Edinburgh Gateway - A White Elephant ?

[najaB]

From the Airport to Dundee it's very amusing that the Via Inverkeithing fare is £3 cheaper than the Any Permitted. Going via Edinburgh Gateway is still going via Inverkeithing...

The Via Inverkething fare isn't valid on the tram (or at least it wasn't prior to Edinburgh Gateway opening), it is (was) only valid on the 747 bus.

 

[Starmill]

Well you assume so because to use the tram you would have had to go via Haymarket previously for which there is a higher fare, so although that in itself doesn't mean the ticket is not valid, it is at least clear that that's the ticket that it was intended you buy. Now, however, it's completely unclear. It's still a ticket from Edinburgh Airport Bus / Tram.

My point is that it's a mess which needs some attention.

From Falkirk it appears that you must go via Inverkeithing... err?

 

[Butts]

The Via Inverkething fare isn't valid on the tram (or at least it wasn't prior to Edinburgh Gateway opening), it is (was) only valid on the 747 bus.

It's a shame there are not more Flights from another White Elephant at least with regard to the ridiculous prices charged to go anywhere - namely Dundee Airport.

 

[najaB]

Well you assume so...

Nope, no assumption it specifically was not valid via Haymarket. It looks like they've removed the restriction now, I guess when they introduced the Any Permitted. There only used to be via Haymarket and via Inverkeithing.

 

[Starmill]

There does not appear to be anything "specifically" permitted or not about these fares. Indeed the fact that they think that you can only go from Falkirk to the Airport via Inverkeithing demonstrates just how wrong they've got it. I doubt even scotrail know what's going on with them. They should have used routes like 'Inverkeithing bus' or 'Haymarket Airlink' from the start. Now that there are 3 useful interchanges between national rail and tram (Edinburgh Gateway, Edinburgh Park and Haymarket) and 2 between rail and bus (Inverkeithing and Haymarket) I would suggest they ought to be looking at resolving the problem by starting from scratch.

 

[najaB]

There does not appear to be anything "specifically" permitted or not about these fares.

As I said, the restrictions appear to have been removed when the 'Any Permitted' fares were introduced. Previously there were 'Via Haymarket' tickets which were valid on the 100 bus service (and then the tram when it was introduced) and 'Via Inverkeithing' tickets which were only valid on the 747 bus.

 

[route:oxford]

If they, meaning Scotrail, Lothian Buses/Trams/Transport for Edinburgh, Citylink and Stagecoach cared we'd have a travel desk including full rail booking functionality, bus and coach tickets, smart cards and journey planning.

There is a Heathrow & Gatwick Express desk though...

 

[Blindtraveler]

Wasnt aware of this, highly handy feature lol.

 

[endecotp]

Most of Lanarkshire (ie those coming on the Motherwell/Wishaw/Carstairs or the Bellshill/Shotts lines) go into Edinburgh through Wester Hailes, meaning the first opportunity to get to Edinburgh Park or surrounding areas is to go into Haymarket and then double-back back out.

So you didn't fancy getting off at Slateford catching the 35 bus?

(No, I don't blame you...)

 

[thealexweb]

This may have already been mentioned but it costs around £8.50 for an adult single on the tram between Edinburgh Gateway and Edinburgh Airport. That is ridiculously expensive.

 

[najaB]

This may have already been mentioned but it costs around £8.50 for an adult single on the tram between Edinburgh Gateway and Edinburgh Airport. That is ridiculously expensive.

It's £8.50 for a return, a single is £5.50. Yet it's only £3.20 to go to Ingliston Park and Ride (the stop before the airport).

If you don't have luggage then I say get out and walk the rest of the way.

 

[TheEscapist_]

You'd really think they'd encourage use of Edin Gateway and create a reduced ticket from there to the airport.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[najaB]

You'd really think they'd encourage use of Edin Gateway and create a reduced ticket from there to the airport.

Or, better still, make it easier to buy a combined ticket.

 

[TheEscapist_]

Or, better still, make it easier to buy a combined ticket.

Defiantly!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Chrism20]

Edinburgh Gateway numbers are significantly lower than expected. The 500,000 estimate did seem a bit high although I thought it would have been higher than what it currently is.

And it also appears to have cost significantly more than was planned.

http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.c...tracts-third-of-expected-passengers-1-4543692

The “white elephant” opened on the outskirts of the capital last December but is often deserted because it does not connect to the busiest rail services. And it has now emerged that construction costs for the station were originally estimated at £24m but soared to £41m by the time it was completed. Transport chiefs said they expected 500,000 to 600,000 passengers a year to use the station, which lies next to the depot for the city’s controversial £1 billion tram line. But figures reveal just 134,655 people have used it in its first eight months - putting it on course to fall dramatically short of its target. The passenger shortfall is being blamed on the decision to drop plans to connect the station to the busy Glasgow-Edinburgh line. The site was chosen because it is next to the tram line and would have given SNP minsters a cheap way to create an airport rail link. Last night former transport minister and Lib Dem MSP Tavish Scott blasted the Scottish Government’s transport planning and the £41m cost of the station.

 

[DuncanS]

Its not a third of expected passengers - if the numbers stay the same for the remaining four months then it will see just over 200,000 users in the first year which is 40%

Aside from that its in an awful place, coming from the West I'm easier to change at EPark and get the tram from there and if you are coming from the East then its just as easy to get the tram/bus from town. Its just in the wrong place.

