16.3 - P4, M3 & D2

Learner Assessment Submission and Declaration

When submitting evidence for assessment, each learner must sign a declaration confirming that the work is their own. You may use this form, or incorporate a learner declaration into an Assignment Brief front sheet.

Learner name: Hayley Richell		Assessor name: Monica Bircham
Issue date: 20/04/16	Submission date: 08/05/16		Submitted on:
Programme: BTEC level 3 90 credit diploma and  Extended Diploma in Travel and Tourism
Unit: 16 - Passenger Transport for Travel and Tourism
Assignment reference and title: 3-Getting around

Task ref.	Evidence submitted	Page numbers or  description
P4	Word Document	Five pages
M3	Word Document	One page
D2	Word Document	1.5 pages
Additional comments to the Assessor:

Sport tourists also visit the capital for many events, such as the Olympics in 2012, London marathons, football matches and other sporting events.
In 2014, many inbound tourists visited the Tate modern and the imperial war museum. Also in 2014, a report was produced by VisitBritain stating that farms and heritage centers had a 6% increase on visitor numbers compared to 2012 and 2013.  The only tourist attraction/ location which had a decrease is places of worship and was down by 5%, examples of worship places are Westminster Abbey and St Paul’s Cathedral. Some people may visit London for the visit.
Domestic visitors can get to the capital by train, bus, ferry and river bus.


Students at University should get a discounted rate as only students up to 18 years old can have an oyster card which charges less, although college is free till 19 years old.
In order to increase the amount of train frequency in London, the only way that could be feasible is a fully computerized system that operates the trains instead of having drivers. The DLR train line is already operating this way. In Paris, their metro system is all computer and mechanical operated and it is a proven way of improving train times, safety of travelers and drivers.

Please list the evidence submitted for each task. Indicate the page numbers where the evidence can be found or describe the nature of the evidence (e.g., video, illustration).

Unit 16

Passenger transport for travel and tourism

P4, M3 & D2

Introduction

I will be explaining how passenger transport provision can influence the popularity and appeal of UK tourist destinations. I will then compare the effectiveness of passenger transport provision for two cities in the UK. Finally, I will evaluate the contribution of passenger transport to the popularity and appeal in a specific destination, making recommendations for improvements.

P4

In this part of the assignment I will be explaining how transport companies can influence visitor numbers

London, England

Popularity and appeal:

Types of visitors

London attracts over 50% of overseas visits worldwide, from different countries, in 2013 16.8 million inbound visitors came to the capital. Many people visit London because of the tourist attractions, the history and cultural of the city and that is one of the top ten cities to visit.

In 2013 there were 12.3 million domestic visitors in London, they may have to go to a tourist attraction or visit friends and families, but the only comparison to inbound tourists is that they already live in the UK.

Other visitors to London consist of business visitors (going to an important meeting, or visiting another branch of the company), people attending for medical purposes (many top children hospitals are situated within the capital) and just for leisure purposes (shopping, going out for a meal or going to see a theatre show)

Some people may visit London for the open green spaces and the events they have on offer such as the British Summer Time festival and winter wonderland in Hyde park or LoveBox festival in Victoria Park

Duration of stays

Some visitors may only spend a night in London if they have a business meeting or hospital appointment and have to travel a long distance via public transport, but some stays can last up to a few months (depending on the reason). There was lots of people staying over in London in 2014 due to the long periods of warm weather, attracting people to stay for longer in the capital. People whom visit London from other destinations in the world, mainly from Europe only stay for a few days and come many times during the year, and they mainly stay in cheaper hotels such as Premier Inn and Travelodge. In 2014, there was 274 million day visits to the capital and the the total amount of overnight visits has increased an extra 16% from 2009, bringing an extra 3.9 million visits. 

Spending

In 2014, inbound tourists spent over 3 billion pounds and combined with domestic tourists spent, £11.8 billion was gained through the tourism industry alone.

In 2011, the royal wedding brought in £26 million just through purchases of merchandise such as mugs, oyster cards, plates, phone cases, toilet roll holders, clothes, stationary, key rings etc. Inbound and domestic tourists spend money when visiting London as you have to buy a ticket to enter a tourist attraction, buy food and drinks and a gift as a reminder for yourself or family members back home.

