Analysis and improvement of “The Last Mile” to and from the national airport as part of the mobility policy in the Brussels urban area

Abstract

This paper on urban mobility policy regarding airports is from the proceedings of 14th international Conference on Urban Transport and the Environment in the 21st Century, which was held in Malta in 2008. The authors note that as aviation is the fastest growing transport mode worldwide, there is an increasing number of passengers that need to be transported to and from the airport before and after their flights. They define the "last mile” as the distance between the starting point of the trip and the airport of departure or between the airport of arrival and the destination of the trip. The authors analyze the current situation of the passenger transport to and from Brussels Airport, which is located next to the ring road of Brussels; consequently passengers traveling by road to the airport influence traffic on the ring road and inversely congestion on this same ring road interferes with smooth passenger traffic to the airport. They propose that the capacity of public transport should therefore be increased and its catchment area should be extended to reduce the share of personal vehicles in the total passenger transport. They conclude with a discussion of planned mobility projects and their environmental impacts and sustainability, in light of expected development of the airport.