A wrinkle on corporate headquarters: leaving the city as buildings age

State Farm four building complex in Richardson, Texas. Dallas Morning News photo.

In the late 1990s and 2000s there was for a time the move of corporate headquarters from the suburbs to the city such as Compuware and Quicken Loans in Detroit, Panasonic in Newark, etc.  

Plus Amazon's HQ2 quest focused on places well connected by transit, even if Arlington County, just outside of DC, is a suburb. GE to Boston ("Corporate headquarters relocating to the center city: GE chooses Boston," 2016), etc.

At the same time, firms still moved out of the city.  

For example, the wage tax in Philadelphia makes it hard to attract large businesses, although Comcast stays committed.  Plus, suburbs often lure city-based businesses with incentives ("Real Estate Giant CoStar Group Chooses Arlington for its Headquarters" Arlington County).

State Farm's suburban Dunwoody complex does have a subway connection, but most people get there by car.

And while Amazon was looking for an urban location, State Farm in Dallas and Atlanta built new complexes that were road-centric, given the small footprint of transit in those cities ("Businesses moving back to the center: not a universal trend," 2015).

Plus headquarters moving to city areas, but not directly in the city ("Boeing to move "headquarters" to Northern Virginia," ) but close to airports ("Do tax incentives pay off? : Illinois; Tennessee; Rosslyn + "The Airport Access Factor"").

In 2015, Mercedes-Benz moved to a suburban location in Atlanta--makes sense as they are a car company, but they still have a bus division (which isn't super active in the US compared to Europe).  They are further consolidating operations from around the country to Atlanta as well ("Mercedes-Benz relocating 500 jobs to Sandy Springs HQ, plus new R&D facility," Atlanta Journal-Constitution).

Downtown Dallas, with the Fountain Place building shown in the background, has the second-highest office vacancy rate of any downtown in the nation.

Dallas is seeing firms move to the suburbs to new buildings ("The reckoning: Downtown Dallas must wrestle with future after AT&T exodus," Dallas Morning News, "Dallas Is Booming—Except for Its Downtown," Wall Street Journal).

Companies are abandoning this neighborhood and its aging office towers. They are heading to the Uptown district or the thriving suburbs, often over concerns about crime and homelessness. Left behind are defaulted loans, foreclosures and deeply discounted property sales.

The building ATT is in today. 

Real-estate investors purchased $51.7 million worth of office property in downtown Dallas in the first three quarters of this year, compared with $1.8 billion in Dallas’s suburban markets, according to data firm MSCI.

The building ATT will be moving to is the former HQ campus of Electronic Data Systems. Although they may tear it down and build new. 

... Many of the forces weighing on downtown Dallas—from remote work to homelessness—are afflicting other urban core neighborhoods. Businesses and investors have fled the downtown districts of St. Louis, San Diego and Portland, Ore., for the relative tranquility of neighboring suburbs.

Also see "The reckoning: Downtown Dallas must wrestle with future after AT&T exodus," Dallas Morning News.

“If you look at the average large building, like something over 50,000 square feet, the median age is roughly 45 years old,” Triolet said. “The problem is in the (Central Business District) in the ’80s — people wanted the biggest and most glamorous. So, they made the floor plates bigger, and they wanted to make it a contest of who could build the tallest buildings.”

Corporate trends have swung another way. Toyota, American Airlines and now AT&T are examples. Companies want shorter and more horizontal buildings. Skyscrapers give way to campuses. It’s easier to sell smaller separate buildings than large high-rises, Triolet said.

Downtown buildings have aged, and more recently there hasn't been a lot of new construction, especially on a speculative basis, because of high interest rates and the discombobulation of the commercial office real estate market as a result of covid and the rise of work from home--although this is changing some, as more businesses are requiring workers to come back to the office, at least for a few days each week.

Cities have always had to deal with suburbanites fear of the city when it comes to working and visiting.  Covid related declines in quality of life and an increase in crime has also led firms to the suburbs, such as in Portland ("A Fire Sale of Portland’s Largest Office Tower Shows How Far the City Has Fallen," WSJ).  

After Digital Trends moved out of the U.S. Bancorp Tower in Portland, Ore., the technology publisher didn’t hold back about why it left. The property, once a premier address in the city, was afflicted with “vagrants sleeping in hallways of vacant office floors.” They were “starting fires in stairwells, smoking fentanyl and defecating in common areas,” according to papers the company filed in a lease-termination lawsuit.

Two years later, the city’s biggest office tower stands more than half empty. U.S. Bank, the largest tenant whose parent company’s name is on the building, pulled most of its employees out last year after more than a century in the city. The 42-story tower was recently put up for sale. The building affectionately known as Big Pink because of its pink-hued Spanish granite and pink glazed glass has an asking price of about $70 million, according to brokers. That is more than 80% below what the owners paid for it a decade ago.

Interestingly, the suburban office market still has problems, even though it doesn't in Dallas and certain other cities.  Large complexes, like the State Farm in Dallas, with the rise of work from home during and after covid, don't need so much space ("This company is trying to sublease over 400,000 square feet of office space in D-FW," Dallas Morning News). 

DC's office market is weaker because of the shrinkage of the federal government, so many buildings are being looked at for conversion to residential ("Washington D.C.’s Stockpile of Old Offices Makes It a Mecca for Housing Conversions," WSJ).  Could this be an option for cities like Dallas, St. Louis, and San Diego?  Salt Lake has one such building just opened ("A 1960s SLC office tower reopens as luxury apartments, showcasing reuse as path to new housing," Salt Lake Tribune).

Las Cruces (NM) Airport Master Plan | Airport Master Planning

 My writings about airport planning are pretty much limited to asking for there to be a transportation demand management plan as an element of a master plan.

-- "Manhattan Institute misses the point about the value of light rail transit connections to airports | Utility and the network effect: the transit network as a platform ," 2020
-- "Airport transportation demand management in flux," 2019
-- "Transportation demand management, transit: Los Angeles Airport (LAX) and Logan Airport, Boston," 2019
-- "London's Stansted Airport provides digital information on transit options," 2019
-- "Why not a bicycle hub at National Airport?, focused on capturing worker trips but open to all," 2017
-- "A brief comment on ground transportation at National Airport vis a vis VRE rail service," 2016
-- "Revisiting stories: ground transportation at airports (DCA/Logan)," 2017
-- "Airports and public transit access: O'Hare Airport and the proposed fast connection from Downtown Chicago," 2018
-- "More on airport-related transit/transit for visitors," 2013
-- "To and from origin stations can be difficult: More on the Silver Line and intra-neighborhood transit (tertiary network)," 2022

The Las Cruces plan is interesting in that they list economic development matters as a primary goal.  That's not that exceptional, but they way they lay it out may be.

