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Arriva Green Line 757 to stop serving Luton Airport

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Edvid

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easyBus said:
**** IMPORTANT NOTICE***** From 1st May 2013 easyBus will be launching a new service from Luton Airport to Central London. Further details to be released soon!
http://www.easybus.co.uk/london-luton
It doesn't sound like they're being kicked out of the airport (in spite of the current 30 April fare cut-off). Seems like the situation behind the scenes is still rather fluid.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
The link provided in my previous post has been updated - from 1 May, the non-stop easyBus service from Luton Airport will be diverted from Earl's Court to Baker Street/Gloucester Place. If I'm not mistaken, they're reverting to what they did before the (soon to end) partnership with Arriva.

The booking site suggests the adjusted service will be classified EB7.
 
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dzug2

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Meanwhile Terravision still claim to be in partnership with Green Line and are selling tickets for May journeys to the old Green Line timetable
 

Deerfold

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http://www.easybus.co.uk/london-luton
It doesn't sound like they're being kicked out of the airport (in spite of the current 30 April fare cut-off). Seems like the situation behind the scenes is still rather fluid.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
The link provided in my previous post has been updated - from 1 May, the non-stop easyBus service from Luton Airport will be diverted from Earl's Court to Baker Street/Gloucester Place. If I'm not mistaken, they're reverting to what they did before the (soon to end) partnership with Arriva.

The booking site suggests the adjusted service will be classified EB7.

Indeed it's all rather odd (and easybus's booking form is very confusing - you have to pick the right "London - Luton" option to be able to book).

Looks like at most times of the day easybus are going to be the most frequent service running (although there's the odd 35 minute gap and a 3.5 hour gap overnight).
 

radamfi

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I saw a poster on an Arriva 757 coach on Buckingham Palace Road this morning advising that NX are taking over and they are 'very disappointed'. It mentions that there will be a replacement Luton town centre service but still no details. A bit odd given that 1 May is so near now.

Whilst there are some £2 fares in the late evening, the easyBus fares from Gloucester Place in May and June are mostly around £10-£12 whereas the fares from Victoria for the rest of April are more like £8.
 
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Deerfold

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Its highly unlikely that Easybus will be kicked out the airport, as a large proportion of Luton Airports business is via Easy Jet.

They're seperate businesses which jsut happen to have been started by the same person. EasyJet is not part of EasyGroup but does pay them to use the name/brand. Given the relative size of the businesses I doubt Easyjet would make any decisions based on the treatment of Easybus in any case.

Still no news of timetable changes on either Greenline or Arriva websites

That is odd, given there will be a lot of non-regular users (as well as regular users who want to know their options of getting to work).
 

winston270twm

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That is odd, given there will be a lot of non-regular users (as well as regular users who want to know their options of getting to work).

There are suggestions on another Forum that Arriva are taking Luton Airport to court over the decision to award NX the concession. This could be the reason that Arriva are yet to announce any changes to its Greenline 757 service.

It is also suggested that NX are short of drivers for its new A1 service as the Arriva Greenline drivers are staying put at present
 

radamfi

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What's going on?

http://www.greenline.co.uk/757change/

From the 1st May there may be a change to the way our Green Line service collects you from and takes you to London Luton Airport. Any change will come into effect from 1st May 2013 at Midnight, 00.00 am.

At this time we are still unable to confirm what may happen but we will ensure you reach the airport or connect you with our coach service to London. A link via another vehicle may be necessary to connect with our coach.

To keep updated please keep in contact with us by one of the following channels

Twitter @GreenLineUK
Facebook /Green-Line
Phone 0844 801 7261 (UK calls only)
24 hour mobile +44 7795 602378

We apologise for not being able to offer more detailed information at this time but will keep the channels listed above updated on a regular basis, updates will also appear on a daily basis on this web page.


We thank you for your patience.
 

winston270twm

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I suspect Arriva may be threatening/proceeding with legal action against London Luton Airport, which is why it is so up in the air.

At present it suggests Arriva/Greenline service 757 will continue as normal but may have to drop passengers off at the Airport boundary as Greenline coaches can no longer use the bus station, it suggests passengers will be ferried to/from coaches by some other means.... I doesn't look as though Arriva are going to take it lying down......
 

tbone

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I suspect Arriva may be threatening/proceeding with legal action against London Luton Airport, which is why it is so up in the air.

At present it suggests Arriva/Greenline service 757 will continue as normal but may have to drop passengers off at the Airport boundary as Greenline coaches can no longer use the bus station, it suggests passengers will be ferried to/from coaches by some other means.... I doesn't look as though Arriva are going to take it lying down......

And I must admit I don't blame them. They've built up the route for many years, it seems unreasonable in this day and age that they can have it taken off them in such a manor. I'm pretty sure the competition commission criticised the discrimination with regards to companies in bus stations, albeit with more of a focus on those owned by bus companies not allowing others in. But I think the same should apply here, Arriva shouldn't be prevented from running a service in such a way.
 

radamfi

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Arguably, National Express won't be happy if Arriva manage to continue their service, even one requiring a connecting bus. They may have paid a substantial fee to the airport for the privilege of exclusive access. They may not consider it worth operating if they have to compete against Arriva.
 

edwin_m

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Presumably if the airport is found to have acted illegally they will have to refund any fee paid by NX.
 

causton

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Arriva run other scheduled bus routes into the airport... perhaps passengers will have to change at Luton town centre onto one of those, or what they claim is another bus route but is a shadow bus for the other route. Say, they could run the shadow bus with the coaches from the 757 route, and if they use the same coach, they could not even have to transfer the passengers from one coach to another, just change the blind ;)
 

gingerheid

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Apparently they're stopping at one of the long stay car parks outside the airport boundary, which I suspect may have an existing bus to the airport that people might be able to use if the long stay car park happened not to be their intended final destination on that particular day.

