Newquay and Plymouth Airports - their rise and fall - ongoing discussion

[whole diary]

[devon_metro]

That would just be silly.

Domestic air travel should simply be more controlled. There is no way you would get me catching the train to Scotland, (upon passing my test) it will be far cheaper for me to drive/fly and less stressful than 10 hours in a Voyager.

[thetrout]

Vacman has a good point which I was going to mention but decided against it for fear of sounding stupid

On the Bus Newquay Airport can be a pig to get to. You need to arrive, checking in about 45 minutes before your flight leaves. You will then get delayed for some silly reason. Then you can get on the plane, fly to London, then wait for your luggage to arrive. How long with it take...? How longs a piece of string...? Then you need to get to central London. By which time, it would have been quicker and more comfortable by rail.

What I like so much about rail travel is you can turn up at the station 10 minutes before the train leaves, buy a ticket and not need to have any form of identification to travel, get on the train without having to go through security, go to the buffet car or toilets when you want. Yes you get ticket checked on the journey... But equally it is much less of a hassle than having to have identification before even getting on the plane and going through security and all the other malarkey

Give me a HST^▸ (High Speed Train) any day

[Btline]

I would rather sit for 10 hours in a Voyager than drive!

Ok - Voyagers are awful, but at least you don't have to concentrate on the road for hours on end!

[vacman]

I would rather sit for 10 hours in a Voyager than drive!

Ok - Voyagers are awful, but at least you don't have to concentrate on the road for hours on end!

just make sure you go on an XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) HST^▸ (High Speed Train)! or break the journey up with a change somewhere.

[John R]

On the Bus Newquay Airport can be a pig to get to. You need to arrive, checking in about 45 minutes before your flight leaves. You will then get delayed for some silly reason. Then you can get on the plane, fly to London, then wait for your luggage to arrive. How long with it take...? How longs a piece of string...? Then you need to get to central London. By which time, it would have been quicker and more comfortable by rail.

 

But again, business travellers will drive to the airport, won't have luggage, will check in half an hour before hand, and those flying to London City Airport will be off the plane and in the City on the DLR^▸ (Docklands Light Railway) pretty quickly (even quicker if they are going to Canary Wharf).

Compared with 5 hours by rail from north Cornwall.

Both services have their pros and cons. I'm very pro rail for domestic journeys, and if I have the time will travel from Bristol to Edinburgh/Glasgow by rail. But not if I'm doing it there and back in a day, or need to be there by 10am.

 

[vacman]

North Cornwall to London can be under 4 hours by train, driving to Bodmin Parkway..

[thetrout]

But again, business travellers will drive to the airport, won't have luggage, will check in half an hour before hand, and those flying to London City Airport will be off the plane and in the City on the DLR^▸ (Docklands Light Railway) pretty quickly (even quicker if they are going to Canary Wharf).

I see your point. I can see why business travellers may prefer to fly rather than take a train because it may be quicker.

I prefer to travel by rail even if it does take longer. Simply because I don't like flying. I find it a hassle and stressful, whereas if I go by HST^▸ (High Speed Train) in First Class a very nice person will be quite willing to being me a cup of tea free of charge. I find it more relaxing and I can do some work on the tables

Both services have their pros and cons. I'm very pro rail for domestic journeys, and if I have the time will travel from Bristol to Edinburgh/Glasgow by rail. But not if I'm doing it there and back in a day, or need to be there by 10am.

I'm very pro rail myself. Even for long distance, but then I have never needed to go further than Newcastle (a journey I make about twice a year).

I agree that the services have their pros and cons as you have rightly pointed out but rail is my personal preference

[FarWestJohn]

I have always been very pro rail ever since I used to work for the S&T^▸ (Signalling and Telegraph) at Croydon many years ago.

All I was trying to point out is that the rail industry has to seriously improve the ambience of the train environment compared with the current offerings. This was always one of the great things about rail travel and it is all being thrown away due to OTT^▸ (Open Train Times website) H&S^▸ (Health and Safety) requirements and the train operators cramming more in. The rail industry is just transferring the safety risk as rail was always the safest and by making the trains so uncomfortable and hemmed in that people travel by car or plane is actually increasing the overall risk.

I do not like it but I can see from personal experience that once business people have a good experience flight from Newquay they tend to continue. In our case 30 min check in or less and a walk from Gatwick airport with no luggage for a day trip. One of the plane's limitations was frequency but with the latest competition, I think it is now up to seven flights a day, that will soon be removed. Even worse, Newquay airport has lousy public transport so nearly everyone drives. I have done day trips by HST^▸ (High Speed Train) from Truro to London but I do not think that is a market for the business traveller.

