Re: Sydney airport railway - effect on buses

[David McLoughlin <davemcl@AXE*THISiprolink.co.nz>]

David Bromage wrote:
> 
> David McLoughlin (davemcl@AXE*THISiprolink.co.nz) wrote:
> > David Bromage wrote:
> 
> > > I don't know how it might affect taxis. This is not really a valid
> > > comparison, but the Heathrow Express has really cut into the London taxi
> > > business. It's 15 pounds one way from PAddington to Heathrow, compares
> > > with 40 pounds for a taxi.
> > >
> 
> > Ye gods, that £15 must be the most expensive public transport fare in
> > the world. The LT bus is only about £2 for the same trip isn't it?
> 
> I don't know about the LT bus, but it's £12 on the express bus.
> 
> > What's the tube? £3?
> 
> But takes 4 times as long as the Heathrow Express.
> 
> > Why would anyone use the train for such a short distance for such an
> > exhorbitant fare? Are cab drivers highwaymen?
> 
> Until recently, taxis pretty much had the monopoly on non-tourist traffic.


Surely you mean taxis had the monopoly on TOURIST traffic?

Although tourists such as myself and those who know of the rapacious
attitudes of London taxi drivers ignored them and took the far cheaper
London Transport. Only an idiot would take a London cab at Heathrow and
ask to be driven to the city. Everyone else knows the trip would be via
Birmingham or somewhere like that.

David McLoughlin
Auckland New Zealand

"Tsing siu sum che mun – please stand clear of the door." 
-- Bilingual (Cantonese-English) announcement as the doors close on
trains of Hong Kong’s Mass Transit Railway.