A Vision for Las Cruces International Airport (LRU) 

The Las Cruces Master Plan process is built on eight guiding ideas that have been used to develop the overall vision for what LRU will be in the next ten years. Through the implementation of this plan, LRU will be: 

• Safe for all users
• Welcoming and supportive of business
• A hub for regional, national, and international tourism
• A center of education and job development
• Supported by the City
• In position to be an economic development engine
• Supportive of Aviation and Commercial Aerospace
• Important to the people of the Las Cruces region

-- "Economic impact of National and Dulles Airports," 2014
-- "Trial balloons in the Washington Post and Dulles Airport as an aerotropolis," 2013
--"Aerotropoli and rethinking the scale of mobility networks in the context of a global economy," 2013
-- "Do tax incentives pay off? : Illinois; Tennessee; Rosslyn + "The Airport Access Factor"," 2017

But the plan mostly covers airport needs like a new watchtower.   Likely that's the "fault" of FAA planning requirements which are pretty much limited to the infrastructure elements of flying in and flying out, just like how previous to the Biden Administration, airport revenues couldn't be spent on transit systems connecting to the airport versus airport-exclusive systems.

There are two mentions of parking and provision of lodging.

But there's no TDM element.

========

Local ad promoting improvements at the Orange County Airport in California.  Art by Darren McArdel.

User/visitor experience.  I have also written about this from time to time about airports, and how the very police like US officials vis a vis international air travelers doesn't show the US too well--it's worse now--a point made by Tyler Brule in a Financial Times column many years ago.  From a past blog entry:

Airports, visitability and international visitors: 
Bureaucracy dooms the brand promise of Brand America

Another "problem" is that three of the main entry points into "Washington" aren't in DC proper-- National Airport and Dulles Airport in Virginia and Marshall-BWI Airport in Maryland.  Each has a visitor information desk, but none of the services are comparable to the airports with the best visitor information set ups.

Plus, at Dulles Airport especially, the experience for visitors leaves a lot to be desired, which is something that Tyler Brule of Monocle Magazine mentions from time to time, especially in his weekly column in the Financial Times, where he has been very negative about Dulles Airport, because of big problems with the customs entry process.  From "Let’s play ‘Guess where I am?’":

I’ve just come off an airliner and it’s absolute pandemonium. There are gate agents screaming for transfer passengers, there are sniffer dogs, there are loads of immigration officers and there’s a general sense of disorganization. My fellow passengers look bewildered and flustered after their eight-hour, 45-minute flight from Frankfurt, and there’s a lot of huffing and puffing as we’re divided up into groups of arriving passengers and “connectors”. ...

description of 1,000 people waiting to go through ICE at shift change, when many people leave their posts, with the result that even fewer agents are there to work with the passengers.

As I approach the desk, I feel like giving the young gentleman a lecture about how bad this whole performance is for Brand USA – particularly on top of a whole week of television reports about the new fee that visitors will have to pay to get a visa and how these funds will be used to create a campaign to encourage more tourism to the US. I want to ask him if he (and his bosses not far away in the District of Columbia) think a 90-minute wait in a dumpy airport is any way to welcome the world and if his department is really that interested in having people visit the US.

Of course, this is even worse now given the "America First" and anti-global rhetoric and actions of the Federal Government as discussed in the previous entry, "National Tourism Week (May 7th - 13th), Public Diplomacy, National Heritage Areas, etc."

When air travel was "taking off", airlines touted airport improvements.  Now flying is pretty much a commodity, although many companies do distinguish service in multiple ways still.

New Pan American Airlines Worldport Terminal, JFK Airport, c. 1960

Combine this experience, plus the then less than sterling experience of getting to the city from the airport--this will change in a few years when there is subway service there, but the location of the subway station will be less than ideal--and then think about what this says not only for Brand America ("Brand USA, a campaign to lure back foreign tourists — and their money" Washington Post and "Re-branding America" from the Sunday Boston Globe) but BrandDC (see the blog entry "Creating Brand Washington"), and is it any reason that the number of international visitors to the US is falling?

Note that while the FT piece is from 2011, the problem at Dulles continues.  See "Editor's note: BWI is the big winner in the battle for passengers" from the Washington Post.  And the MWAA has responded with a advertising campaign.  But I would aver the problem is more structural and fundamental--something that marketing can fix, but advertising can't.

An evaluation of area airports in terms of the "visitability" approach is long overdue.   

I don't get Airport Planning magazine anymore but a lot of the articles are about the improvement of the visitor experience, throughput, etc., including the quality, range, and cost of retail amenities.  (Remember when it was a big deal that airports upgraded their retail offer?  Pittsburgh was a leader in this, partly because a British firm had the contract to implement what they already were experienced in doing).

-- "Some DC tourism issues (National Tourism Week: May 7th - May 13th)," 2017

This comes up in the NYT article "Airport Lounges Sound Luxurious. I Keep Getting Duped," about the quality (not very) of airport lounges.  That's another element of the visitor experience that smart airport executives and planning teams should consider when developing master plans.

The Wall Street Journal also runs an annual article on the quality of the airport experience.  From "Best Large U.S. Airports 2023":

Each airport is evaluated on 30 factors that span the trip, from buying a ticket to arriving at a final destination. Using data from government agencies, a survey of travelers conducted by our research partner Dynata and other sources, the Journal’s rankings highlight the airports that boast on-time flights, short waits throughout the trip and the amenities that travelers like best.

To and from origin stations can be difficult: More on the Silver Line and intra-neighborhood transit (tertiary network)

The initial Purple Line series on driving complementary improvements across the transit network ("Setting the stage for the Purple Line light rail line to be an overwhelming success: Part 1 | simultaneously introduce improvements to other elements of the transit network") missed some items, which I added in later updates ("Codifying the complementary transit network improvements and planning initiatives recommended in the Purple Line writings").  

One item was creating intra-neighborhood shuttle services to move people to and from new transit stations without them having to drive.

21. Create intra-district shuttle services within the catchment area of the individual light rail stations to get people to and from light rail stations without having to drive.

FRED, short for Free Ride Everywhere Downtown, is the San Diego-specific offshoot of Circuit Transit. City of San Diego photo ("Hail, FRED! San Diego’s subsidized shuttle will give free rides downtown for another year," San Diego Union-Tribune).

Note that the original PL series on Silver Spring did discuss an intra core shuttle system to complement their parking structures and to allow for converting Fenton Avenue to a sustainable mobility corridor.  But at the time I didn't think to extend this tertiary transit concept to the transit sheds of other PL stations.  

The San Diego electric shuttle service FRED, was mentioned as an example. Another example is the taxi collectif program of the STM transit system in Montreal, which operates at end of line stations.

In last week's piece on the opening of the second phase of the Silver Line ("Metrorail Silver Line phase two opening this week"), and in the original piece ("Using the Silver Line as the priming event, what would a transit network improvement program look like for NoVA?") I never did add a similar point.

Although I did here, "Tysons (Corner) 10 Years after the plan to make it more walkable: the necessity of implementation mechanisms" (2020).

