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Unit 16 – Passenger Transport
P4 – Explain how passenger transport provision can influence the popularity and appeal of UK
tourist destinations
In this assignment we will be explaining how passenger transport provision can influence the popularity
and appeal of UK tourist destinations. We will be looking at the capital city London and the cultural city
Bath.
London
Provision
Modes of Transport Available
Rail: There are many transport links into London by rail; in fact rail is such a popular choice of transport in
London that there are 8 main rail and underground stations in central London. This means that wherever
you are travelling from, may it be the South or the East of England, you will find yourself travelling straight
into the centre of London. If you are travelling into London by rail from other destinations within Britain
you can choose from many stations to arrive in: Liverpool Street Station, St Pancras, Kings Cross, Euston,
Waterloo, Victoria and Paddington station.
Rail transport is not only popular with inbound visitors; it is also used on a daily basis by domestic London
travellers. Due to congestion charges put in place across the centre of London, many people now decide to
use the train as a commute between home and work. London’s St Pancras station is the underground
Eurostar terminal that can transport people direct from Central London to destinations in Europe including
many parts of France. This is very quick and popular route for shoppers on couples looking for a long
weekend away with simple travel.
Air: There are many direct routes into London via air; this is due to the large number of airports within
London. Stanstead, Heathrow, Luton, Gatwick and London City all see thousands of people arriving and
departing each day and are seen as the UK's main gateways in terms of air travel. Located 32km (20 miles)
to the west of Central London, London Heathrow Airport (LHR) is one of the busiest and most advanced
airports in the world. With 190,000 passengers arriving and departing every day, Heathrow handles more
international passengers than any other airport in the world. There are a large variety of airlines that fly
out of London airports including British Airways, Virgin Airlines, Thomson, Thomas Cook and low cost
airlines such as Monarch, EasyJet and Flybe. These amounts of airlines that fly from London’s airports
widen the variety of airlines that passengers can choose from, making them more likely to fly from London.
Airports all across the UK are always improving but Heathrow is one of the fastest developing airports in
the United Kingdom, having recently announced an airport expansion.
Bus: London Buses manages bus services in London. It plans routes, specifies service levels and monitors
service quality. Its site provides useful information on bus services in London. London United operates a
fleet of over 600 buses on 60 routes within central, West and South West London and Surrey. Abellio, part
of the Abellio Group, operates bus services in Central, South and West London. Arriva, Go Ahead,
Stagecoach London, First London and Sullivan London all provide local bus services within London. Using a
combination of technologies including satellite tracking, iBus can pinpoint the location of buses, relaying
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information between the driver, garage and central control point. Countdown (live bus arrival information
via signs at bus stops) is available at around 2,500 stops.
Road: Road services are available all through London; however there are congestion charges throughout
parts of London requiring you to pay a small fee to travel within that area by vehicle. Congestion charges
are areas, commonly in busy cities, that you must pay to travel through. The main idea of this is to try and
convince people to park their cars outside of the city and travel in by public transport such as bus or tram.
The benefit of this is that it reduces the amount of vehicles travelling through the city/area, which reduces
congestion and pollution. The Congestion Charge in London is an £11.50 daily charge for driving a vehicle
within the charging zone between 07:00 and 18:00, Monday to Friday. The easiest way to pay the charge is
by registering for Congestion Charge Auto Pay. There are a range of exemptions and discounts available to
certain vehicles and individuals, most commonly business vehicles needing to travel between the
congestion zones.
Levels of Service (frequency, speed,
reliability and class)
Because London is one of the world’s most popular
destinations it is important that they have frequent,
speedy and reliable transport around the city.
The local bus network in London is one of the
largest and most comprehensive in the world.
Over 6,800 scheduled buses operate on
over 700 different routes. This means that the
busses will be very frequent. Because of
how many busses there are operating the time can
really vary. In central London they operate every
4-5 minutes, 6-10 minutes and 12-15 minutes
depending on what time of day you catch the bus.
Depending on how bad the traffic is will really
depend on the speed and reliability. To get form
Kings Cross Station to Oxford Street takes 17
minutes. With the bus you do not get classes.
Because London has 5 airports nearby people
from all over the world can gain easy access to this
destination. Bangkok to Gatwick Airport is a popular route. Depending where you travel from will depend
of the speed. It takes approximatly 15 hour and 5 minutes. Below is a table of frequency of flights coming
into Gatwick from Bangkok.
