20 July 2011

Less shuttle buses to the airport?

| junketFunket
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I generally take the shuttle to the airport from the city if I have to fly out for the weekend.

Just checked today on the website and I swear there used to be like a bus every half hour or hour.

Now there’s only 5 buses each way per day.

So what’s the deal? Less people using the airport these days? More people driving instead of busing it in?

Actually, I do remember I caught the bus there a few weeks ago, and I was the only one on there. Just seems kind of strange that as the airport has recently had this reconstruction / expansion, they would scale back on access to / from the site.

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keepitup said :

I recently parked for just under 9 days at the outdoor airport carpark. It cost me $108 which is a bit less than a return cab fare from Kambah.

I always park there too, so-far 4 days has been the longest, but it’s still cheaper than a cab there and back.

The aiport has some contract with Deanes, and for ACTION to supply a service to the airport would put the airport in contravention of their contract.

Aenveigh said :

Perhap a few letters to the airport/ACTION about a better bus service might help? (I’ve already written one).

Tried that. The official line from ACTION is “due to the contractual arrangement in place, ACTION is not permitted to enter the airport which is why we cannot re-route Route 10 to enter the Airport.”

So this contract prohibits ACTION from providing a bus service even during the times that Deane’s are not operating.

Or is it that the Government is not interested in providing a service and are using the contract as an excuse?

I recently parked for just under 9 days at the outdoor airport carpark. It cost me $108 which is a bit less than a return cab fare from Kambah.

Sir Pompously7:21 pm 26 Jul 11

Instead of actually changing the timetable to provide some sort of intergration with the bus service, and actually advertising the service so people might use it, they have just cut it down to a point where there is no point in using it. I use a combination of the Airliner and ACTION to get to and from work when my shift allows me to. Now, I have no option but to drive if my shift finishes after about 6 (around the last ACTION Service). I have heard ACTION want to run to the airport, it is just CAG want to charge them to use the terminal stop. If this was removed, and ACTION could run, we would have a service from at least 6am to 10/11pm and hopefully it would be more direct then the current Route 10. CAG subsidise this route (So getting ACTION in would be a money saver for them, but when they see a chance for extra cash…..), Deane’s are just the operator. I am sure that CAG also own or partly own two of the Airliner coaches.

troll-sniffer said :

nsn said :

‘Fewer’

[/pedantry]

perhaps, but along with many other words, usage is like changing and being accepted, even by most pedants. get, like, used to it.

so, it’s ‘like’ changing? so what is it actually?

and as goddess divinely notes, it isn’t hard, this one…

It’s not just that there’s no buses on Sunday night until last flight. The old timetable didn’t seem to have any regard for actual flight patterns – in the morning the bus typically left just before a 767 (300 passengers) disembarked, leaving all those passengers with a half hour wait, or taking a taxi – no prizes for guessing what happened. Some tweaking of timetables to match inbound or outbound flights might have helped, and/or running smaller buses more freqeuntly – the massive coach Deanes were using was 99% of the time overkill (I had seen it fill though). Perhap a few letters to the airport/ACTION about a better bus service might help? (I’ve already written one).

It is pretty pathetic that, if you fly into Canberra after 6pm on a Sunday, there’s no bus. I’d have thought that Deane’s would have run until the last flight.

If your’re prepared to walk 5 minutes through to Brindabella Park, ACTION run the 10 through there everry 30 minutes through the day, although it is a scenic tour getting to the airport.

Of more interest to air travellers may be the Expresso services which are more direct and run to BBP in the morning and back to suburbs in the afternoon:

737 -Direct to/from Civic
786 -Direct to/from Chisholm Shops and Tuggeranong Interchange
757 -to/from Gungahlin via Dickson, Braddon and Russell, bypassing Civic interchange
28 -to/from Weston Creek via Woden, Barton and Russell

These services have been fantastic for day return trips to Sydney for me. A signle fare ($2.39 on MyWay) is a lot cheaper, more comfortable and reliable than a Cab!

Great – as if the service wasn’t already bad compared to say Melbourne’s Skybus, or Sydney’s train/bus offerings. Canberra airport punches above its weight (for Canberra’s population size) with all the traffic you’d expect to/from Canberra, but this apparently doesn’t carry across to its airport connections. You get a choice of taxi, huge queues/delayed taxi, and no taxi.

Not holding my breath for an ACTION service to fill the breach though… more’s the pity.

f4te said :

As per the company’s website (http://www.airliner.com.au): “From 18th July, 2011, the Canberra Airport – Civic Airliner service will be operating on a new timetable.”

If doesn’t explain why though, although most times I catch the shuttle you are looking at not more than 5-7 people on the bus, which is not much given the size of the bus. It’s still pretty crappy though.

#1 ‘Fewer’

[/pedantry]

Less sugar – fewer crystals. Not that hard, is it?

