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The results of two surveys of arriving and departing air travelers at O'Hare and Midway airports in Chicago concerning their choice of ground access and egress modes are reported. The purpose of the surveys was to better understand the travelers' trip purpose, trip frequency, origin and destination location, and perception of rail rapid transit as an access mode, so that promotional programs can be developed to increase this transit use. For both airports, about 15 percent of all air travelers whose ground trip-ends fell within the Chicago Transit Authority’s (CTA’s) service area used rail transit for access and egress. Rail access has been provided to O'Hare (Northwest Corridor, Blue Line) since 1984 and to Midway (Southwest Corridor, Orange Line) since 1993. The CTA has undertaken targeted promotional campaigns to increase the overall diversion of automobile travelers in both corridors to rapid transit. Such improved access to the airport increases the potential for greater market penetration. Passenger characteristics and survey methods are summarized, and the two ground access surveys are compared. The importance of express transit service as a significant consideration for managers and designers of major airports is highlighted.

Social scientists concerned with the role of societal institutions have espoused numerous theoretical constructs regarding the nature of an institution in terms of its obverse relation to society and culture. As James S. Coleman (1965: 6) has stated: “Since Plato and Aristotle, political philosophers have affirmed principles embodied in the phrase(s), ‘As is the state, so is the school.’” Although no empirical studies are able to grasp both the cultural and institutional components of such a relationship, it is felt that some preliminary investigations have provided a sufficient rationale to pursue the collection of data to test generally the bonds between culture and a specific institution, in this case, education (Crozier, 1964).