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I thought concessionary reimbursement rates were all based on the equivalent adult single fare? Hence why operators receive 43.6% of the fare made by 5 to 15 year olds and 81.2% for journeys made by those aged 16 to 21.
I thought concessionary reimbursement rates were all based on the equivalent adult single fare? Hence why operators receive 43.6% of the fare made by 5 to 15 year olds and 81.2% for journeys made by those aged 16 to 21.
Coming out of the main arrivals exit, they'll see the big covered area in front of the tram stop before any buses, which are largely hidden behind concrete structures, yes. But, as long as a 100 is actually sitting at its departure stop (which hasn't been the case when I've been at the airport several times over the past few months!) they'll see that well before they see any actual trams.
Unless the fares are considerably cheaper compared to Lothian or some deal if booked with Bright Bus Open Top buses for Traveling, I doubt how many passengers there is for the new service.
Child fares on both services are £2.75, but the AirX is £4 for an adult compared to £5.50 on the 100
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On another note, in an older post in a different thread, I may or may not have humiliated myself slightly by misphrasing a few things when I stated that I wasn’t a fan of the use of the Enviro300s (along with other factors as to why I hated this service)…
HOWEVER…
I have recently had a change of heart, & am now fairly excited to at least try it. Granted, it still has its many flaws (such as the use of E300s, the tiny singular luggage rack, etc.), but I’m fairly excited to at least see how it is being on it.
Also, the AirX has been moved from McGills Scotland East to Bright Bus on bustimes.org (see https://bustimes.org/operators/bright-bus). I’m guessing that they’re going to move the Bright Bus Vehicles from McGills Scotland East to Bright Bus then?
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Roger French has a write up on his blog busandtrainuser.com of the 10.30 Airport to Edinburgh on 1st January. It carried a total of 11 passengers of whom 5 travelleD from the Airport.
Has it been confirmed that the luggage racks came out of the E400MMCs that were converted for the X36/X37 or has this just been an assumption? I only ask as I don't think there would be enough to go in them all.
Has it been confirmed that the luggage racks came out of the E400MMCs that were converted for the X36/X37 or has this just been an assumption? I only ask as I don't think there would be enough to go in them all.
Thanks, so looks like they must have had them fitted new or were able to source some from somewhere and get the poles repainted pink to fit the stock.
Anyway will need to see how the service goes. A lot of people seem to have berated the idea of it yet if it actually takes off (no pun intended) it will make you wonder what else could they pull off.
Roger French has a write up on his blog busandtrainuser.com of the 10.30 Airport to Edinburgh on 1st January. It carried a total of 11 passengers of whom 5 travelleD from the Airport.
Interesting read. One thing I didn’t realise before reading the blog is that the tram is more expensive than the Airlink bus - I don’t think that was the case a few years ago?
Anyway, I can see the McGill’s venture doing alright for them, but do wonder if there are more of private companies (ie not Lothian) competing with Lothian on their profitable routes that it’ll just speed up moves towards regulation of services.
Profits from the airport and open top bus tours subsidising less profitable routes is a good thing and Lothian’s owners (mostly Edinburgh Council!) won’t want the status quo being rocked too much. Interesting times ahead potentially.
I am not normally in favour of direct competition like this however I do believe the premium fares charged by the tram and airlink are too high. The £5.50 premium for the tram especially. Airports should be encouraging passengers to arrive by public transport and it’s absolutely shocking that passengers coming from say Dundee or Aberdeen need to pay £7.50 on top of their rail fare to get from Gateway. Not that the new service will help with that but in this specific case I would say fair game for McGill’s to give Lothian a bit of competition. I wish they’d do the same in Glasgow to challenge the First 500!
Interesting read. One thing I didn’t realise before reading the blog is that the tram is more expensive than the Airlink bus - I don’t think that was the case a few years ago?
Anyway, I can see the McGill’s venture doing alright for them, but do wonder if there are more of private companies (ie not Lothian) competing with Lothian on their profitable routes that it’ll just speed up moves towards regulation of services.
Profits from the airport and open top bus tours subsidising less profitable routes is a good thing and Lothian’s owners (mostly Edinburgh Council!) won’t want the status quo being rocked too much. Interesting times ahead potentially.
From observations today, no more than two/three people on the buses heading towards the Airport and nobody on the buses out. I noticed a member of staff coming into the terminal to see when the the next arrival from International Arrivals 1 would be (the arrivals area just next to their stand), and there were none for a good while given only flights from Ireland where using this area. Nobody has been walking from Domestic Arrivals or International Arrivals 2 on the other side of the Airport to Stand E for the new service with most people going for the tram and Airlink. Stand E continues to be branded for Fly only and there is a large Airlink poster at the exit there as well which may direct people away. At this time, I really can't see this working unless Bright Bus push hard.
I was thinking that too, although hogmanay is a pretty big event, even if tiny compared to August.
Can't think of any other examples of a very frequent bus service starting on the 1st of January.
Despite the buses mostly carrying fresh air so far (from what I've seen/heard) I wouldn't be surprised if Airlink, trams and Bright Bus express are all running absolutely packed for the festival come August.
I may be speculating a bit but could it be that they wanted the service in place before it gets to busy season so that they can iron out any issues? Also, could it be that with the reduction of the Livingston network, there would be no work left for the drivers and so they were kind of forced to start the service earlier to keep the drivers in employment. They couldn't just tell all of the drivers 'there is no work today' and either have drivers accept less/no wages or offer them redundancy and then expect drivers to flock back in a few months time when they set up the service.
I can’t help but wonder what image this projects to those in West Lothian who just a few short months ago were worried their links in to town would vanish, had it not been for Lothian stepping in. McGills launching a new service which has clearly had a decent amount of money spent on it is sure to rub some people up the wrong way.
I can’t help but wonder what image this projects to those in West Lothian who just a few short months ago were worried their links in to town would vanish, had it not been for Lothian stepping in. McGills launching a new service which has clearly had a decent amount of money spent on it is sure to rub some people up the wrong way.
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