Cardiff Airport Express bus providing fast, frequent service
10 Jun 2014 02:30 PM
The
new Cardiff Airport Express bus is providing the fast and frequent service to
the city that passengers expect and has made a good start in securing its share
of passengers, according to an independent report.
The
report, by Professor Cole of the University of South Wales, was commissioned by
the Welsh Government to review the effectiveness of the new services. It
found that despite a number of challenges the service has achieved all that was
expected of it in delivering a fast and frequent service between the city
centre and airport, which is expected of most airports.
It
also found passenger numbers appear to have exceeded the initial estimates and
the service is already attracting more passengers than the more established
train link.
Transport Minister, Edwina Hart welcomed the report and
also accepted a number of the recommendations for enhancing the
service.
The
Minister said:
“This service was introduced in response to public
demand and passengers expect a fast, frequent public transport link between the
city centre and an airport. I am pleased that this report recognises the need
for this service. As with any new venture like this, monitoring and evaluation
is key and this report is part of that process. Professor Cole has made a
number of recommendations for improving the service in both the short and long
term and I am minded to accept most of them. I have already asked the Vale of
Glamorgan Council to begin the process of tendering for a revised service, to
deliver some of those changes. I want to see Cardiff Airport thrive and having
quality public transport links is vital to that aim.”
The
Minister has accepted some of the report’s recommendations
including:
- A
timetable that better reflects the airport flight schedule. The report found
varying levels of demand and therefore the timetable will be changed to operate
every 20 minutes during daytimes in the summer and every 30 minutes at other
times.
- Research to identify key passenger markets for future
growth.
- Work to evaluate the benefits of extra stops and revised
routes.
Related Links