This comes up in a letter to the editor to the Post ("Why I won’t take the Silver Line to Dulles"). The author makes the point that it's not easy to get from his house to a subway station, especially for trips to the airport, which include luggage.  From the letter:

Taking the Silver Line to Washington Dulles International Airport is impractical because I don’t live within walking distance of a Metro station. Instead, I’d have to walk 10 minutes to a bus that runs every 30 minutes, or take a taxi or a ride-hailing service to a Metro station. I can’t drive my own car because overnight parking is allowed only at four stations: Greenbelt, Huntington, Franconia-Springfield and Wiehle-Reston East. According to Metro’s website, “each of these stations has between 15 and 17 spaces allocated for multiday use of up to 10 days. Availability is on a first-come, first-served basis.” That’s a total of fewer than 65 spaces for the 15 million passengers Dulles serves each year, along with people who use these spaces when they travel from Reagan National Airport or Union Station.

 I have many pieces on airport transportation related issues:

-- "Manhattan Institute misses the point about the value of light rail transit connections to airports | Utility and the network effect: the transit network as a platform ," 2020
-- "Airport transportation demand management in flux," 2019
-- "Transportation demand management, transit: Los Angeles Airport (LAX) and Logan Airport, Boston," 2019
-- "London's Stansted Airport provides digital information on transit options," 2019
-- "Why not a bicycle hub at National Airport?, focused on capturing worker trips but open to all," 2017
-- "A brief comment on ground transportation at National Airport vis a vis VRE rail service," 2016
-- "Revisiting stories: ground transportation at airports (DCA/Logan)," 2017
-- "Airports and public transit access: O'Hare Airport and the proposed fast connection from Downtown Chicago," 2018
-- "More on airport-related transit/transit for visitors," 2013

but I don't always acknowledge the issue that it can be a PITA to get to and from an airport with luggage, from your house to a station (and back).  

As any transit user knows, once in a great while every transfer works beautifully, with little if any waiting (e.g., I still remember an amazing bus from BWI to Greenbelt Metro, Metro to Petworth, bus at Petworth station, which let me off a couple blocks from home, although mostly I could walk three quarters of a mile to and from Takoma Station provided I didn't have too much luggage, then again, in a fit of pique, once I walked from National Airport late at night, to Capitol Hill in DC, to get a car share).

An intra-neighborhood shuttle, an element of what I call the tertiary transit (sub)network, would address the problem.  Some examples exist, especially in Tempe, Arizona.  Most function more in terms of facilitating access to commercial districts. 

-- "Earth Day and intra-neighborhood transit," 2009
-- "Intra-neighborhood (tertiary) transit revisited because of new San Diego service," 2016
-- "Why microtransit isn't likely to be a source of great profits for private firms: labor," 2019

Interestingly, an Instagram feed about Salt Lake City history recently had a feature on jitneys.  

Then and now, jitneys (like ride hailing) are often seen as a substitute and competitor to public transit.  Often this is true. 

OTOH, they can complement and extend public transit too, by providing links between transit stops and stations and your origin and destination points.

More parking at stations as the solution?  OTOH, the letter writer, Charles Carron, being automobile centric in his thinking, argues that the solution is more parking at stations:

If Metro wants high ridership on the Silver Line to Dulles, it should offer plentiful reserved multiday parking at a variety of stations, perhaps charging for the number of days the vehicle will be parked. Though it might take years to build additional garages to meet all of the demand, Metro could offer outdoor parking now by leasing sections of underused shopping center parking lots and shuttling passengers to the nearest Metro station.

The solution is shuttle/jitney service to and from stations, rather than building more parking. 

Tertiary Network concept.  The transit network framework I worked out is an extension on how Arlington County, Virginia, in their 2005 Transportation Plan, defined a Primary and a Secondary Transit Network.  

I extended the concept to multiple scales.  Within a Metropolitan Area at the metropolitan, suburban and center city scales, and primary, secondary, and tertiary within each subnetwork.

Beyond the Metropolitan scale to regional (two or more metropolitan areas); state, multistate, sub-national districts, national, and international.  

From "Intra-neighborhood (tertiary) transit revisited because of new San Diego service" (2016):

Center City (DC) Primary Transit Network: Core of the WMATA system in DC (31 stations); streetcar system; Downtown Circulator bus service; foundational "main line" WMATA bus services; bus rapid/express transit.

Center City (DC) Secondary Transit Network: the other 9 subway stations in the city; streetcar lines; other WMATA bus service within the city; water taxi service if added, depending on the routes.

Center City (DC) Tertiary Transit Network: intra-neighborhood bus services including limited access shuttle services that are primarily for employees but also open to others if doing business with them (i.e., Washington Hospital Center to/from Brookland Metro, federal agency shuttle services), university shuttle services like the Georgetown University Connector shuttle service, for students and employees--usually an student id is required to board, etc.

Boeing to move "headquarters" to Northern Virginia

According to the Post ("Boeing's move to Virginia will mean few new jobs in DC"), it's not as big as a deal as it seems, because it will add relatively few people to Boeing's existing operations in the area, which are focused on military procurement.  

When I first saw the news I thought five things: 

(1) it demonstrates that Boeing thinks that the military business will be even more significant going forward ("Boeing is losing the plane race. So it packed up and moved to Washington," CNN);

(2) I wondered if this was because Boeing wanted to communicate it was more concerned about fixing its relationship with its regulator, the Federal Aviation Administration, given all the various failures over the 737MAX program ("How ‘Boeing’s Fatal Flaw’ Grounded the 737 Max and Exposed Failed Oversight," New York Times, "Q&A: What led to Boeing's 737 MAX crisis," Seattle Times, "A Tale of Two Boeing Boards — The Disparate Conclusions of the Justice Department and the Delaware Chancery Court," JDSupra, "The Long-Forgotten Flight That Sent Boeing Off Course," Atlantic Magazine).  

... just like the old MCI long distance phone company located in DC because its formative years were spent suing AT&T and lobbying the Federal Communications Commission on opening up of the telephony market. But then again, there is the issue of "regulatory capture."

But if that mattered wouldn't they have chosen an in DC location?

(3) why isn't DC proper particularly successful in landing high profile business headquarters? There is lots of coverage in planning circles about companies moving back to cities, after having decamped for the suburbs.  But this movement seems to bypass DC:

-- "Could bringing premier regionally headquartered business enterprises to the Pennsylvania Avenue Corridor be key to its renewal and revitalization?," 2014
-- "A lesson that seeing is believing: Panasonic's new building in Newark, NJ as an example, positive and negative, in businesses coming back to the city center," 2015
-- "Businesses moving back to the center: not a universal trend," 2015
-- "DC, Transformational Projects Action Planning, and the Baltimore-Washington Maglev project," 2021
-- "Do tax incentives pay off? : Illinois; Tennessee; Rosslyn + "The Airport Access Factor"," 2017

I can think of four instances now: Hilton; Nestle; Amazon HQ2 (but there, DC's response didn't meet the stated criteria for a large amount of contiguous office space); and Boeing for which it appears DC proper was never considered.

The Post article said that Northern Virginia leaders lobbying Boeing for this to increase the area's visibility and to get a win, even though it doesn't appear to be that significant:

The jet and weapons manufacturer’s decision to relocate was the result of a lengthy lobbying campaign by leaders in the region, reflecting the Washington area’s growing appeal to global corporations. Yet the shift appears unlikely to accompany a major economic boost in the short term. 

