Sydney Airport, and the death of rail & road infrastructure

[harvyk]

CBR is a nice big version of Tamworth airport.:mrgreen:

They are doing something about that, pity it really sucks, especially when trying to find long term parking, luckily I always give myself stacks of time at airports and never trying to find parking at the last minute.

 

[Grooba]

I like the trains to/from SYD. The station tax is kind of annoying however as others have already said, someone had to build it.

BNE is also great with the train into the city.

MEL I didn't know there was any other way other than a cab to get into the city!!! :shock:

PER doesn't need further comments on what has already been said.

ADL - well ADL is just my FAVOURITE airport currently, and has been for a while, for one reason. This reason overrides how good/bad the transport might be. The QP has Coopers Pale Ale on tap.

 

[markis10]

BNE's airtrain really needs to stop being a part time operation, they have added some early morning trains last month:

Departing:Roma Street
5:00am
Arriving Domestic Airport
5:27am

Departing Domestic Airport
5:42am
Arriving:Roma Street
6:10am


But the time Brisbane shut at 9PM has long since passed! Need longer hours of operation to truely be an asset to commuters.

 

[JohnK]

But the time Brisbane shut at 9PM has long since passed! Need longer hours of operation to truely be an asset to commuters.

Couldn't agree more. Last train out to the airport at 7:26pm and last from the airport at 8:00pm is really not good enough.

By the way most of Brisbane still shuts well before 9:00pm.

 

[Mal]

BNE's airtrain really needs to stop being a part time operation, they have added some early morning trains last month:

Departing:Roma Street
5:00am
Arriving Domestic Airport
5:27am

That's better than it was. Used to frustrate me when having early flights and not being able to catch the Airtrain (seeing I pretty much lived next to it!).

I think part of the issue with early journeys is that the CityTrain network doesn't really start until 5am (with the exception of the weekend "sweeper" trains for late night revellers).

Of course having additional later trains would also be nice, but I think some of the issue is noise planning related. I posted in another thread about it.

 

[samh004]

BNE's airtrain really needs to stop being a part time operation, they have added some early morning trains last month:

Departing:Roma Street
5:00am
Arriving Domestic Airport
5:27am

Departing Domestic Airport
5:42am
Arriving:Roma Street
6:10am


But the time Brisbane shut at 9PM has long since passed! Need longer hours of operation to truely be an asset to commuters.

So if you get in on the few late night flights now, the minimum you need to wait is about 5 hours, woo!

The problem with the airtrain, other than their sh¡tty operating hours is they’re not part of QR and charge a tremendous amount more than regular QR services, even with a GO card. And students prices are the same as adults, while kids pay virtually nothing.

 

[UP4014]

I like the trains to/from SYD. The station tax is kind of annoying however as others have already said, someone had to build it.

Hi, the extra charges for the train in Sydney aren't actually a tax, they are charge for using the station/s which are operated by a private company. I guess what you are seeing (and the same in Brisbane) is the real cost of a railway station as opposed to the Gov. subsidy on every other station.

If they were serious about removing and reducing traffic the Govt would run it as another one of their stations or simply make it free.

For the private company to agree to take it on State Transit had to agree to stop running the Airport Express bus, so in effect we have a private monopoly on public transport to the airport, well the domestic one anyway. State Transit still runs the route 400 to the international I think.

 

[anat0l]

For the private company to agree to take it on State Transit had to agree to stop running the Airport Express bus, so in effect we have a private monopoly on public transport to the airport, well the domestic one anyway. State Transit still runs the route 400 to the international I think.

I believe it's the 400 to the domestic airport. The international airport has no public bus.

 

[markis10]

I believe it's the 400 to the domestic airport. The international airport has no public bus.

I hope no one has told the bus drivers on the 400 route that they cannot go to the international, I used to catch the 400 when working in the SMCA apron tower at the international:

 

[anat0l]

I hope no one has told the bus drivers on the 400 route that they cannot go to the international, I used to catch the 400 when working in the SMCA apron tower at the international:

Oops, my mistake.

It'd always been my impression that the international airport was never serviced by public bus. I knew of it at T3/T2, but not at T1.

At least that gives me more options when I need transport out of SYD airport though (i.e. especially T1)

 

[JohnK]

It'd always been my impression that the international airport was never serviced by public bus. I knew of it at T3/T2, but not at T1.

At least that gives me more options when I need transport out of SYD airport though (i.e. especially T1)

And another way to avoid filling Macquarie's coffers for a 2 minute pickup.

 

[odysseus]

Mentioned it here as well: http://www.frequentflyer.com.au/com...rport-death-rail-road-21821-2.html#post303238

In particular that when they built the carpark extensions, it was to the detriment of road transport through, which principally affects hire cars/taxis and the 400 bus. It's less of an issue for taxis and hire cars as they're either queuing or waiting for a scheduled time, whereas the bus service has a longer, slower journey now.

 

[UP4014]

To compare the state of Sydney airports rip off parking - I just read an article on Seattle - Tarcoma's public rail transport which said Seattle has the 4th most expensive city parking in the US at $28 per day. (they even have a stop at Everett)

The City of Long Beach charged me $7 all day in CBD.

I wish Sydney was only $28 per day.

