Ministerial Statement: Airport bus route takes off

[ozbob]

Transport and Multicultural Affairs
The Honourable Annastacia Palaszczuk
12/04/2011

Airport bus route takes off

The direct bus connection between the Gold Coast Airport and Southport continues to experience impressive growth with patronage more than doubling in the last year, Transport Minister Annastascia Palaszczuk said today.

Patronage on route 702 (Southport to Gold Coast Airport) has increased by 117 per cent following the introduction of the extended service in 2009.

"The route proved popular from day one when higher frequency buses and an extended route were introduced, with more than 760,000 trips made last year - up from 351,000 the year before," Ms Palaszczuk said.

"The changes to the route have certainly shown customers enjoy the convenience of a one-seat journey to and from the airport."

Route 702 is funded by the State Government and Gold Coast City Council, and supported by Gold Coast Airport and Gold Coast Tourism.

Member for Southport Peter Lawlor said it's pleasing to see more and more people make the switch to public transport.

"Ultimately this gets cars off the road and people are recognising route 702 as a reliable and frequent service," he said.

Gold Coast Airport Chief Operating Officer Paul Donovan said the public transport service remained important for the airport.


"Gold Coast Airport is the fifth busiest international airport in Australia and providing a public bus service is crucial to the region," Mr Donovan said.

"Providing strong ground transport links from Gold Coast Airport is critical both for our visiting tourists to easily access other areas of the Gold Coast and for our local community," he said.

For more information about public transport, visit the website www.translink.com.au or phone the Call Centre on 13 12 30, anytime.

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The route proved popular from day one when higher frequency buses and an extended route were introduced ...

[Golliwog]

So it never gets above a 30 minute frequency, but I feel it beats Airtrains hands down on operating hours.

[somebody]

So it never gets above a 30 minute frequency, but I feel it beats Airtrains hands down on operating hours.

The airport is also served by the 761.  And the services co-ordinate (I thought this was SEQ?) for a 15 minute frequency heading north out of the Airport.

[mufreight]

And no excessive surcharge on the fares either unlike Airtrain

[Golliwog]

Maybe someone should send this release to the owners of Airtrain? With a copy of the 702 and 761 timetables attached.

[#Metro]

The 701 and 761 bus are subsidised and fully integrated within the TransLink ticketing and fares.
The Airtrain is a profit  making business and is not subsidised.

Oops. TL inadvertently just did their own experiment into what would happen if Airtrain came under normal TL fares and was subsidised!

To be fair though, I think people going to the airport should be charged more. If they can afford a $5000 holiday to Vanuatu or wherever then they can afford $20.00 airtrain ticket. I think there should be later services and more frequent services. Oh well...

[Gazza]

^Bear in mind thought, airports are major employment centres, so they should have a mass transit service subsidised for this reason.

I think places like London have it right. The tube is normal fares, so it's useful for workers and budget conscious travellers who have the time for the all stops trip into central London.
If you want a faster more comfortable trip, the Heathrow Express is there, and you pay accordingly.

[somebody]

^Bear in mind thought, airports are major employment centres, so they should have a mass transit service subsidised for this reason.

I think places like London have it right. The tube is normal fares, so it's useful for workers and budget conscious travellers who have the time for the all stops trip into central London.
If you want a faster more comfortable trip, the Heathrow Express is there, and you pay accordingly.

We can't justify a two tiered rail service anywhere in Australia, even Sydney or Melbourne.

Sydney has a weekly gate pass for about $20 which is good for workers.  You still need the normal train ticket though. I think that's fair enough.  The problem in Sydney is that the fare is far too expensive.  It's cheaper for two people to share a cab to the CBD, although you pay in time if you take that option.  The reverse of the situation in Brisbane.

[#Metro]

Bear in mind thought, airports are major employment centres, so they should have a mass transit service subsidised for this reason.

\
Perhaps, but only for workers at the Airport. Hence the ticket book for airtrain for BNE Airport employees.

[Gazza]

But it's an added burden to make them do that, which makes using PT more difficult and less attractive...It's like the way you have to jump through hoops to use a bike cage.