 

[Bald Rick]

I'm surprised it's that many. I was there for about 20 minutes in the evening peak recently, 3 departures in that time, and there were more staff than passengers.

I wonder how many of the 134,655 passengers were just going there. To see what it was like and/or shack scratchers.

 

[Failed Unit]

I never understood the desire to divert Linlithgow services that way either. Edinburgh park works.

Is South Gyle also closer to a lot of the business park than the gateway. Better to walk from the train then rely on a tram if you can.

 

[Taunton]

The passenger shortfall is being blamed on the decision to drop plans to connect the station to the busy Glasgow-Edinburgh line.

As the station is nowhere near the Edinburgh-Glasgow line, you might have thought the someone would have noticed before now that it could never have served that route.

 

[najaB]

Edinburgh Gateway numbers are significantly lower than expected. The 500,000 estimate did seem a bit high although I thought it would have been higher than what it currently is.

I suspect that in a year's time the situation will be significantly different. Opening half-way through the timetable cycle didn't do it much good, nor has there been much in the way of publicity. I reckon that if you did a survey a very small percentage of potential airport-bound passengers know that it allows easy transfers to the tram, nor than combined rail+tram tickets are available.

 

[dk1]

With so much good news & reports of surging passenger numbers it's always good to hear of the odd flop to balance things & make planners think more in future. This doesn't sound too bad considering the sheer amount of electrification & blockades that have happened in the last year.

 

[InOban]

It would help if the Aberdeen trains called. They're the only ones that don't, apart from the remaining South Gyle ones. South Gyle is, as I recall, up a side road. However it does have the advantage that the shopping centre is the terminus for a variety of bus routes to all parts.

 

[Chrism20]

As the station is nowhere near the Edinburgh-Glasgow line, you might have thought the someone would have noticed before now that it could never have served that route.

Had EGIP gone ahead as originally planned it would have been possible. The passenger numbers were revised following the change of plans though.

 

[Railsigns]

As the station is nowhere near the Edinburgh-Glasgow line, you might have thought the someone would have noticed before now that it could never have served that route.

Edinburgh - Glasgow services could use it if the Dalmeny Chord was built.

 

[Chrism20]

I suspect that in a year's time the situation will be significantly different. Opening half-way through the timetable cycle didn't do it much good, nor has there been much in the way of publicity. I reckon that if you did a survey a very small percentage of potential airport-bound passengers know that it allows easy transfers to the tram, nor than combined rail+tram tickets are available.

I hope it does improve, I know ingliston is nearby but I can't understand why they didn't build a multi-storey car park there and have an additional park and ride as well to catch people coming off the bypass. Riccarton is bursting at the seams some days and people will just drive to town rather than go further away from their destination to reach ingliston and double back on a bus or tram. A P&R there would also give the option of there to town in under ten minutes which would appeal to a lot of drivers.

 

[Taunton]

Edinburgh - Glasgow services could use it if the Dalmeny Chord was built.

No it couldn't, both sides of the four track layout west from Haymarket are fully occupied, certainly if you add a station stop at Gateway, and have been for many years. And you can't even four track from Saughton Junction out to the proposed Dalmeny curve as each side of the Fife line at Gyle has been developed right up to the boundary fence.

 

[Altnabreac]

No it couldn't, both sides of the four track layout west from Haymarket are fully occupied, certainly if you add a station stop at Gateway, and have been for many years. And you can't even four track from Saughton Junction out to the proposed Dalmeny curve as each side of the Fife line at Gyle has been developed right up to the boundary fence.

In the peak some Falkirk, Stirling and Bathgate services use the north lines through Haymarket and cross over on the flat west of the station. Once Dalmeny Chord opens it will be much better to run Falkirk High services out to a grade separated junction, calling at Edinburgh Gateway.

That will speed up the journey and create capacity on both lines by removing flat crossings.

 

[najaB]

As the station is nowhere near the Edinburgh-Glasgow line, you might have thought the someone would have noticed before now that it could never have served that route.

I assume they are making a reference to the Dalmeny Chord - if it had been constructed then a number of Edinburgh-Glasgow services could call at the station.

(Didn't realise there were replies over the page)

 

[Blindtraveler]

When EGIP MK1 was binned/revised this white elifant should have been revised out of the equasion or at least delayed til Dalmeny Cord/4 Tracking/Grade Seperation/whatever solution is ultimatly developed to aid capacity in the area was implimented.

I have scratched both platforms and the tram area and now will likely never have a use for it.

Further humiliation comes from the fact the divunder used by trams floods all to easily meaning job stops each time we get a lot of rain. Hoping they fix this as it does the interchange no favours.

I agree that a good big carpark should have been a part of it

 

[Failed Unit]

I still don't see how Edinburgh Gateway would have made passengers from the West happy.

They can already change onto the tram at Edinburgh Park. If they want the business park they already have a decent walk. Admittedly some may be closer but many others will need a longer walk.

Nothing is broken about the current stopping arrangements at Edinburgh Park so I think diversion would cause unhappiness. I certainly never like the idea of the change when I worked there and was glad to see it scrapped.