Amy Liu, a vice president at the Brookings Institution and director of its Metropolitan Policy Program, said the company’s Northern Virginia move is a win for the region — at least in terms of perception. 

 “It’s a big vote of confidence that this is a community that can hold a global brand,” she said. “Even if there are not major job changes that are attached to the move, the fact that the corporate headquarters is in Northern Virginia means that the company wants to be known and branded in this region.” 

She predicted Boeing would eventually add or shift other services to Arlington, eventually adding more jobs. Other companies will see Boeing’s shift as a sign that Northern Virginia is leaving behind its identity as a home only for government contractors, she said, while establishing itself as a high-tech hub.

To the person who asked me about this, and sent me an article about it, I did suggest that DC's economic planners and development officials aren't particularly good.  C. 2003 when I knew a lot less about urban planning and economic development than I do today, I thought they were much better.  Mostly, they are followers.

The city is decently successful around law and lobbying firms, and trade associations, plus multiunit housing, entertainment districts, and to some extant, retail, but not in keeping federal agencies nor in landing large businesses that desire proximity to the federal government.  WRT Northern Virginia and to some extent, Montgomery County, lap the city significantly ("The East-West Divide | DC area regional economic development: anchors and where they are placed matter + airports | But military spending matters the most." 2021).

(4) At the same time, I wonder if the "animus" about "Washington" directed by much of the general public wrt national politics based here--although they forget that that Washington is produced by their voting choices back home, and they create the cesspool by making bad voting choices--makes it harder for DC to recruit corporate businesses to the city proper, because they don't want the association? ("Basically Everybody Under 40 Hates Washington," Time Magazine).

(5) and finally, will crony capitalism send more business headquarters to the DC area?  Given that Republicans are inclined to "get all up in the business of business" given the actions by Florida Governor DeSantis to punish Disney Corporation after it spoke out against State-passed culture war laws ("Disney government dissolution bill signed by DeSantis," AP, "Sen. Josh Hawley's Move to Strip Disney's Copyrights Called 'Blatantly Unconstitutional'," Variety), will businesses relocate to be around the national center of power, the way that it happens in other countries.  

For example, Thessaloniki lost its preeminence as Greece's center for business and industry as more companies felt they were better served by relocating to Athens, to be closer to the politicians.  (Turkey and Istanbul is another example.)

======

DC has a branding problem.  WRT DC proper, it needs to refocus on branding and identity development, and how to create a brand for the city that isn't tainted by national politics ("City Branding (Place Branding) | Meaning, Stages & Examples," PlanningTank, "Strengthening the city’s reputation in the age of cities: an insight in the city branding theory," City, Territory, and Architecture).

-- THE BRANDING OF CITIES: Exploring City Branding and the Importance of Brand Image, masters thesis

The city has "leaned in" on being the national capital and leader of the free world.  (I joke that because the US is still the strongest nation, even after Trump's destruction of so many elements of the nation's leadership, that people in DC define anything they do as "world class" whether or not it is.)

But at the same time, "the nation and the world" define DC solely in terms of its place as the political headquarters of the US, diminishing the local brand and any sense of an independent, local identity.

I've written about this a lot, starting with, "Town-City branding or "We are all destination managers now"" (2005).  

-- "City branding versus identity | Branding versus Urban Strategy," 2019 (this entry has multiple links to previous entries on the topic)

But this is much more than about making a community great for residents ("placemaking") and attractive to tourists.  It's about a noxious reputation created by others over which "the city" has minimal levers to impact.

======

FWIW, the move of Boeing's HQ to Chicago from Seattle is seen as a bad move, in disconnecting the administration of the company from its core business, plane production, especially as the firm started in Seattle (although now it has significant operations in Wichita and Charleston, South Carolina, among others).  Part of this was to distance the company from the strong union presence at the Seattle area manufacturing facilities.

-- "Inside Boeing's Big Move," Harvard Business Review, 2001

I-95 stories of being stranded communicate that most Americans are unfamiliar with transit

Cars and trucks are stranded on sections of Interstate 95 Tuesday Jan. 4, 2022, near Quantico, Va. Close to 48 miles of the Interstate was closed due to ice and snow. Steve Helber/AP

There are a couple of interesting stories out of the stranding of dozens of cars for not quite a full day on a snowbound I-95 near Fredericksburg, Virginia because of a winter storm earlier in the week ("I-95 reopens in Virginia after winter storm forced closure that stranded motorists," "Calls grow for examinations of Virginia’s response to hours-long I-95 backup," Washington Post).

The first, a guy from California flew into Dulles and then took an Uber (a taxi), from the airport to Richmond, a distance of over 120 miles ("Uber rider stuck on I-95 hit with $600 bill," WTOP radio, "An Uber rider who got stuck in the Virginia traffic jam ended up with a $600 bill," AP)).

The second, a college student took an Uber from Union Station in Washington to Williamsburg, Virginia, a distance of 150 miles ("DaVante Williams, Uber driver stuck on I-95 in Virginia snow storm, honored for helping passenger get home safely," Washington Post).

Who in their right mind would take a "taxi" on trips of that distance, as such a trip should cost hundreds of dollars?

I guess people for whom money is no object--although the dude at Dulles could have taken a connecting flight to Richmond for another $100--or who have almost zero knowledge of non-automobile based mobility--although I think the woman probably took a train that arrived at Union Station, and if so I don't know why she didn't continue the journey by train to Richmond--would take a "taxi" for such long distances.

The guy flying into Dulles could have taken bus + subway ($11) to Union Station and a train ($26) or bus ($15) ride  to Richmond.

The woman at Union Station could have taken a train or bus to Richmond, and a connecting bus to Williamsburg.  

Granted these trips would have taken longer, but would have cost less than $50, as opposed to $200 or more.

But if you don't have any experience taking local buses, subways/heavy rail, trains, or inter city buses, why would you even think to look at those for options?

Local transit is the "gateway" for understanding transit more generally.  If you can figure out how to get around by transit locally, it's not harder--although the options tend to be paltry--to figure out that you can use trains and inter city buses to get around too, at least to complement airplane travel at a minimum.

====

At the same time, this indicates gaps in regional transit options and transportation planning, which I will write about in another post.

"Wide aisle" transit turnstiles to be tested in NYC

"MTA to test new 'wide-aisle' turnstiles at five subway stations," New York Post

MTA photo.

To accommodate luggage, for many years I've suggested that turnstiles and escalators be wider for subway and light rail systems at train stations and airports.

But in terms of improving disability access, it should be universal.

That's what they'll be doing on the New York Subway system, as they plan to install wide aisle turnstiles at 200 stations, about 40% of the system's total.

Free transit for Salt Lake Airport Users as a marketing promotion | Transit validation systems

Billboard promoting the UTA free transit to the airport promotion

1300 South at West Temple Street, near the Ballpark TRAX station

The Salt Lake Airport has been undergoing expansion and redevelopment.  A new terminal opened in the Spring, although the relocated transit station didn't open until earlier this month ("Will new TRAX station fix unprecedented problem for Salt Lake airport?," KSL-TV).

