Planes, trains and Teletubbies
Sky reportEfficiency central ... Gatwick Airport has a futuristic blueprint for passenger transport. Photo: Getty Images
Gatwick has some futuristic ideas when it comes to encouraging public transport to and from its airport.
While Sydney Airport's public transport remains restricted to an expensive train and one measly state-run bus service (What? Us? Bitter?), London's Gatwick has unveiled an enviable, futuristic PT plan that would wow George Jetson.
Last month Infrastructure NSW drew attention to the dire state of Sydney Airport access in a report identifying 70 projects and reforms crucial to the growth of NSW. It recommended the addition of substantial extra roadway to the airport, and more bus services, the latter to be introduced within the next five years.
A week later, Gatwick's Airport Surface Access Strategy was released, a blueprint for an "intelligent" PT network that by 2030 might include some pretty out-there-looking jalopies including high-speed trains, Teletubby-like little driverless taxis and a range of electric buses (also without an actual person sitting behind the wheel).
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But they're not all style over substance. The transport modes are part of Gatwick Airport authorities' aim to significantly increase the number of people using public transport to and from the airport by the time the facility is handling 40 million passengers a year. It serves about 34 million a year now.
The vehicles themselves are not pie-in-the-sky imaginings - all are at least on the drawing board already.
The Robo-taxi, for instance, was created by the famed Czech designer Kubik Petr and intended for use in dense urban environments to zip through traffic. It's powered by two electric motors that run up to 20 hours and can reach 90km/h.
The driverless bus is the brainchild of Capoco Design, which already supplies a substantial number of British buses. The company says 60 per cent of bus running costs go to employing drivers. Without them, the vehicles could be smaller, cheaper and run more bespoke routes. While London bus drivers may not like that, in Sydney, north shore commuters in particular would settle for the deployment of the Partridge Family's old vehicle driven by Reuben Kincaid if it offered them a cheaper airport run.
Highly chatty
A few months back, Sky Report enthusiastically relayed news of a survey run in May by flight booking website Skyscanner, which found 86 per cent of travellers were sensibly against the use of mobile phones on planes.
However, a more recent survey by fare-comparison site Fly.com came up with an entirely different result, with two-thirds of travellers saying they were all for mid-flight talk on their mobiles. Following that, yet another survey, by yet another website, came up with a figure more akin to Skyscanner's.
We suppose it just depends who you're asking. There have long been in-seat telephones and the capacity to chat in the air.
We recall a time a decade or so ago when a few too many wines were consumed at 30,000 feet on a US domestic flight and a homesick drunk dialler, who shall remain nameless, clocked up a lovely surprise on the Amex.
But mostly the practice has been cost-prohibitive - and counter-intuitive. The communally valued sanctity of sky-high solitude usually won the day.
Now, however, as usually sane people can't go to a cafe without putting their phones on the table, the march of the inflight mobile menace appears inevitable. More airlines are allowing mobile usage on certain aircraft equipped to handle it. It's reported that about 25 airlines worldwide now do.
For more than 18 months passengers flying on some domestic flights with Air New Zealand have been allowed to use their phones. Etihad allows it on certain aircraft models and Virgin Atlantic does on some routes flown by A330s. This includes making calls and sending emails and texts from the passenger's own devices.
A barrier to the practice being ubiquitous has been airspace restrictions. The US Federal Aviation Administration has been among the strictest, and forces carriers to shut off their inflight wi-fi provider 250 miles from the US.
Australia was similar. However, last month, Emirates's partner, OnAir, gained approval to enable wi-fi within Australian airspace, which has allowed phones to be used all the way to and from Dubai. The FAA restrictions are also reported to be under review.
Mobile me
Mobile phones and air travel may soon become inseparable in other ways. The 2012 SITA/Air Transport World Passenger Self-Service Survey released last month found 70 per cent of passengers now carry smartphones, up from 54 per cent the previous year, and most want to use them for check-in and other on-the-ground air travel-related functions.
Ninety per cent of those surveyed rated flight status updating on their mobiles and self-boarding as their favourite self-service technologies.
SITA, an aviation IT specialist, found that passengers liked the technologies because they gave them more control and time efficiency as well as reduced stress.
"What passengers really want is to avoid delays and to be kept informed of what is happening," says the chief executive of SITA, Francesco Violante. Nearly everyone who took part in the survey said they would welcome any queue-busting services and 89 per cent voted self-boarding as their top technology.
Home, Jeeves
Brisbane Airport's domestic terminal has a new public pick-up area, with hopes that it will help to ease congestion.
However, in commenting on it, Tourism and Transport Forum chief executive John Lee highlighted a major factor in creating congestion at many airports: our desire for private transportation.
"More than 16 million people use the domestic terminal at Brisbane Airport every year and despite more travellers using public transport to get to the airport and more car parking than ever, many people still like to be dropped off or picked up by private car," he said.
"The Public Pick-up Area will markedly improve the passenger experience, giving drivers collecting someone a dedicated waiting area with 20 minutes' free parking."
Route watch
Tiger Airways is set to introduce a new service from Sydney to Mackay in north Queensland, a gateway airport for the Great Barrier Reef and the Whitsundays. Starting on December 17, the airline will fly the route five times a week return.
http://www.watoday.com.au/travel/planes-trains-and-teletubbies-20121102-28nzq.html
