To add insights into air travelers’ ground transportation choices, this study collected a dataset with a survey administered among travelers using one of four major airports in Northern California in the post-pandemic era. Among other analyses presented in the report, we analyzed airport ground access mode choice, and its relationships with travelers’ socio-demographics, attitudes toward transportation and related topics (e.g., environmental friendliness), and opinions about transportation infrastructures and services (e.g., airport parking fees). We identified relationships between air traveler attitudes or opinions and their mode choice not examined in prior studies. Specifically, travelers with pro-environment attitudes preferred public transit and ridehailing services over private vehicles, even when ridehailing services may not be more environmentally friendly than private vehicles. Regarding public transit, travelers are more likely to choose this often if they highly rate its service frequency and accessibility from their home to a nearby station. The results suggest policymakers, airport authorities, and transit agencies consider electrification of ridehailing fleets, expansion of bus and rail service availability to air travelers’ neighborhoods, and higher parking fees to reduce driving in private vehicles to the airport.

Methods
The travel survey dataset was collected through Qualtrics online opinion panel platform. Qualtrics users are invited to participate in the survey. The following screening questions were shown to the potential participants to determine if they were eligible for the study: 1) The zip code of the respondent’s residential address was within the 21 counties in Northern California of our study region (Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, Solano, Sonoma, San Mateo, San Francisco, Santa Clara, El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, Sutter, Yolo, Yuba, Merced, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Monterey, San Benito, and Santa Cruz), 2) The age of the respondent must be 18 or older, and 3) The respondent had flown to or from at least one of the following airports: Metropolitan Oakland International Airport (OAK), Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport (SJC), Sacramento International Airport (SMF), San Francisco International Airport (SFO) in the last three years.

After the data collection, we eliminated some bad responses that completed the survey in an unrealistically short time, with flatlining responses in a section, with too many long-distance trips reported, and/or with an invalid flight itinerary (e.g., SFO to OAK).