[#Metro]

Supposed "smart" in smartcard should permit airport employees to load a pass into their GoCard set to expire when their employment expires at BNE Airport.

[Golliwog]

Supposed "smart" in smartcard should permit airport employees to load a pass into their GoCard set to expire when their employment expires at BNE Airport.

...because that'll totally be easy to set up on go card, given how long it's taken them to do other special go card things.

If anything I'd go for having a company go card available for each employee that wants one, linked to each employee and supsidised however the company chooses and the rest could be taken out of their pay or some such arrangement.

[Gazza]

Seems to be an awful lot of effort to make sure airline passengers pay extra.

[Cam]

To be fair though, I think people going to the airport should be charged more. If they can afford a $5000 holiday to Vanuatu or wherever then they can afford $20.00 airtrain ticket. I think there should be later services and more frequent services. Oh well...

I disagree with that. That's a misconception to assume that travellers to the airport are going on an expensive overseas holiday.

My wife, infant son & I are flying to Sydney to see my family on the June long weekend. The total return air fares for the family are about $180. We are staying with relatives so there are no accommodation costs. The Air Train tickets are about $20 each way per adult. That's about $80 return to the airport for the family. The costs of getting to & from Brisbane Airport from suburban Brisbane by public transport are almost half of the costs of the return air fares  

We have chosen to fly from the Gold Coast Airport where there is free parking across the other side of the Gold Coast Highway. We have done this in the past & will continue to do so in the future until the massive surcharge on public transport to Brisbane Airport is removed. There may be a similar surcharge to use Sydney's airport railway stations but at least the services there run frequently until just before midnight. There are 39 Air Train sevices on a weekday from Brisbane Airport compared to about 130 in each direction from Sydney Airport.  

One trip that we did fly from the international terminal at Brisbane we parked at Clayfield & caught a taxi for just over $20 each way. The total costs to & from the airport were less than $60 including fuel. That was a saving of about $20 over the Air Train & we arrived home well before we would have if we had have waited for the Air Train at the airport & then again in the city for an Ipswich service.

[somebody]

To be fair though, I think people going to the airport should be charged more. If they can afford a $5000 holiday to Vanuatu or wherever then they can afford $20.00 airtrain ticket. I think there should be later services and more frequent services. Oh well...

In addition to what Cam said, it is OK to spend hundreds of millions on road upgrades from the public purse, but it isn't OK to have a subsidised PT service?  To be equitable, there would need to be a significant toll on Airport Drive.

[somebody]

I think one of the most critical things to lobby for on the Gold Coast is improved service on the 761.  The operating hours are a shocker, and hourly frequency applies arriving at Central before 9am on weekday!  Even in spite of this, when it was hourly daytime it was still seeing over 4000 pax/week or 208 000pax/year.  I am sure that the poor service has reduced this demand significantly.

There is also local trips, but I'm not familiar with those down there.

[somebody]

The 702 runs along the Gold Coast Hwy while the 761 runs along the parallel Golden Four Dr, and the 761 serves stops on that road.  Does the 702 serve stops on GC Hwy, or run express Airport-Palm Beach?

[SurfRail]

The 702 runs along the Gold Coast Hwy while the 761 runs along the parallel Golden Four Dr, and the 761 serves stops on that road.  Does the 702 serve stops on GC Hwy, or run express Airport-Palm Beach?

702 runs express between the Airport and the stop on Currumbin Hill.  No stops installed on the GC Highway.

761 services Golden Four Drive in lieu of the withdrawal of the 765 south of Palm Beach.

The arrangement works fairly well.  Latent demand for travel between the airport and Golden Four Drive is never going to be as significant as the rest of the route to Southport, and getting in and out makes the trip slower (especially at the traffic lights at the Tugun shops) - plus you have a reasonable frequency of non-airport buses anyway.

What is not immediately clear in the timetable is that the 761 uses the highway overpass heading northbound to get into the airport, so it misses one northbound stop on Golden Four Drive immediately after Kirra.