One route that seems very poorly served by rail is the West Country to Southampton/Portsmouth. There is a vast potential between the Military establishments and many people who have moved to the west country from this area who travel back and forth to visit. We had the daily Penzance to Portsmouth train which was very slow and now nothing. Most travel now is by car and I presume soon all SWT^▸ (South West Trains) trains west of Exeter will soon be gone.

 

[Andy]

North Cornwall to London can be under 4 hours by train, driving to Bodmin Parkway..

Any idea if an Okehampton-Waterloo fast service would take around the same time? At present it's 3h from EXD^» (Exeter St Davids - next trains). With the A30 having been upgraded, Much of West Devon & North-East Cornwall could get to Okehampton relatively quickly, I'd have thought.
   

[RichardB]

North Cornwall to London can be under 4 hours by train, driving to Bodmin Parkway..

Any idea if an Okehampton-Waterloo fast service would take around the same time? At present it's 3h from EXD^» (Exeter St Davids - next trains). With the A30 having been upgraded, Much of West Devon & North-East Cornwall could get to Okehampton relatively quickly, I'd have thought.
   

I understand a recent survey found that a large proportion of Tiverton Parkway's users are from Cornwall......

[bemmy]

North Cornwall to London can be under 4 hours by train, driving to Bodmin Parkway..

Any idea if an Okehampton-Waterloo fast service would take around the same time? At present it's 3h from EXD^» (Exeter St Davids - next trains). With the A30 having been upgraded, Much of West Devon & North-East Cornwall could get to Okehampton relatively quickly, I'd have thought.
   

I understand a recent survey found that a large proportion of Tiverton Parkway's users are from Cornwall......

That's interesting, but not surprising. There's no point driving from Bude to Liskeard to catch a train going north, so the natural railhead for North Cornwall is Exeter..... but due to congestion, even the rail replacement buses to Plymouth use Tiverton Parkway instead of Exeter St Davids.

[Mookiemoo]

It is quicker "door to door" for me to get from the wilds of shropshire to Belfast by plane than to get to London by train. 

The REALITY of low cost domestic flights:

1. Check in online, no luggage - Turn up at the airport 30 minutes before flight
2. Check in online, luggage drop - Turn up 40 minutes before flight
3. Low cost airlines tend to board very efficiently
4. Most of the time (heathrow excepted) the luggage is waiting there by the time you get to the carousel
5. On the road within minutes

short domestic flights also have LOTS of slack in them - so if they schedule an hour, chances are on average its about 40 minutes and you arrive early

Typically on a friday I leave the office at 430pm, drive to airport, flight 530, on the ground by 615, in car by 630 - home by 715

that is 2:45 minutes - cotswolds train takes just that to get to worcester from Pad.

A return ticket costs me ^68.40 including tax.

is it any wonder people are using the airlines more and more. 

[woody]

What about a new parkway station at Exminster close to the M5,could be attractive to car users from as far afield as Torbay and even down the A38 to Plymouth.Could be a way of stemming the loss of long distance passengers to road and air as the 21st century unfolds west of Exeter.

[devon_metro]

Most Torbay rail passengers will use Totnes, or Newton Abbot (although that requires a hellish drive along the A380 Newton Road)

Probably explains why Totnes passenger numbers are so high. 484466 p.p.a

[vacman]

The other night a late running 1506 Padd-Pnz was run fast between Ply and Pnz, the train left Ply at 1934 (52 late) and arrived in pnz at 2051 despite being held at Baldhu and Penponds due to catching up with the XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) service in front, so it shows that if a fast service from Cornwall was considered - even a "taster" then it could be very appealling, for e.g. Penzance-Truro-Bodmin Parkway-Plymouth-Reading-Paddington Lets say 1hr 20 between pnz-Ply, 2 hrs 50 ply-Pad thats 4hrs 10 all in all, 3hrs 35 Bod-Pad that would be attractive bear in mind thats with NO infrastructure improvements so would cost sod all to do! Bodmin is a major railhead and so is Truro both have ample parking, also, run a stopper up in front of the HST^▸ (High Speed Train) to pick up from the normal stops. You could argue for an Exeter stop but this train would be a premier train for Plymouth and Cornwall. and before everyone starts putting other stops into the equasion lets just remember how much time was saved by NOT stopping! nearly 50 mins!