SkyBus gone up again [Now $23.90 one way]

[QF WP]

As I'm not confident doing the train/bus combo (not having been to either Broadmeadows or Essendon train stations), the certainty of Skybus (price, timing and route) even with the small price increase is still better than a taxi for me.

As I stay at HSW and my first and/or last appts are usually at the Rialto North end of Collins street, it suits me to use Skybus from Southern Cross. Walking is good exercise.

 

[fersea]

- Broadmeadows a little iffy but ok

clearly wrong side of the Yarra for many on here!!!

(from he who grew up in Westmeadows 3049)

Seriously though, the transport to the airport in Melbourne is a disgrace and a real issue for everyone else who is not flying and rather just going about their daily lives. I am glad I don't drive on the freeway and get off at Mickleham Rd to get home these days.

 

[serfty]

Used Broadmeadows on Monday - and my Myki 365 day pass (due to expire later this month) so effective cost (other than time) was $0.

More on the PTV bus options here:

http://www.australianfrequentflyer....ne-airport-stalling-preventing-bus-42608.html

http://www.australianfrequentflyer....tions/478-bus-to-melbourne-airport-54969.html

FWIW, the $3.50 weekend/pub.holiday fare is now $6.

 

[JohnK]

Interesting move pricing it higher than the train, sure there's no competition after 10pm but during the day? I guess they're banking on the hotel delivery being the selling point. I see from their price list that Roma St is still $15, but "selected stops" is $20.

There was a time when I thought Coachtrans was the better option and I used to get into BNE late Sunday night. Sometimes the bus is full and can take close to an hour to get Roma St Station and well over an hour to get to the Mill hotel.

I dont bother with them anymore and I try to get into BNE before 6:00pm and use the T-bus to DFO and public transport from there. Costs ~$4.50 at beginning of week and is free on Friday or Sunday after my 9 journeys.

 

[SFSC]

Has anyone tried Starbus? ( Melbourne Airport Shuttle | Transport to Melbourne Airport | Star Bus | Melbourne shuttle )

Door to door sounds good but now the 901 bus stop has been moved closer I still intend to use the Broadmeadows solution for an upcoming trip next month (HI on Flinders).

 

[AIRwin]

Has anyone tried Starbus? ( Melbourne Airport Shuttle | Transport to Melbourne Airport | Star Bus | Melbourne shuttle )

I have tried Jetbus:
Jetbus | Home

Jetstar offers a 10% discount only at this link:
Welcome to JETBUS Airport shuttle

 

[Ewing]

Has anyone tried Starbus? ( Melbourne Airport Shuttle | Transport to Melbourne Airport | Star Bus | Melbourne shuttle )

I use Star Bus when I stay in St Kilda rather than heading all the way into the city to get Skybus. They insist on quite early pickup times from your accommodation (I had an hour in the lounge last time) but other than that I can't complain.

 

[QF WP]

Now my conundrum for my trip to MEL on 19th (returning 24th) - which do I choose. $30 return on Skybus, with regular late departures. Starbus $28 return - I arrive at 7.20pm (assuming ontime arrival, then time for baggage) but last departure is 6pm. Jetbus is also $28, runs until 9pm but the Hilton South Wharf isn't on the hotel drop off list (HotP is there).

All to hard to change providers for $2 saving. Booked Skybus and printed ticket.

 

[MrHyde]

Thank you for the information about Star Bus and Jet Bus. Living in Southbank, I've always walked to Southern Cross and then caught Sky Bus and then use the Hotel Drop off on the way back to have them drop me off at an adjoining hotel.
JetBus seems like a really good service as it includes door to door, is cheaper. Times look ok as well as I normally go to the airport a bit early to take into account any unforeseen delays.

 

[froggerADL]

I used to go though 3 or 4 10x tickets a year at $100 then $110. Then it went to $120 and last year was $130. I was cosideing getting another 10x ticket when I went though on the 31st (assuming a new year rise) as I caught the 478 bus. In the end my flight was late and I skipped it.

Now the 10x is to $140.

Some inflation busting increases there. A little competition would help but unlikely to happen.

 

[bryanjones]

Wow. $18 per person for a 20 min bus ride. I can only imagine how much profits are going into someone's pockets.

But they leave every 10 mins and with the hotel transfer get you door to door. For 27 or 30 bucks its a good deal in terms of world standards

 

[straitman]

But they leave every 10 mins and with the hotel transfer get you door to door. For 27 or 30 bucks its a good deal in terms of world standards

Via the link provided in Post #26 the cost is $21.60 return.

There is provision to put an address in and they do pickup from Southbank

 

[AIRwin]

I have tried Jetbus:
Jetbus | Home

Jetstar offers a 10% discount only at this link:
Welcome to JETBUS Airport shuttle

I'm looking into the possibility of booking a shuttle from MEL airport and noticed that JQ is no longer offering the 10% discount through their site. Even the Jetbus site itself is under maintenance. Does anyone know if it is still operating or at least seen any of the buses (at MEL airport or in the city)?

 

[BAM1748]

Soome annoying (though a couple of years old) stats, the more I read the madder I got:evil:. The Skybus is doing fine thanks, due to the nice monopoly.

