Extra Airport Trains Result in Competing Bus Ban.

F Great Eastern · 14 Jun 2019

This week Greater Anglia have announced that they are going to be providing extra service to Southend Airport, at first glance this seems great news for those departing on early services and late arrivals and would be a welcome achievement.

However it has now been revealed that following the agreement between the airport and Greater Anglia, the commercial bus service provided by Ensignbus, which services a number of locations that the train does not, will no longer be allowed to serve the airport.

Some digging around the web has suggested that this is because of the fact that Greater Anglia are paying a large slice of revenue to Southend Airport, who want to force people to use the train to line their own pockets, whilst claiming they are doing it to improve services.

This leads me to think, is there any other location where buses have been prevented from serving an area once served due to commercial deals with another transport mode that are purely for profit rather than in the customer interest?

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Samuel88 · 14 Jun 2019

There was a similar situation with Luton Airport if I recall correctly. National Express were granted exclusive rights to serve the airport from London, until Arriva took Luton Airport to court and won.

F Great Eastern · 14 Jun 2019

Samuel88 said:
There was a similar situation with Luton Airport if I recall correctly. National Express were granted exclusive rights to serve the airport from London, until Arriva took Luton Airport to court and won.

I know about a fair few cases where bus providers were given access but others not, happens in quite a few airports in the UK, in Belfast and in Europe as well.

However this is the first time I've heard of a bus service being banned because it competes with a train that a party has a vested interest in ensuring it doesn't have competition.

According to reports in the local press, Southend Airport security physically forced Ensignbus to move their vehicles as they were about to board passengers on Tuesday night.

It's also believed that a taxi company also now has an agreement with the airport as well in relation to a revenue share so both parties will be likely quids in from those passengers who now have no choice but to use a taxi as the train doesn't serve their location.

It's obvious this is all about ancillary revenue for Southend Airport.

Darandio · 14 Jun 2019

Why did Ensignbus never have an agreement with the airport in the first place?

It just seems strange that they had no agreement, yet provided the service.

F Great Eastern · 14 Jun 2019

Darandio said:
Why did Ensignbus never have an agreement with the airport in the first place?

According to what is being reported in the press, they offered to pay fees or to sign up to an agreement in the past but nothing came of it, sounding like the airport had no problem with the service at all and didn't see the need for an agreement.

For the Airport they get no money from bus operators but plenty from trains apparently, so they're probably thinking of the $$$$ they could make. That's commercially very smart but not very consumer friendly.

essexjohn · 14 Jun 2019

Southend Airport is owned by Stobarts who promoted and now manage Southend Airport station.

Mwanesh · 14 Jun 2019

This will end up in court . Banning a bus service that brings in employees is a no brainer . Being the Stobart Group nothing shocks me. Last year they tried to sue the new owner of Eddie Stobart Trucking for naming and image rights .They are just greedy .

Darandio · 14 Jun 2019

Mwanesh said:
This will end up in court .

On what basis? They have no right to be there.

Bletchleyite · 14 Jun 2019

Darandio said:
On what basis? They have no right to be there.

Anti-competitive behaviour.

Fryschocream · 14 Jun 2019

Private land. Can do what they like I'm afraid. Sad but normal airporr practice to want a slice of the revenue.

Robertj21a · 14 Jun 2019

Doesn't First Bus operate into the airport ? - why aren't they banned ?

F Great Eastern · 14 Jun 2019

Robertj21a said:
Doesn't First Bus operate into the airport ? - why aren't they banned ?

Because their service is not seen as much of a threat of taking passengers away from the train apparently.

F Great Eastern · 14 Jun 2019

Fryschocream said:
Private land. Can do what they like I'm afraid. Sad but normal airporr practice to want a slice of the revenue.

More than a slice apparently, the majority.

The Arrangement with GA is somewhat of a cash cow for Southend Airport, some online sources are claiming that they get more than half of the ticket revenue from GA, so for every person who uses Ensighbus over the train, that's a decent sum to lose for each passenger and the presence of a bus service may have kicked GA into action.

I'm not saying that is what has happened, but it's possible since with the amount of money that Southend Airport are making from the rail service, they don't want any big competition to that and if there is a bus route that does prove demand then this can be used as leverage with GA to run extra rail services.

radamfi · 14 Jun 2019

F Great Eastern said:
It's quite possible that Ensignbus were convenient leverage to use to turn around to GA and say: "Hey, look, there is demand." in the hope GA would run services that they could take a chunk of and then kick the bus out of the airport as it's served it's purpose of getting extra services from GA to increase their income.

