A few years ago, travelling by Aeroexpress train to Sheremetyevo from Belorussky railway station took only 35 minutes and was a convenient option for many passengers. However, after the launch of the MCC, the journey time increased to 53 minutes. At the same time, the North-Eastern Chord shortened the journey, but only for those travelling by car.
As a result, most passengers switched to taxis - today 70% of visitors to Sheremetyevo arrive in this way. However, the taxi boarding zone in front of the airport was not ready for such a flow of people and began to work intermittently.
We analysed the problems with passengers boarding taxis in front of Sheremetyevo airport terminals and developed a comprehensive solution.
We conducted a modelling simulation. We laid out the whole process step by step: we studied bottlenecks, measured the time it takes a passenger to get from the luggage belt to boarding a taxi, and took into account the work of barriers at the entrance and exit.
We built a taxi storage area next to the terminal. Drivers can now pause and the pick-up time is shorter and more predictable.
We improved navigation: both inside the airport and in the Yandex.Go app. By dividing the zones into economy and comfort, we stretched the boarding front, eliminating the congestion of cars at one point and reducing waiting time.
Before the changes were implemented, traffic jams were constantly forming on the approach to the airport. To understand the sources and density of traffic, we worked with Yandex.Taxi to conduct a study of the user's journey from the arrival area to the taxi. The analysis showed that passengers most often order a taxi while standing at the luggage belt, waiting for their suitcase.
We needed to synchronise the taxi pick-up time with the time it takes the passenger to reach the boarding area with their luggage. This synchronisation helps to smooth out peaks in demand and prevent parking congestion.
Based on the results of the study, we have developed a model to improve the situation by introducing a fourth boarding and alighting lane at Sheremetyevo Airport's station square. This makes it possible to bypass traffic jams and directly access the required terminal, bypassing the neighbouring terminal.
The simulation results confirmed the hypothesis about the necessary introduction of additional bandwidth
The first ‘quick’ stage was marking - putting information on which lane of the car park can be entered and the direction of lanes - taxis only, buses, private vehicles. This has yielded the first positive results.
To optimise the user's journey from the arrival area to the taxi rank, we divided the area of Terminals B and C into zones. Depending on the class of taxi, boarding takes place in different places: this significantly speeds up the movement of people.
All departing passengers now go to the terminal via a bridge - this separation of flows has saved up to 15 minutes of travelling time to Terminal B and has prevented traffic jams on the approach to the terminals during peak hours.
The separation of flows has increased the capacity of the pre terminal zone between Terminals B and C
As a result of the introduction of the model and optimisation of the traffic pattern, the load on the boarding area was significantly reduced, and now it can effectively cope with the flow of passengers. The Yandex.Taxi service has updated its interface - it has become much more comfortable to wait for and find your taxi.
We would like to thank our colleagues from the Sheremetyevo Parking Administration, the Moscow Central Road Traffic Managment Centre, the Moscow Region Central Road Traffic Safety Department and Yandex for their productive co-operation.