■ The owners of SkyBus turned over revenue of $28 million and profits of $5 million last financial year - and paid a dividend of $1.1 million to the Brumby government in return for carrying an average of 5500 people a day.
■ Airport travellers are paying at least $2 million a week in cab fares, with up to 7000 taxis a day going to and from the airport.
■ The corporation that runs the airport is expected to earn more than $100 million this financial year in fees from its 22,000 parking spaces.

 

[Isochronous]

I wonder how much SkyBus will donate to Dictaphone Dan to get Labor up in the state election and stop the Liberals from building the airport railway

 

[MrHyde]

I'm looking into the possibility of booking a shuttle from MEL airport and noticed that JQ is no longer offering the 10% discount through their site. Even the Jetbus site itself is under maintenance. Does anyone know if it is still operating or at least seen any of the buses (at MEL airport or in the city)?

This happened some time early last week. I went to book on last Wednesday and the site has gone. The previous Wednesday, it was working fine. I have to say that I have not seen any Jetbus buses since then either, but I wasn't looking that hard. Maybe try giving them a ring and seeing if they are still in business.

 

[G00r]

Trying to do a little math on this, but I have no idea how much it costs to maintain or fuel a bus.

But on a single bus, can make some assumptions:
- 15 passengers per trip = $270 per trip.
- fuel, say for 25km journey, say at 40 l/100km is 10 litres, or around $15
- driver, say costs $100/hr, that's $50 for 30 mins.
- maintenance, I don't know make it $2/km - that's $50

So that's about $155 per trip. Assume utilisation of bus for 12 hrs a day, that's 24 trips a day ... so that's $3700/day, or $1.4 m per year per bus to cover admin expenses, depreciation and capital cost. Sounds like there's a little bit of profit in there for them.

Worth comparing to greyhound, who for a 10 hr journey from Melbourne, eg. to Adelaide, charge $94 full fare (and offer discounts on this as well).

Just to add to your calculation, don't forget a vehicle will do 2 trips in an hour

15 pax x 2 $540 <- per hour
$12,960 per bus per day.
Lets say there are 8 vehicles in the circuit (less overnight, but more during peak)
$12,960 * 8 = $103k per day in takings

8 buses doing 2 x 22km trips x 24 hours = 8448kms
Fuel for these buses doing top speed most of the time 15 l/100km which works out to be about 1200 litres of diesel a day.

Even when you factor in wages, Southern Cross lease fees, ticket staff and the shuttle buses, govt skybus tax, there is a still a chunk of change left over.

As BAM1748 points out, their takings were $28 mil.. So it seems their average patronage is a lot higher than 15 (by factor of 5.2) which gives an average of 78

Okay there's an error in my maths somewhere or they're selling more than tickets:shock:

 

[AdMEL]

Soome annoying (though a couple of years old) stats, the more I read the madder I got:evil:. The Skybus is doing fine thanks, due to the nice monopoly.

■ The owners of SkyBus turned over revenue of $28 million and profits of $5 million last financial year - and paid a dividend of $1.1 million to the Brumby government in return for carrying an average of 5500 people a day.
■ Airport travellers are paying at least $2 million a week in cab fares, with up to 7000 taxis a day going to and from the airport.
■ The corporation that runs the airport is expected to earn more than $100 million this financial year in fees from its 22,000 parking spaces.

It's not uncommon for a business generating the revenue Sky Bus does to make that much profit.

Just to add to your calculation, don't forget a vehicle will do 2 trips in an hour

15 pax x 2 $540 <- per hour
$12,960 per bus per day.
Lets say there are 8 vehicles in the circuit (less overnight, but more during peak)
$12,960 * 8 = $103k per day in takings

8 buses doing 2 x 22km trips x 24 hours = 8448kms
Fuel for these buses doing top speed most of the time 15 l/100km which works out to be about 1200 litres of diesel a day.

Even when you factor in wages, Southern Cross lease fees, ticket staff and the shuttle buses, govt skybus tax, there is a still a chunk of change left over.

As BAM1748 points out, their takings were $28 mil.. So it seems their average patronage is a lot higher than 15 (by factor of 5.2) which gives an average of 78

Okay there's an error in my maths somewhere or they're selling more than tickets:shock:

The patronage figures are a bit out, as you mention in your second last line! Have you ever travelled on Sky Bus? They mainly run double length buses and they're often full, with people standing, in my experience! There's no way their average passengers per trip is as low as 15.

 

[Hvr]

It's not uncommon for a business generating the revenue Sky Bus does to make that much profit.



The patronage figures are a bit out, as you mention in your second last line! Have you ever travelled on Sky Bus? They mainly run double length buses and they're often full, with people standing, in my experience! There's no way their average passengers per trip is as low as 15.

Given they're a 24 hour operation and also provide buses from Southern Cross to various city hotels it would be very easy to make the figures say anything they want.

 

[serfty]

Given they're a 24 hour operation and also provide buses from Southern Cross to various city hotels it would be very easy to make the figures say anything they want.

Those city hotel mini buses don't run much past sunset, especially on weekends - much to the observed disgust of quite a few PAX ...