Did the airport invite Ensign to run a once a day overnight service or did they do it independently? If the latter, I can't see the leverage argument. More than likely the airport have wanted overnight trains for some time.

F Great Eastern · 14 Jun 2019

radamfi said:
Did the airport invite Ensign to run a once a day overnight service or did they do it independently? If the latter, I can't see the leverage argument.

If anyone invited anyone to run a service for them with the aim of leverage, it would make it harder to get rid of if it had ties to the place. Commercial leverage is often using A to provoke B to happen, rather than really caring about A. I'm not saying it happened here but just using an example of what has happened in public transport and other competitive industries in the past.

With figures being banded about on Roger French's blog this evening suggesting that Southend Airport are getting an eye watering 90% of revenue from rail passengers traveling to Southend Airport, it makes it obvious that bus passengers are not financially rewarding for the airport but train passengers very much are, so a competing bus service will just dilute the airports possible revenue from rail fares.

The fact that they started work on kicking the bus as soon as the train changes wer revealed is very coincidental. Maybe I'm adding 2+2 and coming up with 5 though.

Mwanesh · 14 Jun 2019

The Stobart group have form for this behaviour. I will rest my case here . I cant see that bus service competing with the train they go different ways .The bus serves points with no train connection its like they dont want people to come to the airport .

F Great Eastern · 14 Jun 2019

Mwanesh said:
The Stobart group have form for this behaviour. I will rest my case here . I cant see that bus service competing with the train they go different ways .The bus serves points with no train connection its like they dont want people to come to the airport .

I think it's more about the London bound traffic rather than the local traffic, truth be told

The promotion that has been done of train services to Southend Airport has for sure been target at those living in the capital and we've seen Stobbart trucks carrying rear ads for "London's Best Airport"

RT4038 · 14 Jun 2019

Most Airports engage in this sort of behaviour, one way or another. Ancillary fees (Car parking, retail rentals and % of sales, % of public transport fares) subsidise aircraft landing fees, to the extent that at some airports these are virtually nothing. It's all about low headline airline fares to attract passengers, and then clawing back revenue in some other way. There is no way that the low cost airlines can offer the fares they do based on 1980s Airport financial practices!

Man of Kent · 14 Jun 2019

The airport may well be in breach of The Local Bus Services Market Investigation (Access to Bus Stations) Order 2012, although there are minimum thresholds which may cause it to be exempt.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/55194a06ed915d142700026b/bus_station_access_order.pdf

InspectorBloke · 15 Jun 2019

First Essex operate the X30 once an hour for most of the day to and from Southend Airport to Southend, Chelmsford and Stansted. At Southend Airport, there is a branded bus shelter with fare and route information for the X30, so it would seem there is some sort of commercial agreement between the airport and First. I'm not sure if any money changes hands or if it is a reciprocal arrangement.

It would seem that Ensign set up a route into Southend Airport without consulting with the airport beforehand. I assume that as private landowners, the airport are within their rights to refuse access if they choose to.

158756 · 15 Jun 2019

Mwanesh said:
The Stobart group have form for this behaviour. I will rest my case here . I cant see that bus service competing with the train they go different ways .The bus serves points with no train connection its like they dont want people to come to the airport .

They want people to come to the airport certainly. They would probably welcome the bus if it paid a fee. Ensign are clearly trying to compete with the train rather than serving any distinct market, and have no right to access the private property of the airport - if the bus is in fact costing the airport money from lost rail passengers it's easy to see why they don't want it.

700007 · 15 Jun 2019

But the EnsignBus service here doesn't take away revenue from Greater Anglia, because as they have correctly stated:

The first train into Southend Airport does not allow you to catch the first few flights of the day. The whole aim of the bus service was merely to serve an unserved market that public transport wasn't catering to. It wouldn't really compete with trains unless someone was insistent on turning up at the small airport over 4 or 5 hours early, which is next to nothing. This is similar with the late night bus, it leaves after the last train has left, effectively allowing passengers arriving on late night planes who won't make the last train at 2359 still be able to get back to London.

I think it's a poor move for a major transport firm like Stobart to make when the X1 bus service was not in direct competition. We should be moving towards higher public transport usage especially somewhere where pollution is high at an airport. This is a step back.

