Journal of Korean Society of Transportation ISSN:1229-1366(Print) 2234-4217(Online) 대한교통학회지

Metropolitan areas are facing various social issues such as traffic congestion and increased carbon emissions due to continuous overpopulation and concentration of infrastructure. However, it is expected that improvements to existing surface transportation infrastructure such as roads and railways will have physical limitations. In order to address these urban transportation problems, there has been a recent push to introduce a transportation system, UAM (Urban Air Mobility). Especially, since UAM vertiports are an important transfer infrastructure in a transportation network that combines the concept of air transportation, it is essential to select a suitable location not only from a technological and engineering perspective but also from a user environment perspective in order to demonstrate their functions and roles. This study aims to identify the key variables related to the user environment that users consider in the early stages of developing UAM in metropolitan areas, specifically focusing on vertiports. Through factors analysis and regression analysis using various statistical methods, the study aims to proactively present the importance and influence of locational factors by investigating the key variables related to the user environment that users consider. This study analyzed the importance of key variables from the perspective of UAM users and identified locational factors related to the user environment to increase UAM usage. UAM users consider locations with good transfer accessibility in urban areas, and they consider safe takeoff and landing as the most important factor. They responded that accessibility factors are the most important locational factors that affect the increase in UAM usage. This study is significant in proactively presenting the locational factors of vertiports in the early stages of research and development for the commercialization of UAM. Through this, we hope to establish a direction for constructing vertiports to increase UAM usage in the future and to help expand the mobility of the public through the utilization of UAM. Additionally, this study is significant in that it identified the locational impact factors of UAM vertiports, which have received little academic discussion, and calculated their importance. Discussing the location of UAM vertiports for future preparation in a situation where there is currently a lack of empirical evidence and institutional standards is expected to have significant implications for the direction of urban planning in the future.