With a £243m debt to pay off plus interest payments, a maintenance contract to pay for and 24/7 staff attendance the question becomes how much of a financial burden will the Dart be on LLAL and the towns council taxpayers who will never use the service?
With rail passengers decimated will LLAL run both Dart trains or will they cut back to a single track/train operation with a frequency half that of the existing shuttle bus operation?
What LLAL and the Council have not mentioned is that the existing service is operated by the rail franchise holder Thameslink at no cost to the airport operator, the airport owner or the Council. All that will change next year when LLAL, which was formed as just a collector of rents and franchise payments can now add transport operator to its list of property developer, airport investor and land buyer.
As for the airport operator, they will be congratulating themselves for refusing to put in a single penny to this project.
Another thing to consider is will Thamelink actually cease the shuttle bus operation as it is part of their franchise agreement with government? Will they run a cheaper bus service so cutting demand for the Dart, as the scheduled travel time is only one minute slower but actually stops outside the terminal rather than a two minute walk away.
As for the passenger cost to use the Dart? It hadn’t been announced yet but is expected to be the UK’s most expensive 2km journey by public transport.
Last edited by LTNman; 28th Sep 2020 at 05:07.