Just had a journey today from Leicester and had a good chat with the driver on the way.
At Leicester, I noticed the bus getting a fair bit of attention and a few member of the public passed on suggestions and asking how to book.
What I do find very interesting though is the stand at Leicester St Margarets. Aircoach uses stand SZ which is a large coach stand and is shared with NatEx but yet Flixbus, Thandi, New Bharat are all sent down the opposite end of the bus station into normal bus stands. How has this minibus got access to a coach stand yet normal coaches are being refused access?
Speaking to the driver, they say that it is getting some use in the day, nights are very slow though. Apparently First are reluctant to make any changes despite the large amount of suggestions for the train station. They are hoping to expand it into bigger buses if it becomes viable.
Positives of the journeys are that it was quick and arrived early into the Airport. There was a timetable on the stand and departures listed on the bus station screens at Leicester St Margarets. The bus was clean and to quite a good specification so it was rather comfy. Driver was very friendly too and did sound enthusiastic about the new venture.
Negatives are the same as have already been pointed out by Roger French in his blog, there aren't many windows that you can see out of. Most windows have stickers on them and behind the driver is a big black screen and you definitely can't see through that so you can only see out of any window if you are in the single seats on the nearside and you want to look out of the windscreen (though it's hard to see too much depending on where you sit).
I think there's potential for the route to do well but I think it needs more purpose than just Airport. Such as serving the NEC and promoting it as transport to the exhibition centre and Resorts World. If it goes up to coaches, working with Flix and NatEx could offer through ticket opportunities. Serving Leicester Train Station perhaps and then working with the railways to offer through links to the Airport which would make the route accessible to the East Midlands rather than just Leicester. Maybe do like Oxford do with their Heathrow connector tickets so if you buy a single, you also get travel on local First buses.
Lots that they could do in the future. I just hope it picks up sooner rather than later and I hope that First management open themselves up to adapting the service to make it more viable.
aircoach.travel
