A Comparative Analysis of Door-to-Door Mobility: Integrating Advanced Air Mobility into Multimodal Transportation

Abstract

Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) paradigm envisions a world where novel aircraft concepts are used to connect urban population centers allowing for faster and more efficient travel. This study investigates the impact of integrating Advanced Air Mobility vehicles, such as Electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft, into the existing multimodal transport network composed of public transport, long-distance rail network and regional airliners. A multi-scale approach from intra-city to intra-European is taken to be able to assess the effect of introducing novel air transport modes across the different scales from the various stakeholder perspectives. An agent-based simulation of air transport (SoSID Toolkit) is integrated with the ground transport layer through the Simulation of Urban MObility (SUMO) platform to enable the simulation of intra-European and intra-city scale journeys. The primary objective is to compare overall travel behaviour across various transportation modes, including ground transportation, conventional air travel, and multimodal combinations involving AAM and Seaplanes. The study considers different passenger personas, including tourists, business travellers, and commuters. Analysis is conducted at two levels: for specific key personas, and across all passenger demand. Key factors influencing the efficiency of these multimodal transportation systems, such as transfer times, waiting times, and value of time, are identified and analysed in a sensitivity study. The study also examines the impact on the system of systems level due to vehicle-level changes, considering long- and short-range eVTOL designs. Preliminary results indicate that AAM can provide efficient solutions tailored to different passenger personas by offering direct and rapid connections between urban centres. This research aims to highlight the potential of AAM to improve the efficiency of short- and long-distance travel and offers insights into optimizing multimodal transportation networks for enhanced passenger experience.