Even though Iām not super keen on the idea of government subsidising private business, I do suspect because of the exclusivity contract something will need to be done for the Olympics. If the goverment is willing to fund the costs of filling the gaps in the timetable so there are 15 minute services all day, every day, this would go a long way.
Itās pretty well established that the Airport Line can reliably operate 15 minute frequencies all day with the infrastructure as it is. That means 10 777s worth of passengers per hour could be transported from the airport if the services were run. The infrastructure is fine - itās the operations that are lacking.
If Airtrain is unable to cope with Olympic crowds, but is otherwise sufficient for Brisbaneās purposes in the medium term, I would rather see it supplemented with coaches for the duration of the event, rather than overspending to expand its frequencies/capacities far beyond what Brisbane needs.
I think what will happen is that a private coach operator will be engaged to run supplementary services from all over brisbane to the airport which will charge full unsubsidised fares.
I believe this private bus arrangement is allowable as itās not strictly PT.
As per Airtrain capacity 4 trains/hr x 1000 pax = 4000 pphd which is pretty low. Itās about 2 traffic lane equivalents.
Outside of the Olympics, 4 tph is more than sufficient for the medium, if not long term. We just need 4 tph from 6am-10pm, with 2 tph outside of these hours.
I heard that the Heathrow Express from London Paddington to LHR is also a bit of a rip off as well. But I heard that British heavy rail is a huge rip off anyway; our very expensive Airtrain fares are around the standard fare British rail commuters are forced to endure.
Airport trains donāt need super large capacity. People with lots of luggage and multiple people are naturally going to be taking cab/uber. Even at the big world airports like hong kong, singapore, seoul donāt run super frequent or high capacity airport trains.
Yeah, even in places with excellent public transport many people would rather just deal with convience of a cab/taxi with door to door service than haul luggage few hundred meters, possibly in an unknown area. Other point is public transit just simply becomes linearly more expensive with more people, yet hire services do the opposite.
Nothing stopping Airtrain corp from chartering coaches to meet temporary demand (other than that every coach on the eastern seaboard will already be pressed into service across SEQ).
Train travel in the UK is extortionate, whether that be on the London underground, long distance or even a train from Heathrow or Gatwick (the airport trains have a surcharge like here in Australia).
When I was in London a few months ago, I think the Elizabeth line from Heathrow to central London cost 14-15 pound which is $30.
The private sector built Airtrain and thatās the ONLY reason Brisbane has an actual train service to its Airport - you and I both think itās a poor service, but itās there. Given the SHOCKING lack of sustained rail progress in SEQ for some decades now, from ZERO activity to MASSIVELY over-priced projects - thereās not a snowballs chance in Hell any QldGov would have built a train line to the Airport - they havenāt in Melbourne and weāve been a poor shadow of Perths RAIL focused growth projects DELIVERED!
The real tragedy, was that at the outbreak of Covid in 2020, when air-travel fell off a cliff overnight and values of air related assets tumbled, the then Qld Minister for Transport wasnāt on the ph to the Airtrain owners, with a cheeky offer, at a suddenly bargain priceā¦..but you go into politics for a reason and it typically aināt ācause your a commercial go-getter! (Just checked, it was Mark Bailey, so nothing more needs explanation!!! )
It isnāt necessary to buy Airtrain as the Queensland Government is going to get the asset for free anyway.
Airtrain tickets have also been subsidised in the recent past. So in this case TMR would just pay Airtrain a subsidy to run more service and lower the fare.
The price of an Airtain ticket is absurd. I live near a station so I take it when I fly solo. But if my wife is with me then itās immediately cheaper to take a taxi or Uberā¦ If youāre have kids with you then forget about it.
That is a sneaky thing to not mention anywhere.
That was one of the reasons when my family went away over Easter picked the parking over the train, because nobody knew under 14s travel free
)