On Sydney's Airport Trains

The fact that taking a DiDi or Uber to Sydney Airport is often cheaper than using Sydney Trains (fares) reflects a failure in public policy. This is generally true for anyone living near the airport or for groups of more than one person who are not too far away. Especially during off-peak times, there is significant unused capacity on trains because people opt for taxis instead. The taxi/Uber/DiDi, which has a higher social marginal cost per trip than a train that is already running, is priced lower than the train. While sharing a cab with strangers can be complex, using Uber with family members is cheaper than taking the train, and perhaps more convenient, which shouldn't be the case.

AJS notes:

It gets worse if you're travelling in a group of three or four people. Four tickets with the $[AU]16.68 gate fee [not including the base fare] comes to $66.72. At that point, you might as well just catch a cab for many trips.

If you're travelling through Sydney Airport, another option that might be worth considering in some situations (if you're travelling light, have time to spare, know your way around the airport, and want to save costs) is the bus.

The 420 (I know) bus takes you to Banksia and Rockdale station on the T4, and continues to Bexley North (T8), Campsie (T3), and Burwood (T1/T9). In the opposite direction, it drops you around a block away from Mascot.

There's also the 350 bus to Bondi Junction.

Now, why are these busses needed? Mostly for airport staff, who can't afford the train every day. And why? Because of the policy failure.

But what about workers?

AJS further notes:

There is a price cap so airport workers don't have to pay the full fare each time they travel there:

The downside is that it's still around $20 per week on top of your regular train fare.

And if you're earning $23.23 an hour for working at the Red Rooster in the domestic terminal, that's basically a full hour you're working each week just to access work by train.

Or you can save $20 and just get the bus.

The problem is that the AirportLink was built (in advance of the 2000 Olympics) as a Public Private Partnership, funded by superannuation (i.e. retirement) funds. While the government bought out the station access fees for two stations (Green Square and Mascot) (and so pays a shadow fare to the company), the airport stations remain with a huge surcharge.

As my dissertation shows, it is politically rational to tax foreigners living abroad (and half your business at an airport is non-locals), but there is a point at which it is not economically rational. And causing needless congestion because of excess taxi trips is an obvious illustration of that.

Sydney is not alone in charging a premium for airport train fares. It may be among the highest though. If you can find a higher public transport fare to the City Center on a regular urban rail transit service, let me know.

• London: Travel on the Piccadilly line starts from £5.50 at all times of the day, for a journey to or from Heathrow, where that journey starts, ends or goes through Zone 1. (GBP)

• San Francisco: SFO to Embarcadero Clipper - $10.55 (USD)

• DC: Metro Silver Line from Dulles to Metro Center $6.00 (USD)

• Paris: RER-B from CDG €11,80 (EUR)

• Amsterdam: Train Schiphol Airport to Amsterdam $10.20 (AUD)

As is pretty clear, other world class cities don’t exploit their visitors nearly so much.

Photo of Sydney Airport by Author (2019-07-01)