Airtrain

[ozbob]

Have your say!

[#Metro]

 

Fares not integrated into the PT system
Fare anomaly
Service is profitable, but at the expense of scope of service hours
Service cuts out past 8pm
Love the service, there should just be more of it. Many times I have been gouged by Taxi at the airport because there was no train.

[Emmie]

Agree with TT. Love the serive, use it regularly, but completely inadequate hours of operation.

Public private contract makes it hard to integrate with the rest of the system, but something needs to be done. I don't much mind gouging air travelers, domestic or foreign, as they are mainly better able to pay for the service than the general population, but the fare needs to be low enough to be competitive with a taxi for a group, not just an individual.

And something needs to be done to encourage airport workers to use it - at the moment, although they can get discounted travel, they can only use it if they both start AND stop work within its limited running hours. not very likely, for jobs that operate almost 24/7.

[colinw]

I voted 4 or less.

I have had four trips away this year.  AirTrain was only suitable for use for two of those four trips, and did not even provide services that were suitably timed for the others.  The most recent departure was an 11:45PM flight from Brisbane International, and even at that late hour the International airport was busy with departures scheduled through to nearly 2AM and arrivals in evidence.  But no trains!

Of the trips where I did use it, the service was moderately usable, however with four of us travelling on the trip to Sydney for a wedding it would actually have been cheaper to catch a taxi.

Another black mark - on return from that Sydney trip the screens at Domestic station showed our train as stopping at Coopers Plains.  In fact it was a service that did not stop there, and had I not realised on hearing an announcement we would have shot through our destination station. Incorrect information on an airport service is really unforgivable - I'm a local and nearly got caught.

The half hourly timetable for much of the day doesn't encourage use either.

Not good enough.  I work for a rail industry company, we may even have systems in place on the airport line, but the awareness of AirTrain at my workplace is so low that I am only aware of one other person here who has actually used it ... and she is a European who prefers to use the train!

--Col

[ozbob]

Score 5.5

[verbatim9]

I wonder if Airtrain will run express again from Bowen Hills to Eagle Junction once MBRL has started up?

[Arnz]

I wonder if Airtrain will run express again from Bowen Hills to Eagle Junction once MBRL has started up?

Chances of that is nil. 

They share the same track pair (Suburbans) as Shorncliffe and Doomben, plus the inner city stations (Albion & Wooloowin) require the services to make up for the Mains (Caboolture/Nambour) running express full-time (including off-peak & weekends).

[verbatim9]

I question that as you pay a premium price for the Service into the Cbd or down the Coast yet it stops all stations to the CBD.

[Arnz]

The premium is the train using the privately owned Airport tracks (plus the cost of wetleasing the QR staff & trains for the Airport segment)

Disregarding the infamous fare discrepancies, once it's south of Eagle Junction it becomes a standard TransLink/QR service, not a Airtrain service.

Also when it did ran express Bowen Hills to Eagle Junction in the past, it saved only 1 minute and some services were really stopping at all-red signals (stuck behind another train).  May as well have the train stop all stations if it's going to save bugger all.

[verbatim9]

I realise what section has been privately built and run, but if everyone says it doesnt matter a few minutes here and there it wouldn't be a very efficient  network. A few minutes here and there add up to alot of minutes.

[James]

It is one minute. One. Friggin. Minute. If you want to save time, increase the frequency to every 15 minutes - that'll make an actual difference by decreasing the waiting time (from avg. 15 mins to 7.5 mins - 7.5x the saving!).

[#Metro]

Express services already exist. Catch taxi or uber and pay the higher fee. 

[petey3801]

Short answer: No.

Not quite so short answer: With limited track capacity, all trains need to run on the same pattern to maximise the amount of paths available, which is whi it went to all stops in the last timetable, also why all trains on sector 1 are currently all stations and once again, is why all trains on sector 1 will be running express in the new timetable.

The premium payment is for Airport Junction to the end of the line only, as Arnz said (ie: the private section). It doesn't cost any more than any other train to travel from EJ to the City on the Airtrain, so it isn't actually a premium service at that point.