I've written about the airport twice.  One in response to a Manhattan Institute report that transit connections to airports aren't worth it.  I disagree because a transit system to be a system needs to connect to major destinations within a metropolitan area and the breadth of the network more generally is what encourages people to use transit.

-- "Manhattan Institute misses the point about the value of light rail transit connections to airports | Utility and the network effect: the transit network as a platform," 2020

The other piece was about a financial dispute between the Airport and a car sharing service.  The latter didn't want to pay the same rates as "car rental services" because the business model is different, and so they were forbidden access to the Airport.  

-- "Transportation demand management gaps, Salt Lake City International Airport and car sharing," 2021

Although the firm eventually capitulated.  The fact is that parking and car rental concessions are significant revenue streams, so Airports don't want to do anything that upsets that flow, especially as ride hailing has had a significantly negative impact on parking revenues.

Some of the reporting on the new airport has focused on how they haven't implemented an interior transit system/moving walkways because they are still expanding, and depending on the gate, people may have to walk at least one quarter mile to Concourse B ("Opinion: The terrible, horrible, no good, very bad walk from SLC’s Concourse B," Salt Lake Deseret News), which is especially inconvenient with children or if you're disabled..

And the Airport has already stated that often the parking structures and lots are full, and they have 30,000 spaces ("Why you might have problems parking for your flight at the SLC Airport," KJZZ-TV).

So "transportation demand management" aimed at ensuring adequate capacity at the parking structures is a good idea.

Transit validation: free transit with event tickets. Transit validation is the term for how your event ticket also includes free transit use.  I wrote about this recently concerning the new Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, where attendees of sporting and concert events can use their ticket (via an e-app) to ride local transit for free ("Seattle Kraken expansion hockey team sets new standard for transit benefits in transportation demand management: free transit with ticket").

While the arenas for the Golden State Warriors in San Francisco and the Phoenix Coyotes do a version of this, the Seattle example is the most expansive, with access to light rail, bus, and Monorail.

While I have written quite a bit about airport transportation issues:

-- "Airport transportation demand management in flux"
-- "Transportation demand management, transit: Los Angeles Airport (LAX) and Logan Airport, Boston," 2019
-- "London's Stansted Airport provides digital information on transit options," 2019
-- "A brief comment on ground transportation at National Airport vis a vis VRE rail service," 2016
-- "Revisiting stories: ground transportation at airports (DCA/Logan)," 2017
-- "Airports and public transit access: O'Hare Airport and the proposed fast connection from Downtown Chicago," 2018
-- "Why not a bicycle hub at National Airport?: focused on capturing worker trips but open to all," 2017

I have never heard of free transit to and from the airport, which is what Salt Lake Airport and the Utah Transit Authority are doing through January 31st, 2022, when people show their boarding pass dated on the date of travel.

Photo: Miles in Transit.

Although, the Boston Silver Line bus is free from Logan Airport and has been since 2012 ("MBTA to give free rides from airport: No Silver Line fare in test to cut Logan’s congestion," Boston Globe).

But the Salt Lake Airport promotion is for all forms of transit: bus; streetcar; light rail; and commuter train.

While the UTA/Salt Lake Airport is the first example I know of of free transit to and from the airport, albeit for a brief period, obviously, adopting this type of practice more broadly would increase transit use in association with air travel, were it to be adopted more widely and permanently.

Transportation demand management gaps, Salt Lake City International Airport and car sharing

Government tranportation organizations have a hard time working with for profit competitors.  In my writings on creating integrated transportation associations at the metropolitan and regional scale ("The answer is: Create a single multi-state/regional multi-modal transit planning, management, and operations authority association," 2017), linking the providers in an area in terms of planning, fares, schedules, and operations, like the German (or London and Paris) model, I have mentioned that most areas have problems integrating for profit providers, because they may compete with some of the government providers, such as with bike share ("Another example of the need to reconfigure transpo planning and operations at the metropolitan scale: Boston is seizing dockless bike share bikes, which compete with their dock-based system," 2018).

Regulation may be an additional barrier, focused on revenue or applying inappropriate business models, rather than providing the best service possible to citizen-customers.  The problem extends to regulation, such as treating car sharing more like traditional car rental ("Calif. Superior Court: Turo Is a Car Rental Company," Auto Rental News), or looking at it as a revenue source rather than as a fulcrum for transportation demand management ("Another example of DC's failures in transportation planning: carsharing," 2011).

Of course, there is also the lobbying by special interests ought to protect their businesses from the threat of change.

Airports are losing revenues because of ride hailing.  With airports, because revenues from concession fees from rental car companies, access fees from taxis, and parking are so high, they see ride hailing and car sharing services not as services that the customers of the airlines use, or that the flyers are the airport's customers, and should be accommodated, but as competitors for revenue ("Airport transportation demand management in flux," 2019, "Revisiting stories: ground transportation at airports (DCA/Logan)," 2017).  

Ride hailing also put national airport shuttle transportation firms out of business ("Say goodbye to those blue-and-yellow airport vans: SuperShuttle is going out of business," USA Today). So now airports have one less source of concession revenue.  And a warning about the impacts of change and innovation on legacy businesses.

Some transport agencies like BVG in Berlin, recognize what matters most is the whole of the system.  In the creation of an integrated mobile transport app, BVG, the Berlin transport association, includes all the providers, figuring it's better to be the go to/top of mind provider ("Sustainable mobility news," 2019).

Airports are accommodating ride hailing, even though they're losing revenue.  For the most part, airports have figured out how to accommodate ride hailing although it comes at a revenue cost.  Usually there is a per ride cost, but some rides may evade a per trip fee.

Airports and car rental firms don't like car sharing either.  Car rental firms, which pay a lot of money to airports for access, and airports, aren't pleased about the potential loss of revenue from cheaper car sharing options ("Airbnb for cars is here. And the rental car giants are not happy," Washington Post).

There are a number of lawsuits between airports and Turo, another company operating in this space ("Hillsborough aviation authority sues rental car company Turo over nauthorized use of Tampa International Airport," Tampa Bay Times).

A counter example is how the Montreal airport is a leader in this area, having provided space to the now shuttered Car2Go service ("Car2Go agreement with Montreal's Trudeau Airport could be a model for other jurisdictions").

Salt Lake International Airport and Avail.  The Salt Lake airport dropped the Avail "car sharing" service a few days ago ("City airport slams the brakes on car-sharing business," Salt Lake Tribune).  From the article:

Launched in Utah in 2019, the company quickly became a disruptor of the car rental industry nationwide. Travelers flying out of the airport can park their car with Avail for free while they’re gone, and passengers flying into Utah can borrow the car for less than a traditional rental. The person loaning out the car either makes a few bucks on the side, or at least comes home to a sparkling clean vehicle and no parking fee.

Avail partners with a commercial airport parking and shuttle company to make everything work. But the Salt Lake City airport put an end to Avail’s business May 23, when it required that partner to stop working with third parties, including peer-to-peer services.

