Arriva the Shires trying it on

There are several bus routes which operate between Luton and Luton Airport, including three by the dominant local operator Arriva.  The two principal services are the 'A', which is one of the routes which uses the guided busway to Dunstable, and the 757 which is a Greenline branded coach service that continues past the airport to central London. 

There is a heavy demand for travel between Luton town centre/station interchange and Luton Airport, fuelled by passenger number growth (the airport handles around 16 million passengers per annum with aspiration for millions more) and the jobs that are generated as a result.  A couple of years ago the 'A' service was extended to operate overnight half hourly.

Where multiple routes operate over a common busy core section it offers the customer a better service and shorter wait times: reliability and shorter journeys is just the way to maintain and grow patronage.

Arriva's 'A' route from Dunstable to Luton Airport uses dedicated busway for much of its journey including guided busway.

Historically I have used the A and 757 interchangeably, where the same fares were available.  However a few weeks ago the first service available was a 757 (it was just after 2am!) and I learned that Arriva the Shires have decided to charge different fares for exactly the same journey.  The single fare between the airport and town centre on the A is £2.30, whilst I was charged £3 on the 757.  This revelation came after I started apologising to the driver for not having £2.30 in anything like correct or near-correct change.

Same journey, same operator, 30% fare difference.

My first instinct was that the driver was trying it on and would pocket the difference but a ticket was issued, and anyway the route 757 drivers are probably the 'top link' drivers (I've decided to let the three minute early departure go!).

So I asked Arriva why they charge different fares for the same service, using Facebook Messenger.

Really?

So there you have it.  The Arriva Shires fares model is directly based on the operating costs of the service.  I could have asked if customers got a discount every time a service bus operated a coach service (like the lucky people of Hemel often get), or if my fare on a local route should be different if a seventeen year old Trident turns up rather than a brand new Wright Streetlite.  Also, the 757 service I caught only had me as a passenger: should I bear the full cost of operation or should Arriva be glad to get some revenue from it?

I like Arriva the Shires in the main.  I like the busway (and am a little surprised at how successful it has been).  I like the fact Arriva have taken a risk with the all night service, seven days a week to the airport.  Even at £2.30 for an eight minute journey after watching airport staff buying £1.50 returns, I still quite like the service.  But as you might guess I think Arriva's fares policy is utterly nuts.  Any other examples of same operator, same origin, same destination, radically different fares?

Sightseeing With Sid

Open top bus tours are something I rarely have much interest in – either as a transport professional, transport enthusiast or tourist.  They are most definitely for ‘normals’!  However the arrival of Stagecoach in to the London open top marked piqued my interest.

The London tour bus market is a crowded one.  The ‘hop on hop off’ model is employed by four competing operators, two long established operators Big Bus Company and The Original London Sightseeing Tour (‘TOLST’), and two more recent entrants to the market, Golden Tours and The London Tour.  All operators are present around the world, TOLST being the London franchisee of City Sightseeing and the only other London open top operator owned by a regular London bus operator (indeed changing hands from Arriva to RATP Dev a couple of years of ago).

The hop on hop off model generally charges £25-£35 per day and is a fiercely competitive market employing a substantial number of staff on-street fighting for business, as well as tie ups with hotel, cafes and other tourist attractions.

There are also more specialist London tours available, generally around £40-£50 for a tour.  Such operators include B Bakery (which looks stunning), See London by Night, and Ghost Bus.  Until recently the amphibious Duck Tours was also an option.  At the other end of the price scale, TfL bus route 11 serves many tourist attractions and historic sites!

Stagecoach have long used 'Mega' branding across their various markets, such as megaday and megarider tickets on local bus services.  About fifteen years the blue Megabus brand started inter-city coach operations and has grown from a small collection of inter-urban point to point services operated by elderly tri-axle buses to a smart competitor to National Express.  For a short time Megabus was operating regularly to Spain, France, Germany and the Benelux although such operations have such ceased, with the best bits now operated by Flixbus.  Megabus USA operates a dense network across the north-east of the United States too.

So, enter Megasightseeing....Stagecoach are dipping their toe in the water of the London tourist market by offering a tour lasting 1 hour 50 minutes adopting the Megabus branding and booking engine.  And just as Megabus was started with older (no, old....) buses, Megasightseeing is a use of some double deckers that have otherwise reached the end of their career in London.  Megasightseeing started operations on Monday 23rd April 2018, and with fares from £1 (+50p booking fee, of course) it seemed rude not to give it a go.

Megasightseeing operates a 1hr50 minute tour, on the hour every hour, starting from three locations around London.  One such location is next to the London Eye taking advantage of space no longer needed by Duck Tours.  On the first day of operations there were staff at stop (in the yellow tee shirts), handing out leaflets. 

Megasightseeing is operated by Dennis Trident/Alexander ALX400 buses previously used in local buses in east London.  They have been converted to be full or partial open toppers.  The chap on the side is Sid.

Interior lower deck has been fully reupholstered.  Looks as good as new!

Upper deck finished in corporate trim.  Travel is by pre-booking only (although you can buy the ticket on-line just before boarding) which guarantees every customer an upper deck seat.

The driver's cab has lost it's TfL equipment such as assault screen, ticket machine and iBus, and gained a PA system to control the tour commentary as well as provide traffic information.

