For months, Massport chief executive Rich Davey has been talking up the potential for a “remote terminal” to allow travelers to bypass the security lines at Logan Airport.
Now, Davey is ready to talk about the details. He plans to tell the Massport board of directors on Thursday that he’s going to start testing a remote terminal option in Framingham next summer, at an overflow lot for Massport’s Logan Express bus service. If all goes well, Davey may end up expanding the service to other Logan Express lots, such as those in Braintree and Woburn, as well as the recently rechristened Menino Convention Center in the Seaport.
Massport plans to provide the service out of a temporary trailer in Framingham in June, July, and August of next year. Travelers would go through a Transportation Security Administration checkpoint at the Framingham location and check their bags there, before boarding a secure Logan Express bus. The bus would bring them to either Terminal A or Terminal C, behind security at Logan, on the side of the airport where the jets pull up, and where there are two existing airside bus locations (for passengers who deplane when a gate isn’t available).
Get Starting Point
A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday.
Enter Email
One remote-terminal bus would leave every hour, for a four-to-five hour period each morning, Massport says. Tickets would have to be reserved in advance.
Advertisement
Massport’s hope is to encourage more flyers to use public transit, and also to give them a more enjoyable travel experience. Each bus would serve 30 to 35 travelers, meaning any line to board would be minimal in Framingham. Ideally, hundreds of travelers would choose this option each week, at least while the service is in its test phase.
Advertisement
“Part of the intent is to reduce people’s anxiety of getting to the airport,” Davey said in an interview in advance of the board meeting. “We’re going to start small to see if we can get folks excited about it.”
A Massport spokesperson said the authority plans to use existing Logan Express staff for the new service. The need for TSA staffing remains to be seen, and Davey said the proposal still needs TSA approval, something he expects to receive at some point in the next nine months.
Massport sent an envoy to Atlantic City, N.J., two weeks ago to check out a similar service there. That’s where American Airlines, working with motorcoach service Landline, offers check-ins for travelers heading to Philadelphia International Airport, allowing them to bypass security lines at the airport. American and Landline offer a similar service to Philadelphia from Allentown, Pa., and they will soon start something similar at Chicago O’Hare International Airport.
There are a few key differences, though, from what Davey is planning. Those bus trips are on a private shuttle, leave from secure airport areas, and serve passengers for a single airline.
Davey said he wasn’t sure how much extra the service would cost Massport, though he doesn’t intend to charge more during the test run than a typical Logan Express bus; one-way tickets for Logan Express buses from Framingham currently cost $9 when purchased online.
“I don’t want to charge more,” Davey said. “In the future, maybe we would. I just want to gather evidence about the efficiency of the service to see if this is even worth investing the dollars. … If my suspicion is correct, I think Massachusetts residents will embrace this.”
Advertisement
Jon Chesto can be reached at jon.chesto@globe.com. Follow him @jonchesto.