BenMac said :

I think it’s more the fact that Mr Snow charges too much for Buses to run to the airport. It’s not financially viable for them to do so. That why they used to (I’m guessing it’s stopped now) drive to Brand Depot instead.

Route 10 still shuffles around Brand Depot. And I imagine Mr Snow is very happy for less bus access to the airport… he has a great big carpark to fill!

dvaey said :

Most Canberrans probably arent even aware there is a bus service at the airport, given how much Snow has tried to stop any form of public transport in the area, leading to lower patronage. Maybe people have simply given up on the airport.

With the time involved in catching a bus to the airport, checking in, passing through security, waiting for your flight, etc, youre better off just paying an extra $6 and getting a Murrays bus which drops you at an airport which is actually useful in around 2hrs (about the same duration as youd be sitting in the airport in Canberra anyway).

Its sad that airlines seem to be able to find ways to drop prices dramatically, but the connections leading up to the airlines, find fit to gouge their customers because they can. For a long time it has been cheaper to buy a plane ticket than catch a cab to the airport. Last year I flew to Melbourne for a day-trip, and the cost of my return flight was less than the cost of parking for the day at the airport.

I mostly fly from Sydney now. Either drive up and leave the car at a friends house, or get Murray’s which drops me right at the airport. The only time I use Canberra airport is if I manage to get a direct flight.

When I worked out at BBP the Dept used to pay for us to use the Airliner to travel in and out of Civic and you are correct, it used to run every half an hour. Because it took (in)ACTION years to establish public transport out to BBP, it was the only mode of public transport available to those who didn’t want to, or couldn’t, drive. The morning and afternoon peak hour airliner shuttles and the lunch time ones used to be clogged with workers but the others were a lot quieter, although still quite a few Dept staff used the Airliner travelling in and out of Civic for meetings. However, that Dept has relocated all those staff to Civic, so methinks Deanes probably can’t afford the Airliner frequency they used to have given the reduced revenue. I remember hearing they got about $3-4 per trip under the contract with the Dept.

What’s the deal? It’s expensive and inconvenient.

1. If you’re travelling with 3 or 4 people then it could well be cheaper to share a taxi than all of you pay the bus fare
2. If you’re on a work trip they pay a cab charge and you don’t care how much a taxi costs
3. There’s a good chance you can get a partner, friend or relative to drop you off for free
4. If it’s a short trip then a day’s parking at the airport is about the same as return bus fare
5. If it’s a long trip then you don’t want to dick around with half a ton of luggage on a bus to Civic first and will pay for a taxi to avoid the hassle

madscientist said :

Perhaps ACTION can be prevailed upon to start running a service to the airport? Deane’s shouldn’t be able to profit by having a monopoly over a service which is run super badly.

I think it’s more the fact that Mr Snow charges too much for Buses to run to the airport. It’s not financially viable for them to do so. That why they used to (I’m guessing it’s stopped now) drive to Brand Depot instead.

troll-sniffer11:32 am 20 Jul 11

nsn said :

‘Fewer’

[/pedantry]

perhaps, but along with many other words, usage is like changing and being accepted, even by most pedants. get, like, used to it.

Most Canberrans probably arent even aware there is a bus service at the airport, given how much Snow has tried to stop any form of public transport in the area, leading to lower patronage. Maybe people have simply given up on the airport.

With the time involved in catching a bus to the airport, checking in, passing through security, waiting for your flight, etc, youre better off just paying an extra $6 and getting a Murrays bus which drops you at an airport which is actually useful in around 2hrs (about the same duration as youd be sitting in the airport in Canberra anyway).

Its sad that airlines seem to be able to find ways to drop prices dramatically, but the connections leading up to the airlines, find fit to gouge their customers because they can. For a long time it has been cheaper to buy a plane ticket than catch a cab to the airport. Last year I flew to Melbourne for a day-trip, and the cost of my return flight was less than the cost of parking for the day at the airport.

madscientist11:27 am 20 Jul 11

This is terrible. I regularly visit my partner in Canberra and take this bus from the airport. Added to the fact that the trip is already stupidly expensive, it’s now almost impossible.

For students etc, who go home over semester break, or others in similar circumstances, taxis are too expensive to take regularly..

Perhaps ACTION can be prevailed upon to start running a service to the airport? Deane’s shouldn’t be able to profit by having a monopoly over a service which is run super badly.

As per the company’s website (http://www.airliner.com.au): “From 18th July, 2011, the Canberra Airport – Civic Airliner service will be operating on a new timetable.”

New timetable: http://www.airliner.com.au/files/11094_Airliner_Large_Format.pdf
Old timetable: http://www.airliner.com.au/files/11094_Airliner_Large_Format-backup.pdf

‘Fewer’

[/pedantry]

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