The Megasightseeing drivers are 'ambassadors' and apparently have applied to transfer from regular buses to the sightseeing route. On day one our driver, who may or may not actually be named Lancelot per his name badge, was welcoming passengers at the door. To be fair, he did seem to know we were coming and I can't imagine he'll be shaking hands with every customer!  Another benefit of the first day was cupcakes.  The leaflets also include a map but I can't show any of that as I gave my copy away in the pub later!  We were promised that goody bags, available earlier, would somehow be delivered...we'll see...

Speakers have been added below the seats.  A pre-recorded tour commentary is played, which seemed to be based quite precisely on the location of the bus and it's speed/delay in traffic.  The other hop on hop off operators use an individual ear phone system to provide commentary in multiple languages.

Being a tourist! Picture up the Thames.

The tour commentary specifically highlights this dreadful tourist trap of a pub. But it's been a pub for 500 years or somesuch!

Approaching St Pauls. Not being one for religion I wonder if the view is improved with half of a twelve year old Trident in the foreground?

Heading up Threadneedle Street this new building is quite imposing.

A helmet. According to the commentary. Not the only time I thought that a slightly more adult version of the narrative might exist somewhere.....

Tower Bridge, probably not improved with half a Trident in the foreground.  We were delayed by the bridge being opened, should we pay more for that?

Big Ben.

Another Trident-meets-tourist-attraction moment approaching Trafalgar Square.

Piccadilly Circus, always impressive.

Hard Rock Cafe. Apparently one of the first in the world, and where a queue can often be seen, but the commentary asks if we can see one today? No. As the Megasightseeing product matures maybe product placement will become more common.

So after two hours on the bus, slightly longer than planned due to Tower Bridge we returned to the Eye.  So, what of Megasightseeing?  Well they are entering a crowded market, but offering a very different product.  I do wonder how many customers of the hop on hop off tours actually do the hopping, and how many take a single trip around London.  If the latter, then the Megasightseeing product is going to be a very attractive option.  I thought it would actually be a really good introduction to London for a visitor, or for someone with only a very limited amount of time.  Just add on a walk down Oxford Street and buying the cheapest thing possible in Harrods just for the carrier bag and that's London done!!  The question I suppose is, can the city stand five open top operators?

One last view of that cupcake.  Well, the first one......

Melbourne Airport Rail Link

The best news in public transport this week was the Australian Government upping the ante that might finally see a new rail link to Melbourne Airport in Victoria State, Australia.

The rail link is proposed to be a completely new link from central Melbourne and serving as a commuter/local railway as well.  Therefore the Government's offer is AUD$5Bn and inviting the City or State to match fund.  There have been some feasibility studies with four possible alignments, so the expected cost is rather indicative.  As the proposals appear to be a whole new line from the city, rather than a branch from an existing line, it will take some years to deliver.

Melbourne's Tullamarine airport handles some 35 million passengers per annum, and with the exception of the USA, is probably the busiest airport in the west, if not the world, without a rail link.  To put this in perspective relative to the UK, Manchester Airport handles 27 million passengers per annum, about 8 million fewer than Melbourne, but has very frequent rail links to Manchester city centre and variety of services across the north.  In addition Manchester also has a tram link serving localities between the airport and the city centre.

I am hopeful for Melbourne, as the city and transport agency, Public Transport Victoria, are quite progressive and willing to invest in public transport.  There is currently a major project to relieve congestion on the 'Metro' loop track around the city by building a new tunnel under it.  Melbourne is also home to the world's largest tram network, and it introduced 'Night Network' a few months before me London.

I have not seen any detail behind the proposed rail link but it has a lot of potential to not only reduce journey times between city and the airport, but also to remove a lot of car trips.


Before a rail link comes to the airport, there is a non-stop bus service between the airport and city.

And it was whilst travelling on the bus I saw works in the median of the motorway. Building a rail link I hoped. No, motorway widening.  It was also whilst travelling on this bus that a child behind me was heard to observe to her father that there are a lot of taxis on this road!  A transport planner in the making, as she's observing modal preference/prejudice.

 

The bus link is primarily operated by these triaxle 'Bustech CDI' double deck buses.  They are somewhat unusual in having a double axle at the front.  I suspect these are a result of a 'buy Australian' policy else off the shelf Enviro 500s would be just fine!

Most notably drivers stand guard whilst passengers board.

However Skybus have a policy of lining a bus load up at the stop rather than trickle loading a waiting vehicle.  At AUD$19.50 one way customers may expect a waiting vehicle.

The vehicles are designed for maximum capacity, and are this equipped with a lot of conventional bus seats.  Again at a premium fare something a little better could be expected, Stagecoach Gold or Arriva Sapphire type spec maybe?

Bustech have adapted slanty bits a la ADL, but ADL sensibly did it at the top of the stair case whilst Bustech have pointlessly removed both elbow room and the view from two rows of seats.  Why oh why?

Whilst there's lots of seats upstairs, the downstairs sensibly has a substantial luggage rack.

Bustech CDIs come with a lot of rear lights! And free wifi.

The relatively expensive Skybus service does include a free connection from the central coach and rail station at Southern Cross to city centre hotels.  A collection of Optare Solo SRs provide most of these connections.  Despite requesting a connecting bus about five hour after arriving from the airport, Skybus were happy to oblige!