The way services like Avail or Turo work ("Flying Out of DIA for the Holidays? Rent Your Car and Earn Some Cash!,"Our Community Now, Denver) is that someone flying drives to the airport for their flight leaving their car, and through peer-to-peer car sharing (which means that the companies don't own the cars, they are rented out by individuals through the app), the car is made available to others, presumably arriving passengers.  

By taking the car out of the parking structure, the airport makes less money, especially as one car can support multiple trips.

Like how New Jersey regulates car sharing firms as more traditional car rental outfits ("Car sharing as a method for managing the demand for on-street parking: Hoboken, New Jersey," 2013), making the cost much greater, which defeats the purpose of car sharing as simple to do, the Airport wants to treat the car sharing program as a car rental firm, significantly increasing the cost to users.

Car sharing accommodation at other airports.  What Car2Go did in Montreal was to have a $7.50 trip upcharge (not unlike how BART assesses an upcharge for trips to the SFO Airport). They also had airport access in Seattle, with a $5 upcharge ("Car2Go arrives at Sea-Tac airport," Seattle Times).

The "new" Gig one way car sharing program in Seattle has an agreement with a parking lot provider adjacent to Sea-Tac Airport to provide trip access from the Home Zone in Seattle to the airport, with a $10 upcharge.  Gig has an arrangement with the Oakland California airport too, with a $5 upcharge.

In Denver, Turo and presumably Avail, are paying $36,500 for one year access to 10 parking spaces, and have an agreement to share revenue.  In Wilmington, North Carolina, Turo agreed to pay $3 per trip, with a $5,000 minimum ("San Francisco unicorn Turo lands first U.S. commercial airport permit," San Francisco Business Times).

What about the airport passenger as a customer and customer service?  This is an example of legacy providers aiming to use regulations and inappropriate business models to fight off innovation and loss of revenue.

But ultimately it comes at the expense of the airport's customers, who lose out on a greater range of methods to serve their needs going to and from the airport.  The airport should be thinking of its customers as not just airlines or car rental firms, but airport passengers.  

-- "From Passengers To Airport Customers – How Should Airports Relate To Their Target Groups?," Romanian Economic Business Review, 2016
-- "Defining customer experience: How airports can own the passenger journey," ACI Insights, 2020
-- "Attracting and Retaining Airport and Airline Customers Through Stakeholder Collaboration, Aviation Pros, 2018
-- "Why should airports care about the passenger experience?," DKMA

Having car share services charge an upcharge and sharing it with an airport could be an inducement for the Salt Lake Airport.  More revenue than strict car share, albeit less than if the car just sat there totting up daily parking charges.

Utah as a proto transport association.  Interestingly, Greater Salt Lake functions somewhat like a German transport association, because UTA, the Utah Transit Authority, is the primary provider of transit throughout the Wasatch Front, providing bus, light rail, and commuter bus services, although some communities like Park City, have separate intra-city transit services.  (There are still multiple planning organizations and integration failures across the system.)

There are some car sharing programs in Salt Lake and bike sharing in Salt Lake and Park City, but they aren't integrated into an overarching German style VV.

-- "Verkehrsverbund: The evolution and spread of fully integrated regional public transport in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland," Ralph Buehler, John Pucher & Oliver Dümmler, International Journal of Sustainable Transportation (2018)

COMET bus riders receive free 45-minute passes for Blue Bike. Michael Dantzler/The COMET.

I do think that it would be relatively easy for UTA to integrate the local GREEN Bike program into a linked transit program, like the Comet bus system in Columbia, SC ("Transit as a mobility integrator," Mass Transit).

Airports should be part of regional transport associations too.  I hadn't thought of it til now, but airports should be participating members of regional transport associations too.

In many metropolitan areas, airports are inadequately integrated into the transportation planning system.  This piece, "DC area airport planning" (2021) has links to past entries on that topic.  

Comparable to most other metropolitan areas, as a planning entity, the Salt Lake International Airport is somewhat separate from the transportation planning side, included on some things like it being a hub in the regional transit network ("Manhattan Institute misses the point about the value of light rail transit connections to airports | Utility and the network effect: the transit network as a platform," 2020), but independent in other ways.

Their failure to be "fairer" when it comes to car sharing access or serving as a bike mobility hub ("Why not a bicycle hub at National Airport?, focused on capturing worker trips but open to all") are illustrations of why airports need to be part of the "transport association" mix, along the lines of an integrated sustainable mobility platform ("Further updates to the Sustainable Mobility Platform Framework") and transportation demand management planning.

=========================

From "Why should airports care about the passenger experience?,"

The secret benefits of focusing on the passenger 

For some time I’ve wondered why some airports go to extreme lengths to provide a spectacular ambience and a unique experience. A couple of years ago, I started asking airports at the top of the ASQ rankings why they continued to focus on the passenger when some might say they are wasting money. 

The responses I’ve received have shown very deep thought about the nature of how an airport works and how to create efficiency and pride in its culture. 

1. Passengers who have a great airport experience are more relaxed, spend more and want to come back 

2. Airports increasingly compete with each other and also with alternative transport modes for passengers, therefore developing customer loyalty is important right now – at the very least having a good reputation is vital before the competition arrives. 

3. A great passenger experience makes a good impression / enhances the reputation of your city/state/country. (The airport is the first and last thing a visitor sees). Therefore from a tourism, business and economic point of view it makes sense to invest in the airport. 

4. A great passenger experience makes it very difficult for governments/regulators to argue that the airport is doing a bad job – the airport is clearly serving the community. 

5. Focusing on the customer binds the organisation together. It gives all staff a clear goal and a clear understanding of the aims of the airport – what types of behaviour are acceptable and to be encouraged. 

6. Staff who are committed to providing a great passenger experience tend to help their colleagues more making the airport more efficient and effective. 

7. Staff, passengers and the local community who are proud of their airport look after it better, want to be associated with it and are less likely to litter or accept a shabby ambience. 

8. A great passenger experience keeps media onside and helps marketing/publicity for the airport. Passengers often prejudge an airport based on its media profile. Given that media tend to publish negative issues more than positive ones, this can be a problem.

Biden Administration eliminates FAA regulation disallowing airport payments towards transit service from non-airport transit networks

Sadly, for a few decades, the FAA forbade airports from using monies collected as part of airport access charges from being used to pay towards transit connections from existing transit networks.  Vice reports, "U.S. Airports No Longer Have to Build Their Own Terrible Trains," that the Biden Administration has removed this regulation from the books.

From the article:

“In 1990, Congress passed the Aviation Safety and Capacity Expansion Act of 1990 which allowed airports, with the FAA's permission, to charge a small Passenger Facility Fee (PFC)—initially a maximum of $3 per ticket, later upped to $4.50 and, like the federal gas tax, not increased in the 20 years since despite losing much of its value to inflation—for airport improvements. The statute allows the revenue to be used for specific types of internal airport improvements only, such as people movers that stay within airport grounds. And in 2004 the FAA clarified that only rail lines which exclusively serve airports are eligible for PFCs.

