IT HAS BEEN described as a “significant step in the development of trust in the bus service” and the “means of changing the Cypriot mentality on public transport”.
The launch of the airport shuttle bus service linking the island’s main cities to Larnaca Airport has received its fair share of publicity in the last two weeks, and figures for its first week of operation look encouraging according to officials from the companies who operate the service.
So what is all the fuss about? With the escalating price of fuel and the incredibly expensive taxi ride to and from the airport, while not forgetting the chaotic scenes encountered at Larnaca Airport parking, common sense would say that the service is bound to be an unprecedented success.
But will it really be able to make Cypriots leave their car at home and use a bus to the airport?
Parking the car at the former International Conference Centre near the Philoxenia Hotel in Nicosia just before midday, there were already a dozen people waiting for the 12pm bus, with a Kapnos Airport Shuttle employee trying to load the luggage onto the minibus.
Paying the five euros for the trip, the ten or so passengers were all eager to find out how the service was doing.
“How is it going? Have you been busy?” one passenger asked the driver.
“We have had a quiet start, as expected, but things are definitely picking up towards the end of the week. More and more people are getting to know our service and we expect things to pick up even further,” the driver said.
A couple travelling for holidays to Thessaloniki explained their reasons behind switching to the bus despite having alternatives.
“We could have parked for free in Meneou at a friend’s place but chose to take the bus because we think it is a great idea. All of Europe has such public transport services and when we travel abroad we use them, so why not use them in our own country? It makes perfect sense and we are delighted that the government has finally done something about it,” they said.
The service charges five euros per person including VAT from Nicosia, seven from Limassol and a total of €14 from Paphos, while there is no extra cost for luggage, a price which is generally seen as a bargain.
“If you make your calculations, it costs next to nothing. The parking here at Philoxenia is free. Parking at the airport costs something like 10 euros a day and that is when you find any space to park there. A person going on a trip for seven days would have to pay 70 euros for the parking, and this is without the petrol costs to go and come back from Larnaca,” a passenger said.
“The petrol costs to go and come back from the airport are more than 10 euros. It is as much as a packet of cigarettes for the price of each trip,” another remarked.
Among the passengers was a Cyprus Airways employee using the service to travel to Larnaca in time for her work shift.
“It suits many people working at the airport perfectly. We are very happy about this because as employees working at the airport, we have had to travel from Nicosia to Larnaca and back every day and sometimes at 5am in the morning or come back at midnight. Driving at these times we were putting ourselves and other people in danger, we are very happy there is this alternative for us,” she said.
The Kapnos Airport Shuttle, which offers up to 30 trips to and from Larnaca airport from 5 in the morning to 1am, bases its timetable on flight timetables at the island’s busiest terminal, especially on departure and arrival times for Athens and London, which are the most popular destination for Cypriot travelers.
The question though is whether the service will prove popular for tourists as well as locals.
Waiting at the airport for the trip back to Nicosia, taxis seemed to be the most popular method of transport of tourists, many of who were not aware that such a service existed.
“We had no idea that we could take a bus to Limassol, this is the first we hear of it,” a family of English tourists who regularly visited the island told me.
A difficult task for the companies operating the service is to increase the number of people travelling from the airport to Nicosia, Limassol and Paphos, especially in the case of foreign visitors.
Limassol Urban Buses (Ltd), the company running the service from Limassol have said that they are confident that in the future the number of travellers will increase as they have sent information to tour operators, the Cyprus Tourism Organisation and are also preparing advertising leaflets that will available at the airport. Kapnos Airport Shuttle has also set up an office at the airport which would cater for any travellers wishing to go back to Nicosia.
Another problem for the companies is that people do not book their place in advance, meaning that drivers are not sure what buses to use.
“These are early teething problems that will sort themselves out as time passes. Things will become clearer and it will be easier for us to estimate how many people travel at the various times,” said the driver for the return journey, which carried only another two passengers.
While everyone seems confident of the long-term success of this long-awaited service, what is the verdict after the first week of its operation?
While it may not be the way to change the Cypriot mentality on public transport just yet, I will definitely be using the service to go to the airport in two weeks time, as I am sure many others will as well.
