Public Transport Accessibility at Airports in North Carolina – A Case of Bus Schedules and Their Overlap with Airport Hours of Operation

Public transport accessibility at airports in NC

Abstract

This research aims to assess the overlap between flight and bus schedules to calculate the percentage of time an individual can depend exclusively on public transportation for airport access in North Carolina. This study posits that despite the availability of various options for airport access, public transport, specifically bus connectivity, plays a crucial role in ground transportation. This study demonstrates that bus schedules fail to encompass the entire duration of working hours at any of the primary airports in North Carolina. The discrepancy between the airport schedule and the bus schedule results in issues that typically affect passengers dependent on bus transportation to and from the airport. These encompass workers who may require drop-off or pick-up services due to the bus schedule to the airport not aligning with their needs, as well as passengers who can utilize the bus for only one segment of their journey (arrival or departure). This study recommends that to reduce airport congestion and increase bus service utilization, the bus schedule should align with the airport schedule, encompassing the entire period from the first arrival to the last departure.