Smethwickian
Member
From what I could see when I went to Luton on Saturday, the 757 is still well used, despite the requirement to change buses at Luton station and the existence of the National Express A1 service. This may be mainly because of Terravision branded tickets bought on the plane or at foreign airports which can only be used on Green Line. Most of the people I saw using the airport to Luton station section of Arriva service 'A' were using it as a connection to Green Line.
I had an outing on the new busway last Friday, starting at the airport where signposting of the new arrangement at the relevant stop was very poor, I thought, although a member of Arriva staff loitering near the stops appeared to be there to answer perplexed tourists' questions. But that didn't help one young Asian lady who, much later on the journey on route A, by now approaching Dunstable, went to speak to the driver to ask where she should change for London....
And yes, it appeared many people making the connecting journey were clutching pre-paid vouchers booked with airline tickets. I wonder how long this arrangement would last if National Express were to persuade airlines to switch?
Several other buses between the airport and town centre, such as the 61, now appear to have been curtailed in town, leaving the A as the only local bus route connecting the airport and town centre, as far as I could see.
Sorry to go off topic but while here, my one other observation of the busway was that routes surely could have been better planned as time saved on the busway itself on route A is wasted by passengers from Houghton Regis and further on going on a big one-way loop around Dunstable centre - in fact, from Luton, serving the retail park stop twice!