 

[serfty]

To compare the state of Sydney airports rip off parking - I just read an article on Seattle - Tarcoma's public rail transport which said Seattle has the 4th most expensive city parking in the US at $28 per day. (they even have a stop at Everett)

The City of Long Beach charged me $7 all day in CBD.

I wish Sydney was only $28 per day.

To top that off - SEA has a free "Cell Phone" parking lot near the airport! You can park for ½ an hour awaiting the call from your arriving passenger.

Sea-Tac Airport: Cell Phone Waiting Lot

 

[Warks]

To top that off - SEA has a free "Cell Phone" parking lot near the airport! You can park for ½ an hour awaiting the call from your arriving passenger.

Sea-Tac Airport: Cell Phone Waiting Lot

SYD domestic always has Krispy Kreme and Maccas!
(Shhh!)

 

[Maca44]

I got caught on 2.3.10 with parking at Sydney T2. Entered parking station at 9.40am on 2nd and returned 10.10am on 3rd ...$104 thank you sir. The parking was the same price as the flight. I was told it's $54 for the first day, and the same price for any part of the next day, so I have learned my lesson and my fault for not reading the T&C's. Park and fly would have been a lot cheaper.

 

[medhead]

Changing trains to go on other lines is a lottery when your line has a cough service. You are almost guaranteed (under Murphy's Law) to miss your connection at Central and suffer a 29 minute wait. My line has recently improved to a 15 minute service no now it's not so bad and I may give it another go.

The answer to the mess at central is to use Musuem station for all your airport trains. You basically need to work out the direction around the city circle and know that all airport trains start at museum, that is they enter the city circle as trains ending at museum and then at some put turn into a train going out to whereever and stopping at airport.

The QP has Coopers Pale Ale on tap.

All decent pubs in South Oz have this In fact all decent pubs everywhere (i.e. like a pub i found on Goulburn st in Sydney)

By the way most of Brisbane still shuts well before 9:00pm.

You need to get out more, and find what they call Brisvegas. I spent a bit of the 80s and all of the 90s in brisbane and it sure didn't shut at 9 pm. IIRC your like 32, you should get your self down the valley. The city is pretty boring but is getting better and has some things to do. The mill tower hotel (where your drinks are held) is good but not an indication of what is happening elsewhere. I will also try to make a drinks one time.

 

[anat0l]

You need to get out more, and find what they call Brisvegas. I spent a bit of the 80s and all of the 90s in brisbane and it sure didn't shut at 9 pm. IIRC your like 32, you should get your self down the valley. The city is pretty boring but is getting better and has some things to do. The mill tower hotel (where your drinks are held) is good but not an indication of what is happening elsewhere. I will also try to make a drinks one time.

So except for a junkie pocket they call "The Valley" now, the rest of Brisbane pretty much shuts down at 9pm.

Of course The Mill is no litmus test of activity in Brisbane. Who in their right mind would make such an inference.

 

[markis10]

The answer to the mess at central is to use Musuem station for all your airport trains. You basically need to work out the direction around the city circle and know that all airport trains start at museum, that is they enter the city circle as trains ending at museum and then at some put turn into a train going out to whereever and stopping at airport.

Trains from the airport go museum-st james in the morning and vice versa in the afternoon from memory, however you only have town hall and central as the two stations that have all lines on their platforms, if you are coming from Kings Cross its quicker to go to Central than to ride the loop via Museum from Town hall. At least that was my experience a few years ago, there was a big timetable overhaul recently that may have changed the way things work.

 

[JohnK]

I got caught on 2.3.10 with parking at Sydney T2. Entered parking station at 9.40am on 2nd and returned 10.10am on 3rd ...$104 thank you sir. The parking was the same price as the flight. I was told it's $54 for the first day, and the same price for any part of the next day, so I have learned my lesson and my fault for not reading the T&C's. Park and fly would have been a lot cheaper.

I don't mean to be critical in any way just a general question. Are people that time poor to use the long term carpark. Sure you need to wait for a bus to pickup and drop-off but that does not take more than 30 minutes each way. And at $25 for the first day or $114 for 7 days it has to be much better value than the short term carpark. And yes even if work is paying for the bill.

You need to get out more, and find what they call Brisvegas. I spent a bit of the 80s and all of the 90s in brisbane and it sure didn't shut at 9 pm. IIRC your like 32, you should get your self down the valley. The city is pretty boring but is getting better and has some things to do. The mill tower hotel (where your drinks are held) is good but not an indication of what is happening elsewhere. I will also try to make a drinks one time.

Just a little bit past 32! I have been to the Valley a few times. It is not my type of place and I hate nightclubs especially the loud boom boom boom type of nightclubs.

So except for a junkie pocket they call "The Valley" now, the rest of Brisbane pretty much shuts down at 9pm.

Of course The Mill is no litmus test of activity in Brisbane. Who in their right mind would make such an inference.

Who said anything about the Mill. Closing time for most pubs down in the city area is around 9:00-10:00pm and some actually close at 8:00pm. The casino is a joke and I am not interested in the loud backpacker hangouts.

Somedays it would be nice to be able to just get out of the apartment and have a nice quiet drink without hanging around noisy drunk kids making fools of themselves....