B737 captain reported ambiguous ramp and taxiway markings and the use of different frequencies in a ...

Attributes
ACN	1688560
Time
Date	201909
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	SEA.Airport
State Reference	WA
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Boeing Company Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Taxi
Flight Plan	IFR
Aircraft 2
Make Model Name	Airbus Industrie Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Taxi
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Conflict Ground Conflict Critical Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

Narrative:

While taxing out on the blue line to spot 66; we had switched from ramp to ground and were instructed by ground to taxi to runway 16C via taxiway bravo. An airbus was on the orange line behind us talking to ramp we think with instructions to join taxiway whiskey and park at [gate]. The airbus was taxiing very fast and came up behind us off our right in the neutral zone past spot 66 to join taxiway whiskey. I also had clearance in to the neutral zone beyond spot 66. If it wasn't for my first officer seeing the airbus at the last second we would have slid right to join the taxi line beyond spot 66 to continue to taxiway bravo and collided with the airbus going to occupy the same space.the blue and orange lines need to continue to join taxi line bravo or whiskey. This will give pilots guidance on the ground on where to taxi so that they don't cut the corner and have a conflict with one another.also there is a dead zone between ramp and ground control at the same spot so that both parties control the space but cannot provide conflict resolution when multiple aircraft are on different agencies frequencies.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737 Captain reported ambiguous ramp and taxiway markings and the use of different frequencies in a hot spot area resulted in a critical ground conflict.

Narrative: While taxing out on the Blue line to Spot 66; we had switched from ramp to ground and were instructed by ground to taxi to Runway 16C via Taxiway Bravo. An Airbus was on the orange line behind us talking to ramp we think with instructions to join Taxiway Whiskey and park at [gate]. The Airbus was taxiing very fast and came up behind us off our right in the neutral zone past Spot 66 to join Taxiway Whiskey. I also had clearance in to the neutral zone beyond Spot 66. If it wasn't for my First Officer seeing the Airbus at the last second we would have slid right to join the taxi line beyond Spot 66 to continue to Taxiway Bravo and collided with the Airbus going to occupy the same space.The Blue and Orange lines need to continue to join taxi line Bravo or Whiskey. This will give pilots guidance on the ground on where to taxi so that they don't cut the corner and have a conflict with one another.Also there is a dead zone between Ramp and Ground control at the same spot so that both parties control the space but cannot provide conflict resolution when multiple aircraft are on different agencies frequencies.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

B737 captain reported ambiguous ramp and taxiway markings and the use of different frequencies in a hot spot area resulted in a critical ground conflict.