The Bob Hope Airport (BUR) Multi-Modal Ground Access Planning Study (MGAPS) is investigating potential transportation and land use changes in the vicinity of the Airport, located in Burbank, California. Potential improvements studied included new bus or rail lines, as well changes to the local transit network, such as new shuttles services within the Airport area or from the Airport to other parts of Burbank. Land use changes may include mixed-use or other innovative types of transit oriented development appropriate to an airport area. Therefore, the modeling for this study must be able to capture the effects of regional transit improvements, local transit improvements, and changes in land use for both air passenger and other trips.

To address the multiple travel markets, a “blended” model approach combining components of three travel models in Southern California was created using the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) travel demand model, the City of Burbank (City) travel demand forecasting model, and Metro’s air passenger model (LAXAPM) to take advantage of the strengths of each of the three modeling tools (transit, highway, and air passenger trips, respectively). The City model is used for highway assignments because it has already been validated for this purpose and contains a detailed zone system in the study area. The Metro model was used because it had already been reviewed by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) for use in Section 5309 New Starts forecasts and is consistent with Southern California Association of Government’s (SCAG) socioeconomic and transportation network data. The LAXPM, validated to markets at BUR, was used to forecast air passenger trips.

The work flow was carefully coordinated and sequenced between the three models. The primary interface between the three models (Metro, LAXAPM, City) was the incremental auto trips coming from the Metro mode choice model. Depending on the alternative, a reduction or increase in auto travel would then be applied to the City model just prior to highway assignment. This reduction or increase will reflect the net effect of changes caused both by land use changes and by mode shifts resulting from transit improvements.