Transport as an experience
Two Atlantic Coasters pass each other in St Just, close to Lands End
I’m afraid you’re going to have to do without your daily Freewheeling fix next week: Freewheeling is on holiday in Cornwall.
As we’ve done every year since I was 5, we’re off to Penzance for the week.
So the printing presses of Freewheeling will fall silent.
But as a carfree family, we will be continuing to think about public transport for the obvious reason that our holiday will depend on it.
Focus on experience
One thing that we’re certain to do while down there is get the incredible Atlantic Coaster open-top bus run by First Kernow.
It’s a truly magical experience.
I really can’t describe just how much fun an open-top bus on a cliff-top is. If you’ve only ever ridden tourist open-top buses in towns, you haven’t even scratched the surface.
The height of the bus lifts you over the hedgerows, so you have a constant uninterrupted view over the fields and moorland, with the sea always visible and glistening. The sun beats down while the wind whistles in your ears. I think an open-top bus on a country road might just be my favourite way to travel!
But the Atlantic Coaster is also indicative of a trend we’re starting to see which, I hope, can be encouraged: the public transport sector starting to invest in leisure travel products.
A bit like both Apple and Waterstones realised that they needed to create outstanding in-store experiences if they were going to sell their products, so the public transport industry needs to make the journey an experience as opposed to simply a utility.
The Atlantic Coaster is part of the public transport network and many of its customers are travelling because they need to get somewhere. But based on the crowding levels on the Atlantic Coaster compared to other similar routes out of Penzance, I suspect most are travelling because it’s an open-top route. It’s great to see that First Kernow are launching a much-expanded network this year.
In Scotland, the last franchise competition before nationalisation (won by Abellio) specifically sought trains that focused on the leisure market and created a tourism experience. We’re starting to see the outputs of this with the launch of dedicated coaches for bicycles.
A Swiss Apre-Ski bar with panoramic windows
Swiss railways excel at mixing trains designed for transport and leisure - and commanding premium fares for doing so.
In the UK, an entrepreneurial private company spotted this opportunity with the creation of the Staycation Express; a premium sightseeing train on the Settle and Carlisle line.
It has never made sense that some rural railway lines have average fares of around £1 and mammouth levels of public subsidy, while others have yields ten times that level and run at a profit. I mean, of course, the difference between branch lines that survived Beeching and those that became steam railways.
Smallbrook Junction: where the (profitable) Isle of Wight Steam Railway meets the (heavily subsidised) Island line
I suspect (hope!) we’ve only scratched the surface of bus and rail operators combining transport and experience and, in the process, achieving the alchemy of increasing both price and volumes.
In the meantime, you can think of me on the top deck of the Atlantic Coaster.
