SkyBus gone up again [Up to $23.90 one way]

[aikman]

What difference does it make if it's above ground or underground?

Does anyone from Brisbane ever say "I wish the airport station was underground. It would be so much better!"

 

[AIRwin]

Does anyone from Brisbane ever say "I wish the airport station was underground. It would be so much better!"

I like the view of the EK A380 from the Airtrain given that it sits on the tarmac all day

 

[fly2earth]

What difference does it make if it's above ground or underground?

Does anyone from Brisbane ever say "I wish the airport station was underground. It would be so much better!"

All the "developed" cities have their metro underground

 

[Must...Fly!]

I am struggling to understand why it is so hard to build the rail link to MEL. Yes I know the underground/overpass debate, but for the long term it makes sense to build it underground. SYD/WSI are examples.

Sometimes you just need to build underground now and get it over and done with. If you build it later it would be even more expensive, even if it is overpass due to inflation etc.

It is amazing that WSI is going to have a rail link way before MEL would ever have. NSW just seems to get things done.

One word: stubbornness

 

[dajop]

What difference does it make if it's above ground or underground?

Putting above ground probably takes away valuable space that could be used for car parks, hotels or other revenue generating activities. If it's underground, you can still have all of that profit generating activity above it.

 

[Sprucegoose]

I personally cant see the business case stacking up,

You clearly have a quick eye and sharp wit!

 

[wandering_fred]

Meanwhile, how long ago did Perth add a train link to the airport?
Might have had an influence on the project proposals for WSI?
As for MEL, it still is likely the best airport to have a domestic/international transfer in Australia.
Pity about stand alone domestic arrivals and departures though
I think the last time I used the MEL Skybus was 1994.....
That was before I really started wandering
Fred

 

[AIRwin]

I think the last time I used the MEL Skybus was 1994.....

It would have been under $9 then

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Hmmm… Im wondering if the air0rt wants it underground so they can then collect a sydney-like charge for using the station?

Otherwise why can’t the government just build it to somewhere close, and people walk the last 50 metres? Or is all the land under the exclusive control of the airport operator now?

 

[RooFlyer]

All the "developed" cities have their metro underground

Yeah, I guess, depending on your definition of "developed".

Elevated metros exist in:

New York
Chicago
San Francisco
Miami
Berlin
Amsterdam
Vienna
... amongst many others

 

[dajop]

Yeah, I guess, depending on your definition of "developed".

Elevated metros exist in:

New York
Chicago
San Francisco
Miami
Berlin
Amsterdam
Vienna
... amongst many others

If you restrict it to just train access to airports, there’s quite a few as well that are not genuinely underground, many are “at grade” or elevated. Ones that come to mind include HKG, LGW, LCY, SFO, JFK/EWR although they’re not really airport rail as such), PHL, BNE, OSL, YVR?, PVG, PEK, DXB, FCO, MAN to just pick a few.

 

[Must...Fly!]

Above or below ground is really dependent on the situation. Underground is by far the better option in Melbourne, it would allow for easier expansion of the airport facilities (and the train line further north, come to think of it)

 

[SYD]

Above or below ground is really dependent on the situation. Underground is by far the better option in Melbourne, it would allow for easier expansion of the airport facilities (and the train line further north, come to think of it)

If MEL is the terminus, an above ground station coming in over the existing roadway wouldn’t be that big a deal and zero impact on airport expansion. Lots of airports (some mentioned above) have that arrangement.

If the train line continues onwards, then underground would most likely better but again, plenty of examples where above ground is ok. LGW comes to mind.

 

[travelislife]

What's so bad about taking the Skybus that only takes 20 minutes to the Southern Cross? (runs away into a corner)

I catch it twice a week. Don’t think it has ever been 20 mins. More around 30mins. Worse if an accident or full peak hour.

The bus terminal (and southern cross itself) is an abomination. To think that is many international visitors arrival point in to Melbourne, dark, dank and smelling of diesel.

 

[fly2earth]

I catch it twice a week. Don’t think it has ever been 20 mins. More around 30mins. Worse if an accident or full peak hour.

The bus terminal (and southern cross itself) is an abomination. To think that is many international visitors arrival point in to Melbourne, dark, dank and smelling of diesel.

