Just because percentages show that people are travelling by public transport, it does not mean for 1 second that Bristol Airport is pro public transport. Their actions show that they are trying to discourage public transport, it just means that the public are not following that. If they were 'pro public transport', as you are claiming (with no substance I should add), they would be pricing the fares significantly lower than they currently are. Or, if that many people are using the buses (which you do claim), why are the buses contracted from the Airport, they would be commercial services if they were that busy.
Also, just because a percentage of people may travel by public transport, it doesn't mean that there isn't potential for much higher use if fares were priced at a reasonable level. It's worth noting too that the figures from the CAA (
https://www.caa.co.uk/data-and-anal...ch/departing-passenger-survey/survey-reports/ 2019 stats) do include coaches and there is no info on what minibuses would class as. Therefore people hiring a coach and maybe minibuses would be included in that. The fares for longer distance aren't that bad too so National Express and Falcon making up those numbers isn't too bad. Unfortunately, the data isn't down to the granular level that would be required here for a proper evaluation. The astronomical fares mainly affect residents of the West of England Combined Authority. People from further away get better fares. To prove the point, it's cheaper to get Falcon from Exeter to Bristol Airport (fare from Megabus quoted £15.40) than it is the local bus from Bath to the Airport (£16). It's also cheaper to get National Express from Cardiff (quoted £6) than it is to get from Bristol City Centre to the Airport. Be interesting to see how you defend that.
Good lord.
Let's go back and see what was said.
Your original line was that you couldn't see why people would use public transport to Bristol Airport. As a relatively local resident, I explained it was because of high car parking fees. I also explained that the Bristol Airport business model is to suppress landing fees in order to attract airlines. They do this by getting airport users to pay through the nose for parking and for premium transport. Were they not to do so, then they would have to increase landing fees and other charges and they believe that would be self- defeating. Given how their passenger figures quadrupled between 1999 and 2019, far in excess of somewhere comparable like Cardiff, will suggest to them that this has been a successful strategy.
Now you seem to be conflating or confusing what I am saying so let me be absolutely clear. At no point have I said that they are pro-public transport. If you can find where I said that, please provide the quote! Do not misrepresent my words.
What I have said is that they haven't got an anti-public transport agenda as you suggest. If anything, they are massively ambivalent about how people get there - they just want their money in order to successfully grow the business. Your emotive line...
It's pretty much just Bristol and Edinburgh who try to kill local bus patronage.
...fails to acknowledge that there was never a local bus market to kill, aside from an infrequent service linking various villages in the area with Weston and Bristol. Bus services to the Airport only really came with the Flyer route.
Bristol Airport has stupidly high bus station fees to discourage public transport usage and have bus tickets which are purposefully restrictive rather than integrating with the rest of the bus network.
If Bristol Airport's objective has been to discourage public transport usage, as you state, the figures from the CAA would appear to show that they have failed. The amount of private car usage is comparable to similar airports i.e. those without a rail/metro link. You suggest that the CAA figures are somehow skewed, attempting to separate long distance coach from local bus (rather than public transport per se) or suggesting that private coaches are somehow confusing the issue. However, the sampling methodology is consistent from airport to airport so the share of the public transport by bus/coach is directly comparable between locations.
Clearly, people DO use public transport and whether it's coach or bus, that is still public transport.
To prove the point, it's cheaper to get Falcon from Exeter to Bristol Airport (fare from Megabus quoted £15.40) than it is the local bus from Bath to the Airport (£16). It's also cheaper to get National Express from Cardiff (quoted £6) than it is to get from Bristol City Centre to the Airport. Be interesting to see how you defend that.
I'm not here to defend anyone. NX can well charge £6, and of course, it is always £6, irrespective of the time of day etc...except it isn't. Also, you only have 5 journeys a day so the whole comparison doesn't really work.
However, as you mention the A4, let me deal with that below...
Or, if that many people are using the buses (which you do claim), why are the buses contracted from the Airport, they would be commercial services if they were that busy.
I'm not claiming this; this is not some arbitrary opinion from me, nor is it from Bristol Airport. It's the CAA's own figures.
Clearly, the A1 would be commercial and it is a busy route - hence why they had to replace single deckers with doubles in the last fleet replacement in 2016/7. First are essentially operating it as a contract with the Airport setting the fares.
Coming back to the A4 AirDecker, it is a commercial venture by RATP. It has always had those premium fares. It isn't controlled by the Airport. They can charge whatever fare they like but costs for accessing the airport are part of the overall cost base. Not only has it survived. It doubled its frequency and they invested in new vehicles and fleet replacement. It's been a commercial success, operating through the night (as do the Airport Flyer routes).
The astronomical fares mainly affect residents of the West of England Combined Authority. People from further away get better fares.
I know - I live in the WECA area. Where do you live?
So Bristol airport does to some extent discourage using public transport as it schedules so many early departure, or late arrivals when public transport doesn’t run. Suits the airlines as can do 2 or even 3 round trips per day. But being round trips means either the outward or return leg for getting to/from airport runs outside public transport hours.
To be fair, the A1, A3, A4 and Falcon do pretty well for early mornings and late departures.