Wider World
Rant
Southampton Airport is just a few metres away from the nearest line, perfect for passengers, you might think. Well, no. Every possible obstacle seems to have been put in place to discourage airline arrivals from transferring to a train. The station has a fine, modern ticket office, but it is, of course, on the opposite side of the track. Is there a direct connection from the airport to the ticket office? No, you need to walk out of the airport, across a road, along the platform. Then you must negotiate an open bridge, hauling your luggage up, along and down, squeezing past bewildered people dragging their luggage and children in the opposite direction - then back along the platform to a point nearly opposite the doors of the airport. You may well find the ticket office is closed. You may have to return along the platform and over the obstacle course bridge to catch or miss your train.
They have, thoughtfully, installed an automatic ticket machine on the airport side of the line. Is is convenient for airport arrivals? Again, no, it is as far away from the airport as is possible. And can you read the train departures screen from the ticket machine? Again, no. It is an excellent way to lose your credit card whilst you watch your train glide from the station.
The obvious thing to do is to integrate the station into the airport, or failing that, to provide rail information and tickets in the airport. There may be no-one with a megaphone shouting 'Go away, we don't want you!' but the message is clear. The mystery is why.
POST SCRIPT The railway authorities realised that they could make life still more difficult for passengers, so they have replaced the inconvenient ticket machine (which faced north) with two machines facing east. The perverse triumph of the new arrangement is that the screens are unreadable when the sun shines so it is impossible to purchase a ticket from them for a considerable part of the year.
November 2008 - An area has been fenced off for work on a new bridge.
Rant
Southampton Airport is just a few metres away from the nearest line, perfect for passengers, you might think. Well, no. Every possible obstacle seems to have been put in place to discourage airline arrivals from transferring to a train. The station has a fine, modern ticket office, but it is, of course, on the opposite side of the track. Is there a direct connection from the airport to the ticket office? No, you need to walk out of the airport, across a road, along the platform. Then you must negotiate an open bridge, hauling your luggage up, along and down, squeezing past bewildered people dragging their luggage and children in the opposite direction - then back along the platform to a point nearly opposite the doors of the airport. You may well find the ticket office is closed. You may have to return along the platform and over the obstacle course bridge to catch or miss your train.
They have, thoughtfully, installed an automatic ticket machine on the airport side of the line. Is is convenient for airport arrivals? Again, no, it is as far away from the airport as is possible. And can you read the train departures screen from the ticket machine? Again, no. It is an excellent way to lose your credit card whilst you watch your train glide from the station.
The obvious thing to do is to integrate the station into the airport, or failing that, to provide rail information and tickets in the airport. There may be no-one with a megaphone shouting 'Go away, we don't want you!' but the message is clear. The mystery is why.
POST SCRIPT The railway authorities realised that they could make life still more difficult for passengers, so they have replaced the inconvenient ticket machine (which faced north) with two machines facing east. The perverse triumph of the new arrangement is that the screens are unreadable when the sun shines so it is impossible to purchase a ticket from them for a considerable part of the year.
November 2008 - An area has been fenced off for work on a new bridge.