If you're a foreigner with bad English and you're told to get one of the car park buses to London it'll be as confusing as a confusing thing, though...
 

starrymarkb

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Apparently they're stopping at one of the long stay car parks outside the airport boundary, which I suspect may have an existing bus to the airport that people might be able to use if the long stay car park happened not to be their intended final destination on that particular day.

If you're a foreigner with bad English and you're told to get one of the car park buses to London it'll be as confusing as a confusing thing, though...

That's what I've heard...
 

howittpie

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I can see in the end it being a nat ex service with the contract
transfered to Arriva.
 

winston270twm

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I can see in the end it being a nat ex service with the contract
transfered to Arriva.

I can't see that happening, as NX have set up a new Luton base.

Ultimately, I think Arriva will be forced to cut their Greenline 757 service as the NX A1 will have the upper hand by being able to drop passengers at the terminal door
 

Class2ldn

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I think the way they have gone about this is appalling. I used to be based at crawley and like was mentioned before it has just been closed down to save money apparently, with the loss of numerous jobs. I think nx are one of the worst companies out there and to shut a garage to apparently save money and then open another has been a real kick in the nads for the guys and girls at crawley. Nx should be ashamed.
 

winston270twm

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I think the way they have gone about this is appalling. I used to be based at crawley and like was mentioned before it has just been closed down to save money apparently, with the loss of numerous jobs. I think nx are one of the worst companies out there and to shut a garage to apparently save money and then open another has been a real kick in the nads for the guys and girls at crawley. Nx should be ashamed.

Wasn't the main reason for closing Crawley due to the amount of investment required to update the garage? Obviously sub-contracting certain routes to third party operators & moving others to existing NX op's garages will also save the company money.

You may well find that Luton garage will comprise of a low cost open air yard and be capable of undertaking light maintenance only, with coaches having to go to Sipson Rd for larger repairs etc.

As its currently stands it looks as though the London - Luton Airport corridor will be severely over bussed with 40+ coaches all vying for passengers, it will end up the same as the Arriva / First battle over the Glasgow Airport 747 shuttle contract
 

radamfi

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I saw the Green Line to Luton this morning and they are advertising new lower fares to the airport 'drop-off zone' from Wednesday. Fares from 1 May are £10 single and £15 return.

According to another forum, NX had hoped to poach most of the Green Line drivers but only 2 have so far moved across.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
The new arrangements for the 757 have now been made public:

http://greenline.co.uk/757change/
 
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Tomonthetrain

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According to another forum, NXWM are supplying staff for the coach division to staff their pdptgadp
 

Tomonthetrain

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To staff their running boards ( I blame rushing off a bus whilst on mobile for the gobbledygook)
 

causton

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From the Beds-Herts-Bucks bus newsgroup:

"At some point in the last 3 hours the above [Airport Carparkz] has gained 2 Plaxton Primos, LF08DZW/X, with "travel on this bus for FREE" lettering.

Which is the missing part of the 757 story....."
 

radamfi

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Just seen the 0830 departures for both A1 and 757 from Victoria/Buckingham Palace Road and the A1 had nobody on and the 757 had 2 on. The blind for the 757 says 'Luton for Airport' and the shelters on Buckingham Palace Road are all covered with adverts for £10 single, £15 return.
 

radamfi

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Sorry if I'm being thick but I thought Arriva were losing the Airport to Natex from yesterday... Then they post this on their Facebook page? Apologies if there's something in pages 2-5 about this, I haven't the time to read through the whole thing. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=369323516511060&set=a.333314776778601.71256.316816921761720&type=1&theater

They are still running the same timetable but stopping at the Long Stay Car Park Z instead of the airport terminal to get around the loss of the airport access to NX. That is why they have reduced the fares.

I went to Buckingham Palace Road this lunchtime and noticed that the adverts on the bus shelters for £10 single/£15 return had been removed.
 
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MK Tom

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So all they've lost is the right to drive into the bit by the door? Didn't NX have that already? I've used NX to go to Luton Airport before...
 

radamfi

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So all they've lost is the right to drive into the bit by the door? Didn't NX have that already? I've used NX to go to Luton Airport before...

NX didn't serve Luton Airport direct from London yesterday, at least not regularly. But you could go to Luton Airport from other parts of the country by NX. Until yesterday, NX used to sell tickets for use on the 757, and the 757 was used as a connecting service to NX services at Victoria Coach Station.
 

Deerfold

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So all they've lost is the right to drive into the bit by the door? Didn't NX have that already? I've used NX to go to Luton Airport before...

They've lost the "right" to serve Luton airport from Central London. There's still a number of Arrica local bus routes which serve the airport (and I'm sure certain staff would be put out if they disappeared).
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
I went to Buckingham Palace Road this lunchtime and noticed that the adverts on the bus shelters for £10 single/£15 return had been removed.

If they were just stuck on the shelter directly they'll have been removed the first time contract cleaners or people putting official adverts in any displays on the stop came by.
 
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