1 Apr 2023: BCC launch of Air-BUZ above North-West Transport Corridor

[ozbob]

RAIL Back On Track welcomes BCC launch of Air-BUZ above North-West Transport Corridor

1st April 2023

RAIL Back On Track (http://backontrack.org) has welcomed Brisbane City Council's launch of Australia's first Air-BUZ service along the North-West Transport Corridor (NWTC).

BCC's first Air-BUZ 350 service took off from King George Square at 6 am yesterday morning after BCC successfully gained regulatory approval last week.

Marketing Video https://www.facebook.com/reel/917054659740450

Whizz Air's original air taxi concept suffered from very low capacity.

"Assuming a 2-minute interval between services and 4-passengers/air taxi capacity, the service would only have a line capacity of 120 passengers/hour. For comparison, a general car lane has 18x more capacity at 2160 passengers/hour/direction. Such poor capacity also makes air taxi services entirely unsuitable for moving crowds at the Brisbane 2032 Olympics." a spokesperson said.

"Council realised early on that the maths didn't work. It wouldn't scale if everyone used it."

"Air traffic modelling also showed that with air taxis, heavy air traffic congestion would form over the Brisbane CBD. Air-taxis from all over Brisbane, Logan, Ipswich, Gold Coast and Moreton Bay would form swarming queues as they flew into holding patterns for landing slots at the limited number of CBD landing sites or air portals."

"This would have a major negative visual, noise, and privacy impact on residents and the amenity and livability of Brisbane generally."

"BCC has therefore worked with Whizz Air on a solution. Ultimately, we decided to convert part of the Council's bus fleet to air operation. This is a cost-effective and environmentally sensitive solution."

"The North-West Transport corridor was chosen because this would have less impact than flying directly above residents' homes." the spokesperson concluded.

Air-BUZ 350 will run every 15-minutes from 6am to 10pm, 7-days per week. Stops include Bald Hills train station, Carseldine, Aspley, Everton Park, Enoggera Station, then express to King George Square air-portal.

All stations except Everton Park have convenient Park & Fly facilities for passengers. Standard TransLink fares apply.

In the interests of safety, passengers will be subjected to abridged screening procedures before boarding the service. Carry-on weight limits of 7.5 kg per passenger apply. Pets and dangerous goods may not be taken on board.

References:

Air Taxi Capacity Calculation
60 minutes / 2 min frequency = 30 services per hour
30 services/hour x 4 passengers/airtaxi = 120 passengers/hr line capacity

Image: Zuk Mark https://www.facebook.com/reel/917054659740450



Robert Dow
Administration
admin@backontrack.org
RAIL Back On Track https://backontrack.org

[ozbob]

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