Busaholic · 15 Jun 2019

700007 said:
But the EnsignBus service here doesn't take away revenue from Greater Anglia, because as they have correctly stated:

The first train into Southend Airport does not allow you to catch the first few flights of the day. The whole aim of the bus service was merely to serve an unserved market that public transport wasn't catering to. It wouldn't really compete with trains unless someone was insistent on turning up at the small airport over 4 or 5 hours early, which is next to nothing. This is similar with the late night bus, it leaves after the last train has left, effectively allowing passengers arriving on late night planes who won't make the last train at 2359 still be able to get back to London.

I think it's a poor move for a major transport firm like Stobart to make when the X1 bus service was not in direct competition. We should be moving towards higher public transport usage especially somewhere where pollution is high at an airport. This is a step back.

It stinks, but unfortunately Southend Airport have probably 'done nothing wrong' in modern parlance i.e. nothing that they can be done for, legally. More's the pity.

robertclark125 · 15 Jun 2019

Man of Kent said:
The airport may well be in breach of The Local Bus Services Market Investigation (Access to Bus Stations) Order 2012, although there are minimum thresholds which may cause it to be exempt.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/55194a06ed915d142700026b/bus_station_access_order.pdf

My understanding of that ruling, in 2012, was only at bus stations either owned, or managed by an operator. As an example, Stagecoach East Scotland owns St. Andrews bus station, but it should be pointed out, when Fife council was refurbishing all the bus stations in 2007-11, a condition at St Andrews was, Stagecoach had to allow other operators in after the refurbishment. So, that agreement pre-dated the 2012 rulings.

Stobarts do not run any bus services into Southend Airport, so I'm afraid as they're not a bus operator, they can do what they like.

Another example was a couple of years ago in Cumbria, where in one town, a supermarket owned the bus station and one operator, Reays, tried to use it and were told no. Stagecoach were allowed to, and I believe Grand Prix coaches could, and as the supermarket doesn't run buses, they can do this. The 2012 investigation only applied to bus operators owning bus stations, or managing them.

Samuel88 · 15 Jun 2019

Three frequent Arriva Southend routes pass by the airport as well (7,8,9) but don't serve it, I'm guessing it's the same issue with Ensignbus, the bus operators just aren't willing to pay access fees.

Bletchleyite · 15 Jun 2019

Busaholic said:
It stinks, but unfortunately Southend Airport have probably 'done nothing wrong' in modern parlance i.e. nothing that they can be done for, legally. More's the pity.

Arriva won the very similar case against Luton Airport for a very similar action on the airport's part.

This of course is all caused by budget flights, though. Airports are scrabbling for any bit of revenue because we all want to have our week in Malaga for £1.50 each way. It's also the cause of things like picking up and dropping off charges and mark-up to goods sold in airports.

Samuel88 · 15 Jun 2019

Bletchleyite said:
Arriva won the very similar case against Luton Airport for a very similar action on the airport's part.

This of course is all caused by budget flights, though. Airports are scrabbling for any bit of revenue because we all want to have our week in Malaga for £1.50 each way. It's also the cause of things like picking up and dropping off charges and mark-up to goods sold in airports.

But wasn't it the case that Arriva Green Line were serving Luton for many years before the airport gave exclusive rights to National Express and it was more to do with the transparency behind the bidding process than anything else?

Hophead · 15 Jun 2019

Samuel88 said:
Three frequent Arriva Southend routes pass by the airport as well (7,8,9) but don't serve it, I'm guessing it's the same issue with Ensignbus, the bus operators just aren't willing to pay access fees.

Ensignbus have stated that they are perfectly willing to pay an access charge (though presumably only within reasonable limits), but the Airport will not discuss the matter.

radamfi · 15 Jun 2019

700007 said:
We should be moving towards higher public transport usage especially somewhere where pollution is high at an airport. This is a step back.

But there are now trains connecting with early and late flights, which will get more usage than a one bus a day service.

Didn't Stobart even pay to build the rail station themselves? If so, that seems a pretty big commitment to public transport.

Samuel88 · 15 Jun 2019

I'm interested in hearing how the much larger airports handle this. I'm guessing TfL don't pay Heathrow an access fee for their buses to use the airport. In fact, I think I'm right in saying that Heathrow pay TfL to run an improved Piccadilly line service into London.

Extra Airport Trains Result in Competing Bus Ban.

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