Sydney Airport - New T2 Passenger Pickups Area

[Justin L]

Received this by email today regarding the new T2 passenger pickups area at Sydney Airport. They need to do something similar for T1 though, maybe with a 30 minute window due to customs delays etc. Having no free pick up area there is ridiculous.

http://node3.au.trclient.com/2820/on...150642-14.html

Sydney Airport’s T2 passenger pick-up area is to be relocated from Saturday 26 September to provide more spaces, more free pick-up time and less congestion.

The change will benefit passengers using T2 – the Domestic Terminal used by Virgin Blue, Jetstar, Tiger Airways, Qantaslink, Regional Express (REX) and other regional carriers. There is no change to drop off arrangements at T2 and no changes to arrangements at T1 (International Terminal) or T3 (Qantas Domestic) – although T3 passengers may elect to use the new facility.

The new T2 passenger pick-up area is located across to the right-hand side of Keith Smith Avenue. It will provide space for 51 vehicles with a free 10 minute pick-up period. Drivers will be able to leave their vehicles unattended.

Currently the T2 passenger pick-up area is at the front of the terminal. It provides space for just 7 vehicles, operates with a 2 minute pick-up period, and vehicles can not be left unattended.

The new pick-up area will reduce congestion and improve the traffic flow within the Domestic Precinct. Traffic picking-up from T2 will get in and out quickly as it will not have to do the full loop and not have to pass T3. As well as benefiting T2 traffic, this will mean that T3 traffic will be able to get to their terminal faster as well.

Increasing the free pick-up period from 2 minutes to 10 minutes will also reduce the number of cars looping around the road network as they wait for passengers to exit from T2 – further reducing congestion.

Ideally, drivers should time their visit to the airport so that the passengers they are picking up are ready and waiting for them at the new pick-up area. With the widespread availability of mobile phones and text messaging this is very easy to do. This reduces congestion and saves time.

Entry to the new pick-up area is through a ticket operated boom gate with vehicles that stay beyond the free 10 minutes paying normal car parking rates.

These changes are being made because the number of passengers using the Domestic Terminals has increased in recent years. In 2003 there were 15.8 million and in 2008 there were 22.3 million - an increase of 41% in just five years.

The forecast is for continued growth in the number of people using the domestic terminals. This growth has to be managed and these new pick-up arrangements will make a big difference.

A map detailing the new arrangements can be downloaded from www.Sydneyairport.com

[Gareth U]

Does this mean that it will make it harder (impossible) to use that road to get around to the Fifth Street carpark behind AAE? I do not fancy having to do the full loop at some times of the day. It can take 15 minutes!

Still, it is good for picking up people at T2. Now to fix the daylight robbery situation at the International Terminal

[Ryan N]

Sydney Airport lands $2m as you're waiting
By John Rolfe
The Daily Telegraph
October 20, 2009 08:17am

SYDNEY Airport could reap nearly $2 million a year by herding 2000 drivers a day into a new "pick-up area" that costs $7 for stays of more than 10 minutes. Three weeks ago Sydney Airport closed the passenger collection bay outside Terminal 2, forcing friends and family of travellers on Virgin Blue, Jetstar, Tiger and Regional Express to enter its new pick-up area. Those collecting Qantas customers from Terminal 3 were spared.

While the new pick-up area has been promoted by Sydney Airport as improving amenity, it is about twice the distance from T2 as the old bay.

And if a passenger needed assistance to lug their bags the extra distance it would be impossible to avoid paying a charge, because The Daily Telegraph found it takes more than 10 minutes to walk to the carousels and back.

When this was pointed out to a Sydney Airport spokesman, he said the new zone was a "pick-up area, not a parking area".

Up to 2100 vehicles a day were entering the pick-up area, the spokesman said. A "strong majority" were exiting in under 10 minutes.

A specific figure was not available because it was possible for users to leave via an alternative exit shared by short-term parking customers.

Interpreting "strong majority" to mean two in three cars, the airport would still rake in about $1.8 million a year in additional parking fees from the third who did not escape within 10 minutes.

The spokesman said drivers could choose to leave inside the free period, loop around then re-enter the pick-up area.

"The decision is up to them - you are not in prison. If you don't want to pay, you just drive out. If you want you can spend your afternoon driving in, waiting and exiting.

"The choice is 100 per cent with the driver. There's no limit on entering and exiting four, five, six, seven times," he said.

Sydney has what the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission labelled the most expensive carpark at the nation's worst airport.

In March the consumer watchdog found Sydney had, for the third year in a row, the lowest quality of service of the five mainland capital airports.

It also reported that Sydney Airport parking charges were more than three times those of Adelaide Airport.