Can't think of any other way to "land" in Melbourne though. Feels like Melbourne is not Melbourne without the whole landing in Southern Cross experience in the middle of the night

 

[fly2earth]

I catch it twice a week. Don’t think it has ever been 20 mins. More around 30mins. Worse if an accident or full peak hour.

The bus terminal (and southern cross itself) is an abomination. To think that is many international visitors arrival point in to Melbourne, dark, dank and smelling of diesel.

Compare that to the $16+ they charge you to get from SYD to downtown for taking the train for 10 minutes. What an insult

 

[travelislife]

Compare that to the $16+ they charge you to get from SYD to downtown for taking the train for 10 minutes. What an insult

I also catch that twice week and it is much nicer and efficient than SkyBus!

 

[RichardMEL]

So, I've used the SkyBus since the 90's - possibly near when it started - and it used to be at the old bus station there (or iirc i used to stop outside it). That whole thing was Dodgy AF back in the day, specially in the dark (but I digress). So while the Southern Cross bus terminus is.... a concrete nightmare, it's a whole lot better than it used to be for Skybus.

Disappointed, but not surprised at the latest fare rise of course but it was always going to happen given Cost of Living etc. blah. Annoyed too as my 10 trip just finished. At least that has "only" gone up by $10 to 170, so $17 e.w. is.. more acceptable than $24ish one way.

Honestly though I have chanled my skybus habits. If I'm HLO or very lightly packed for just a couple of days, I catch the train to Broady and the 901 bus to Tulla. Yes, it takes prob 2.5x as long as skybus (I reckon 25min average for skybus vs say 50-70min on PT depending on the connection at Broady). Far cheaper of course and no real hassle. I wouldn't trust Broady late at night, but during the day it's fine. So I might do PT to get out to MEL (and it's about 10min walk from the busses at MEL to T2/T1) and if I return say any later than about 7 then I'll grab the skybus. If I have a larger bag then I'll prob just skybus it because it's more convenient. Point being that yep, pay for the convenience absolutely, but MEL is not lost for PT links - just a bit clumsy. - and after about 6pm the timings become not ery helpful also. However the myki fare cap makes it really attractive. and not a ridiculous option for a number of uses. I see it a bit like LHR - catch the stopping all stations Picc line on the tube (and everything associated with that) to the Heathrow express. MEL just needs its own "Elizabeth Line" - it could have been called the "Andrews Line" perhaps. Perhaps not.

As for the tran link - the constant issue here for seemingly decades - I blame both "sides" here - as someone noted earlier - both so stubborn. Understandable reasons (gov wants cheaper and quicker - overground, airport wants further out due to income from skybus, uber/taxi etc, and underground to not get int he way of carparks etc). What really cheeses me off, is the blame game and finger pointing between the two.

PER has a reasonable compromise with their (relatively huge) station that is over the road aq bit from T1/T2 there so it's a bit of a walk over the sky bridge thing and so on, but not horrendous by any means (T3/T4 is a slightly different issue of course). BNE works well too with an overground setup, but I think that has as much to do with the geography of the area than anything else that it works well and isn't getting too much in the way of anything else there.

Of course, VicGov being more broke than Bonza is another huge issue - plus more stubborness (or vote connecting) to push ahead with the SRL, or at l;east the first bit at endelsssly blow out costs in favour of the airport rail link (also massively blowing out cost to be fair). Priorities seem out of whack, but that could be said of many vic gov's of either politica party over the decades when it comes to this.

Anyway Skybus is a fine service and does the job pretty effectively imo.

 

[CaptJCool]

Yes

I used the bus from QF Terminal to Perths other station - it works nicely

Skybus is beautiful and once on-board you’re whizzed in in no time at all!

except the last time I was there the queue was so long I jumped on the Broady bus and raced Orf for the one day game at the G… took forever as you say at some very small price

 

[RooFlyer]

I have no problem with Southern Cross as the Melbourne SkyBus station. Sure, dark and concrete - but its a bus terminus, right at a main train station and a minute or so walk to the curb to get a taxi or Uber. I prefer an efficient transport solution to help get me where I want to go, over somewhere less convenient but more pleasant to be in for 2-10 minutes.