In spite of predictions of a £1.50 per litre diesel price in the not too distant future—and the economic slowdown £6.82/gal will inevitably bring—there are still some sectors of the industry where operators remain relatively ebullient. One is in medium-distance commuting, as in the inter-urban express.
Using the rail model, such services offer decent end-to-end journey times, exploiting new markets where passengers have traditionally shunned the slower bus, in favour of car or train.
The latest is Newport Transport’s half-hourly commuter service between Newport and Cardiff city centres, launched last week. Using new Scania OmniCities, the X30 knocks 20 minutes off the stopping service, bringing the time down to 35 minutes, via the M4. It’s still no competitor for the train (12-15 minutes and 13 departures between 0700-0900), until you compare the fares: £2.50 day return on the bus, £3.40 open day return on the train (but £2.90 after 0845 hrs).
Take a glance at Newport Transport’s website and you get the feeling it has some marketing work to do. Marketing isn’t everything but these days it is more than just *something*. Things are changing, though. The X30 sees three dedicated and branded new OmniCities—the first branded vehicles in the Newport fleet.
In spite of the Cardiff economic boom, services such as this take time to develop. Launching just before Christmas will no doubt help but there will be a lean period afterwards. Newport Transport will need to ride this out. It’s still uncertain whether this service will take off.
And how will regional rail operator Arriva Trains Wales react? Its £2.90 off peak return was itself a recent marketing initiative.
The stopping service 30 between Cardiff and Newport remains at every 20 minutes, operated jointly by Newport Transport and Cardiff Bus. This joint municipal anomaly dates back to the dawn of the motor bus. The X30 is not a joint operation.
Tuesday, 27 November 2007
Ebullient?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Personally can’t see this service being that attractive. May be the X30's unique selling point is that over 60's can use it for nothing. They still have to pay on the train, even if they have an over 60's railcard. (the fare with a senior railcard is £1.85 cheap day).
Oh look....there's a new Rail Link between Waterlooville, Cowplain and Petersfield...(and oh the Romsey Rail Link just came off and the SWT franchise was not long ago renewed - oh dear what a sad coincidence)...oops...(heh heh heh)
I couldn't initially see the relevance of Mutley's comment (above), but actually it is pertinent to the subject. SWT say that the Romsey rail-link carries 60 train passengers a day, but it is significantly busier than that largely because it also fills the role of a fast, reliable, friendly (small driver rota) service for commuters from Romsey into Winchester, Sadly, with the demise of the service I fear that much of the trade will be lost - the commuters loathe the students on the parallel X66 journeys so may well revert to cars.
Regarding the Waterlooville to Petersfield link, I can't see it doing much - the cynic in me says that (like the 'dead duck' Petersfield Taxibus) it is mainly aimed at getting cars out of Petersfield station car park, which is at capacity every day.
Post a Comment