Cost of Luton Airport Dart fares defended

The Luton Dart welcomed its first passengers last week

The cost of travelling on a shuttle service 1.4 miles (2.2km) between a railway station and airport has been defended.

Luton Direct Air-Rail Transit (Dart) links Luton Airport Parkway station to the London Luton Airport terminal.

Single fares will be £4.90 - more than double the cost of the bus journey.

Graham Oliver, chief executive of Luton Rising, which owns the airport, said: "Per mile of course it looks expensive, but its value is huge."

The Dart was operating on a restricted timetable of an "entirely flexible" four hours per day

Since last week, a limited number of passengers have been invited to use the service at no cost.

A full commercial operation is expected to begin by the end of March.

The existing bus service between the airport and railway station, which costs £2.40 one way and £3.80 for a return, will then be withdrawn.

Luton Rising, of which Luton Borough Council is the sole shareholder, funded the £290m project.

Journeys between the station and the airport will take about three minutes

Mr Oliver said the Dart was "like the Suez Canal" in Egypt, which connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea.

He said: "It connects two important parts. Its value is in the connectivity. There's a station here that's future-proofed.

"We have a bridge. We have tunnelling. We have a station at the airport."

Mr Oliver said it would not make sense for journeys to be free in the long-term as that would mean they would be "subsidised by the people of Luton".

"Our job is to support and enhance the lives of the people of Luton," he added.

The DART is a cable-drawn driverless railway

Work began on the Dart in 2018 and it was due to open by the end of 2020.

The pandemic caused setbacks and since then, delays have been down to the complexities of ticketing and revenue arrangements, Luton Rising said.

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