Originally Posted by
Spanish eyes
Article here that asks some searching questions about the finances of the DART like the fact that it will take over 118 million journeys just to cover the cost without interest payments and operating costs and the fact that only 2.82 million passengers are predicted to use it each year.
https://stoplae.org/the-dart-link-lu...g-225-million/
You could say it’s a bit of a gamble but that link is obviously biased to stop expansion.2.82 Million passengers currently travel by train, that’s not a future prediction.The Airport obviously want that figure to increase significantly once the DART is operational.
Where is the evidence that travel by car would increase by 75% with a second termina?l .The highways agency are yet to produce their feedback to the Council on the proposed road to Century Park.( due in February) If ,and its a big if the airport actually succeeds in getting more direct, faster links to London from Parkway then The DART should be successful.
Payback time— who knows but the council should have done their homework on that , is it a vanity project, some may say yes but the airport does need it.
I’ve been stuck in summer at Parkway trying to get a bus to the terminal, stuck in traffic for 30 mins, it isn’t fun so the Dart will be a godsend once it’s up and running and I will use the train more often for sure.
Apart from that it’s adding value to the council if they ever wanted to sell the airport in the future- just playing devils advocate!,