People also spend money on transport options to get around London, domestic tourists are likely to use their oyster cards to travel by bus and train and inbound tourists can buy travel tickets and use taxi’s. 

Activity participation

Tourists both inbound and domestic spend many days or just a single day in watching or participating in the London marathon, visiting tourist attractions, attending a medical trial, visiting friends and family, watch a show in the theatre or other things to do in London.

Provision:

Modes of transport available

There are many different ways of getting to London for both domestic and inbound visitors.

Inbound and domestic visitors can fly into City airport as it 49 minutes away from Central London via taxi. British Airways is the biggest air transporter that goes into City airport, bringing passengers from places like: France, Germany, Denmark, Ireland, Scotland, Portugal, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Isle of Man, Greek Islands, USA and Holland. 

The most popular way for the domestic visitors to get to London is by train because there is a wide variety of being able to get into London, there are fourteen different types of Tube: Overground, TFL Rail & DLR which includes: Bakerloo, Central, Circle, District, Hammersmith and City, Jubilee, Metropolitan, Northern, Piccadilly, Victoria, Waterloo and City, London Overground, TFL Rail and the DLR. In total there are 440 stations which allows domestic visitors from many areas (in London itself or the surrounding areas) to easily be able to access London.

Levels of service

The flights that go to City Airport are very frequent with British Airways inbound and domestic flights coming in every single hour, bringing in more inbound tourists to enjoy the capital.

British Airways have two classes for the inbound and domestic which are economy and business class. For people travelling from the USA, there is also first class for people to travel in style and comfort for arrival into London.  

Trains into London occur around every ten minutes from zones 1-6 depending on the day and the time of day (on and off peak)

The trains operate in and around London do not have different class types but the trains from other locations in the UK (like Virgin Trains) will have a first class for the passengers to pay extra for.

Geographical coverage

The transport network within London is large.  The trains run from zone 1 (which is from the central London areas and major tourist attractions) to zone 6 (outer areas of London, mainly areas in Essex).

British airways fly into city airport which is 50 minutes from central London meaning it is can bring many inbound tourists in from many countries.

Channels of distribution and costs

For inbound and domestic tourists to book a British airways flight into London they can do it through their own website. You can also book a flight via last minute.com and travel republic.

For people travelling around on the trains, there are many ways of paying as you can not book a ticket only purchasing them.  Tourists can buy tickets and oysters cards online, at the train stations, newsagents. A new way of payment is via apple pay and contactless payment (using your credit/debit card as an oyster card)

To travel on the trains in and getting to London will either cost £3.10 or £5.10 depending on the time of the day (peak or non-peak times).

British Airways flight prices depending on time, day, flying from and how long in advance it is book but on average it costs around £80 for a flight from Spain.

Infrastructure

London is an ideal place for inbound tourists to visit, because City airport is located in the right place, making it easy for people to get to their hotels. Also, many of the tourist attractions have one or more train stations and plenty of bus stops nearby making it accessible to get from the hotel to the attraction without any confusion if they do not understand the tube network and how to change if they need to get on another line.

Domestic visitors who live in London and the surrounding areas find the trains infrastructure and stations easy to navigate and understand the ways in and out. The infrastructure also involves the escalators and barriers, which local tourists understand what escalators to use and which side of the station of the barriers people need to use to get in and out of the station.

Integrated public transport provision

This is when the train companies put on extra services when there is important event on such as the 2012 Olympics, the train companies put on more trains allowing the domestic and inbound tourists to easily get from London tourist attractions/ events to hotels or back to home. London also has an integration provision with many types of companies to promote their brands and businesses by advertising on the trains, on the buses, at bus stations and also at tube stations on the other side of the platform.

Another way the trains have a public transport provision by having the barriers open at rush times when an event has just finished to reduce crowd size and improve customer safety. The barrier will be open after a music concert, sporting event or other events. If the weather is bad, the barriers will also be open due to the slippery floors it will cause accidents if they fall over will disturb the system of the barriers.