It's kind of too late for the change to have maximum positive effect.  

Airports can be distant from city centers.  Utility is complicated by the fact that increasingly, airports are located at a distance from city centers, making the transit trip long, especially by light rail, which is slower than heavy rail (subway) and railroad service.  Although close-in airports, such as Salt Lake City can be pretty convenient even by slower light rail service.

City	Distance to Downtown	mode	Time
Atlanta	12 miles	heavy	22 minutes
Baltimore to Baltimore	11 miles	light	30 minutes
Baltimore to Baltimore	12 miles	railroad	10 minutes
Baltimore to DC	33 miles	railroad	35 minutes
Chicago Midway	11 miles	heavy	29 minutes
Chicago O'Hare	12 miles	heavy	45 minutes
Cleveland	14 miles	heavy	50 minutes
Dallas	25 miles	light	50 minutes
DC National Airport	5 miles	heavy	15 minutes
DC Dulles	27 miles	heavy	52 minutes*
Philadelphia	12 miles	railroad	24 minutes
Phoenix	3 miles	light	29 minutes
Portland, Oregon	9 miles	light	62 minutes
Salt Lake City	7 miles	light	20 minutes
San Francisco	15 miles	heavy	30 minutes
Seattle	15 miles	light	40 minutes

Note these times don't include the time to get from the transit station to the airport terminal.  This can be significant, depending on the distance to the terminal(s) and the quality of ground transportation integration.

* The Silver Line extension to Washington Dulles Airport will open in 2022.

The previous regulation resulted in airports not getting connections from the local transit system, or those transit systems making and funding their own connections, usually many years after the building of the core system.  And often making less good connections because of the need to reduce costs.

I wrote about this recently in terms of Salt Lake City ("Manhattan Institute misses the point about the value of light rail transit connections to airports | Utility and the network effect: the transit network as a platform").  The piece has a lot of broad discussion and links to past entries about the general issue of local transit system connections to airports.

The basic point is that as a "platform" a metropolitan transit network needs to provide connections to major destinations and the airport is a key destination that needs to be part of the platform to encourage use.

JFK Airtrain, Queens, New York City.  For example, that's why there is the separate Airtrain light rail connecting to JFK Airport from the Howard Beach Station of the A Line Subway Line in one loop and through another loop from the Jamaica Station/Sutphin Boulevard-Archer Avenue Subway Station, rather than continuing the subway lines to and around the JFK Airport, the way that the Piccadilly London Underground Line provides direct service to three different terminals at Heathrow Airport.

When it comes to airport connections, a problem with the London Underground though is the lack of many elevators throughout the system or wider treads for the escalator.  Because carrying heavy luggage to get to and around the subway--transfers are usually required to get to the Piccadilly Line, e.g., I used the Victoria Line to connect)--is a pain.

LAX.  Los Angeles is developing its own "airport campus" transit system comparable to JFK's Airtrain, because of the previous FAA restriction.  

-- "Transportation demand management, transit: Los Angeles Airport (LAX) and Logan Airport, Boston," 2019

LaGuardia in Queens, New York City.  And more recently Governor Cuomo has pushed Airlink proposals for LaGuardia Airport because of the previous FAA regulation.  But the proposed routing isn't particularly efficient ("The LaGuardia AirTrain Makes Even Less Sense After COVID," Streetsblog, "AirTrain to LaGuardia could open by 2025, but travelers will have to catch it from Willets Point," Airpoints Guy).

In my opinion it makes more sense to extend the existing N/W elevated, but that was never on the table because of the previous regulation.  The Astoria-Ditmars Boulevard Station endpoint of the line is 2 miles from LaGuardia Airport.  

Although that's great from Manhattan and the west, and a different solution would be required from the east, although you could just extend the N/W from LaGuardia to the 7 Line.  Although yes, it's easy to draw lines on a map.

Washington Silver Line to Dulles Airport.  Could have had a closer in station if they didn't have to economically satisfice planning, when the FAA would not allow commingling funds ("Dulles Metro controversy puts Silver Line extension at risk," Washington Post, 2011).  Although the Post was fine with cutting costs at the expense of a more convenient connection to the airport.

Boston Logan Airport.  In the past there had been consideration of adding a moving sidewalk connection from the Blue Line Airport Station T to the international terminal, a distance of 1/2 mile.  

More recently, the airport moved beyond that proposal to a campus specific people mover, comparable to other airports.  By connecting to the T, they could also eliminate the intra-airport bus-based shuttle system.    It's probably more cost effective to do a multi-terminal people mover than extending a branch of the Blue Line onto the airport campus.

Tijuana International Airport Cross Border Xpress.  Obviously, the Tijuana Airport in Mexico is not subject to FAA regulations, but many US residents use it.  To facilitate access and "transportation demand management," a pedestrian bridge crossing the US-Mexican border was built by the private sector, integrated into customs and border protocols.  It costs $30.  It's a great example of broader transportation demand management approaches.

Newark International Airport and an opportunity to use the change in FAA policy as a way to shift funds to enable the creation of an infill station in Newark's Dayton neighborhood.  Is interesting because it already has railroad connections (Amtrak and NJ Transit) and a separate Airtrain connection from the railroad station to the airport campus.  (It's airtrain because the Airport, like JFK and LaGuardia is controlled by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.  

Separately, the Port Authority is extending the separate PATH commuter railroad (although it functions like heavy rail, it's a railroad) to the Airport as well (" The $1.7B PATH extension to Newark airport: A timeline," Newark Star-Ledger).  The plan was to finish by 2026.  

Those plans didn't necessarily include a desired infill station in Newark's economically depressed Dayton/Weequahic Park neighborhoods (Rutgers Graduate Student Studio, "Officials Upset PATH Extension No Longer Includes South Ward Station," NJ Spotlight News).  Adding transit connections there would improve economic access for area residents.  

By being able to use airport fees toward the extension, it would be more possible economically to include a station in the Dayton neighborhood in Newark's South Ward, thereby making the transit system more useful and improve equity outcomes.

Note that an infill Metrorail Station in DC's NoMA neighborhood has had tremendous positive economic impact on the NoMA district, and the nearby Union Market district and H Street neighborhood on the east side of the station, although access was inadequately planned to the east side of the area, as part of the original project ("Public improvement districts ought to be created as part of transit station development process: the east side of NoMA station as an example").

(It would also behoove PATH and MTA to restore a long since shuttered underground walkway between the Penn Station PATH Station and the actual Penn Station, "Remembering the Gimbels tunnel." New York Post.)

The advantage of PATH is it's priced as a subway trip, $2.75, versus a NJ Transit railroad fare, which is $15.25 one way between New York Penn Station and the airport station.

-------------------

In a report on railroad system failures on the Southern Railway system in Greater London, a point was made that the Airport was more motivated to have better connections and service, and so maybe the Airport should take the station over ("Gibb report into improving Southern performance published," Railway Gazette).

