Luton Dart fares

[spag23]

Until this service is working again, post fire, the Luton Dart website says that tickets are valid on the replacement buses.
But it's not selling standalone tickets.
When I travelled from the Airport to Parkway on Wednesday evening, the bus driver wasn't asking for (or trying to sell) tickets; ie it was free.
But are the TOCs still charging £4.90/leg to add this on to rail journeys?
This doesn't seem right if the actual service is the (previously £2.80) bus. Or even a free bus.

 

[CyrusWuff]

DART fares are set by the Airport, and there's no suggestion that they have been reduced as a result of the replacement bus service. The only mention on their website regarding ticketing is that "Rail tickets to and from Luton Airport are valid for travel on the buses."

Additionally, it's reasonable to assume that the rail industry has a contract with the Airport that says along the lines of "We will pay you the appropriate DART fare for every ticket sold with an origin or destination of Luton Airport."

 

[spag23]

The only mention on their website regarding ticketing is that "Rail tickets to and from Luton Airport are valid for travel on the buses."

That's what I said in post #1.
My questions were:
Why are they charging the premium, inflated Dart fare when they are running only the slower, inferior bus service that used to cost about £2.80. Quite a difference for a party of 4+.
Or why charge at all if the bus journey (as in my recent experience) requires no ticket at all?
And is the bus free anyway for concessionary bus pass holders?

 

[1D54]

Is it some kind of Rail Replacement service until DART is up and running again? Would explain why no ticket check was in place. I'd certainly not be paying £4.90 when Arriva service A from outside Luton Airport Parkway do it for the standard £2.

When is DART expected to be running again?

 

[mangyiscute]

Until this service is working again, post fire, the Luton Dart website says that tickets are valid on the replacement buses.
But it's not selling standalone tickets.
When I travelled from the Airport to Parkway on Wednesday evening, the bus driver wasn't asking for (or trying to sell) tickets; ie it was free.
But are the TOCs still charging £4.90/leg to add this on to rail journeys?
This doesn't seem right if the actual service is the (previously £2.80) bus. Or even a free bus.

I guess perhaps if you complained to the dart they may give you a refund of your ticket, but unfortunately this is one of those situations where the vast majority of people won't even realise they've paid an extra £4.90 to take a free bus, and therefore the airport is not incentivized to do anything about changing this fact

 

[JaJaWa]

DART fares are set by the Airport, and there's no suggestion that they have been reduced as a result of the replacement bus service. The only mention on their website regarding ticketing is that "Rail tickets to and from Luton Airport are valid for travel on the buses."

Additionally, it's reasonable to assume that the rail industry has a contract with the Airport that says along the lines of "We will pay you the appropriate DART fare for every ticket sold with an origin or destination of Luton Airport."

That is not what they are telling people on X/Twitter:

London Luton Airport @LDNLutonAirport
The replacement shuttle is a free service. CR

Source: https://twitter.com/ldnlutonairport/status/1713496072956322290

 

[CyrusWuff]

That is not what they are telling people on X/Twitter:

Source: https://twitter.com/ldnlutonairport/status/1713496072956322290

Fantastic internal comms I see!

Meanwhile, over at https://www.lutondart.com/ they have a banner that says:

As a result of the car park fire at London Luton Airport on the 10th October, the Luton DART remains out of service whilst the area around our stations and tracks are made safe. Replacement buses are in operation departing frequently 24 hours a day. Rail tickets to and from Luton Airport are valid for travel on the buses. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause and continue to ask customers to allocate extra time for their journey.

And they're still selling tickets at the full price of £4.90 Single.

 

[spag23]

I guess perhaps if you complained to the dart they may give you a refund of your ticket,

As it happens my own pre-purchased tickets were free anyway (courtesy of concessionary bus pass).
But from the above posts, it seems the charging policy and comms are in a bit of a mess!

 

[miklcct]

Fantastic internal comms I see!

Meanwhile, over at https://www.lutondart.com/ they have a banner that says:


And they're still selling tickets at the full price of £4.90 Single.

According to their Twitter, DART is now back in operation.

ℹ️ The DART shuttle between the airport terminal and Luton Airport Parkway is now back in operation.

Tickets may be bought online or at the station: https://orlo.uk/YkPMK