Similarly, connections between the BWI Amtrak/MARC Railroad station and the Airport improved significantly when BWI extended its campus airport bus shuttle system to the station, and took responsibility for ensuring quality transit connections between the nearby (but still between two and three miles away railroad station.

I used that as an example for National Airport and the nearby Crystal City Amtrak and Virginia Railway Express station ("A brief comment on ground transportation at National Airport vis a vis VRE rail service").

DC area airport planning

The Washington Post reports, "GAO study examines impact of long-distance flight limits at National Airport," on a GAO report on National Airport.  Because the federal government owns National and Dulles Airports, Congress and the Executive Branch is heavily involved in the oversight of these airports.

-- REAGAN NATIONAL AIRPORT: Information on Effects of Federal Statute Limiting Long-Distance Flights, Government Accountability Office

Most of my writings on airports focus on the DC area and the planning elements of ground transportation, which I find wanting.  

I've argued that the federally designated transportation planning organizations should jointly plan for the area's airports, two of which are in the DC area, and the third main airport in Baltimore.  

-- "A clear signal of a failure in "metropolitan" transportation planning: a proposal to eliminate a subway station from Dulles Airport," 2012
-- "More on transportation to the DC area airports," 2013
-- "More on airport-related transit/transit for visitors," 2013
-- "A brief comment on ground transportation at National Airport vis a vis VRE rail service," 2016
-- "Revisiting stories: ground transportation at airports (DCA/Logan)," 2017
-- "Why not a bicycle hub at National Airport?, focused on capturing worker trips but open to all," 2017
-- "Airport transportation demand management in flux," 2019
-- "London's Stansted Airport provides digital information on transit options," 2019

The thing is that Virginia aims to prioritize development around Dulles Airport and Maryland around Marshall/BWI Airport, and the jurisdictions around National Airport in Arlington County on the Potomac River across from DC want to minimize operations because of plane noise, even though from a mobility efficiency standpoint, it's the easiest airport to reach and boasts super convenient subway access.

So getting the two MPOs to work together and for the region to create a single airport planning initiative is a pipe dream.

These posts make the point that in regional transit planning you want to connect an area's primary destinations, especially airports, with the aim of creating a functioning and robust transit network, as opposed to a constellation of somewhat connect transit modes and assets.

-- "Airports and public transit access: O'Hare Airport and the proposed fast connection from Downtown Chicago," 2018
-- "Manhattan Institute misses the point about the value of light rail transit connections to airports | Utility and the network effect: the transit network as a platform," 2020

This piece discusses how planning and operational discoordination can result from airport privatization, at least in the US (although airports across the world are privatized and quite successfully).

-- "Privatizing Dulles and National Airports," 2018

These posts discuss the economic development aspect of airports.

-- "Aerotropoli and rethinking the scale of mobility networks in the context of a global economy," 2013
-- "Economic impact of National and Dulles Airports," 2014
-- "Do tax incentives pay off? : Illinois; Tennessee; Rosslyn + "The Airport Access Factor"," 2017

FAA rules hinder transit network integration.  A big problem in airport transportation planning more generally is that FAA rules don't allow for airport funding revenues to be used for transit not controlled by the airport.  So either the localities pay for transit connections, or they satisfice it and do a poor job, or the airport builds independent transit requiring extra transfers.  WRT the latter, that's why JFK has its own rail line separate from the NYC Subway and why the N/Q subway was never extended to LaGuardia Airport. 

Fortunately for airports, because they are such large trip generators, transit systems go out of their way to connect to them, even if the airport doesn't financially contribute to the construction.  Cleveland's Hopkins Airport was the first to get a local subway connection.  O'Hare Airport has direct subway connections.  Midway Airport in Chicago has a proximate subway connection. Philadelphia has rail commuter service to terminals.  

Over time, more and more metropolitan transit systems have added connections to airports, such as BART in SF, light rail in Portland and Seattle, Baltimore's light rail connects to BWI, etc.

And when rail lines are close to airports, they add connections like Amtrak for BWI, Amtrak and regional rail for Newark International, etc.

City	Distance to Downtown	mode	Trip time
Atlanta	12 miles	heavy	22 minutes
Baltimore to Baltimore	11 miles	light	30 minutes
Baltimore to Baltimore	12 miles	railroad	10 minutes
Baltimore to DC	33 miles	railroad	35 minutes
Chicago Midway	11 miles	heavy	29 minutes
Chicago O'Hare	12 miles	heavy	45 minutes
Cleveland	14 miles	heavy	50 minutes
Dallas	25 miles	light	50 minutes
DC National Airport	5 miles	heavy	15 minutes
DC Dulles	27 miles	heavy	52 minutes*
Philadelphia	12 miles	railroad	24 minutes
Phoenix	3 miles	light	29 minutes
Portland, Oregon	9 miles	light	62 minutes
Salt Lake City	7 miles	light	20 minutes
San Francisco	15 miles	heavy	30 minutes
Seattle	15 miles	light	40 minutes

In Downtown Chicago, I seem to recall that at least one of the subway stations displays airport arrival and departure information.  In any case, the airport stations for the S-Bahn station serving the Hamburg Airport, and the O'Hare subway (elevated) station does this.

Airport planning and the DC area.  WRT the DC area, the problem with focusing on Dulles for growth is that it is far from the core, and development there promotes sprawl.  Although "soon" the airport will be better connected to the core by the extension of the Silver Line Metrorail which includes an airport station.

The Silver Line is a classic example of Steve Belmont's criticism of most transit networks being polycentric and promoting sprawl instead of population and activity concentration.

It will still take an hour from the core to get there by Metrorail, and longer from other places.  Plus the station won't be as well connected to the terminal as is the station at National Airport, making the trip less convenient. (Heathrow is the gold standard for rail transit connections to airports.  The London Underground connects to three terminals, and there is train service as well.)

Expanding National Airport's use does come at a quality of life cost because of airplane-related noise, but helps the core of the metropolitan maintain its relevance to commerce and headquarters location, and focuses development monocentrically as opposed to polycentrically.  

Certainly, it's no surprise that Amazon's HQ2 has located in Arlington County, Virginia, within one mile of the airport, rather than in a location that is less well served by a major airport, metropolitan subway service, and local transit.  (There is regional railroad service, but as discussed in above-cited entries, it's quite poor compared to BWI Airport, which is served by Amtrak as well as seven day/week MARC commuter railroad service on the Penn Line.)

As Amazon expands and other businesses locate nearby, demand on National Airport will only increase, putting more pressure to ease restrictions.

-- "Crystal City Arlington as Amazon one-half of HQ2 | Part 1: General + Housing impact," 2018
-- "Why Amazon’s New HQ2 Will Boost Airlines, DCA Airport," 2018, Point Me

In terms of leveraging Amazon HQ2's location and the airport for improving and extending the transit network, and strengthening the economic development of the core of the Washington region, see:

-- "Crystal City Arlington as Amazon one-half of HQ2 | Part 3: Leveraging Amazon's entrance for complementary transit network improvements," 2018
-- "Crystal City Arlington as Amazon one-half of HQ2 | Part 4: Pie in the Sky transit improvements," 2018