Cardiff, Wales

Popularity and appeal:

Types of visitors

People visit Cardiff for many reasons: for an event like a hen or stag do, sporting event – football or cricket.

In 2010 More than 10 million tourists visited Cardiff in the first six months of this year – up three million on last year. More than 14 million tourists came to the capital in 2009 of the

The number of tourists staying overnight has risen by 48% since 1998. Many tourists visit Wales from other countries within Europe, last July the most popular places people came from were: France, Ireland and German. Also in the same month there was data collected saying there were 26 thousand American tourists visiting the capital of Wales.

Duration of stays

People may stay over for many reasons: a night for a late night concert or football match, two nights for a hen or stag do, visiting a friend in university, three or more nights for a holiday (inbound or domestic) or business related. Many people visit Cardiff for a weekend but in 2009 only 1.5 million people stayed in the city for more than one night however there were over 3 million overnight stays recorded. In the same year there were 13 million day trippers.

Spending

In 2009, visitors spent £703m in Cardiff. But five years later, tourists spent over £1 billion and 127 million pounds of that money was generated by inbound tourists. These figures increased by 4.5% since the previous year (2013)

Activity participation

Many tourists visit Cardiff for the shopping centers and the green areas.  The most popular places for both inbound and domestic tourists to visit is the Cardiff Bay ad Cardiff Castle as it is full of history and are the landmarks of Capital.

Many of the tourists will spend money in the St David’s shopping center as it has over 200 shops making it appealing for the tourists to go when the weather is not good for visiting outdoor attractions.

For the visitors who love sport the Millennium Stadium and Swalec Stadium are popular places for them to have a tour around or even watch/attend a sporting event.

Provision:

Modes of transport available

Cardiff have many types transport for inbound and domestic tourists to easily navigate and get around the city. There are many trains people can get on in Cardiff. One train goes from Queen Street Station to Cardiff Bay which takes around four minutes whilst stopping off at three other stations. Cardiff also have a train line which goes from the central station to the Valleys and Vale of Glamorgan which is ideal for people who want a day away from the city and into a rural area.

For domestic tourists visiting from London, they can get on a high speed link train which takes around two hours and departs from London Paddington. Another way for inbound and domestic visitors people to get to Cardiff can be by Megabus, by getting a coach from other European destinations to get to Cardiff.

Levels of service

The high speed link train from London to Cardiff leaves every 30 minutes, the different classes available on board are economy, business and first class allowing the domestic tourists to visit depending on the style and comfort they want.

Mega bus does not have and classes only basis travel but it still includes free Wi-Fi and plug sockets.  The coaches do not go fast as they have to set to a speed limit set by the company (80 mph)

Geographical coverage

Megabus is the transport option that has a wide geographical coverage; having people visit from Italy, France, Spain, Germany, Belgium and Netherlands.

The high speed rail train from London to Cardiff only stops off at stations on the way. In peak times, the train will either hardly stop at stations or not at all.

Channels of distribution and cost

Domestic tourists can get tickets for the train from Paddington station online or at the ticket booths at the station.  Tourists travelling on Megabus have to book their tickets in advance through the Megabus website.

Inbound tourists can also book transport options as an extra ancillary service with their travel agent when booking their holiday to Cardiff.

Megabus fares vary from a £1 to £3 depending on the time and departure location, for example London in the afternoon will be more expensive than Bradford in the early morning.  The trains will also vary in price depending on the date of booking (when booking for and how long in advance), the time of travel and the departure location.

Infrastructure

The station were the high speed link trains arrive in and also were the Megabus arrive to   to are designed with the tourists in mind, it is designed to be easily accessible and navigated with easy ways of walking around the station by having wide areas and signs to show people how to get to certain areas (way out, shop and other platforms)

Integrated public transport provision

Sometimes, the transport companies have to put on extra services or just run a bit later than to the normal schedule if there is an event which is finishing later than the last train.  For example, the events could be: a sporting event or a music concert.  

M3

In this part of the assignment I will be comparing the effectiveness of passenger transport provision and how they create and sustaining popularity and appeal to tourists

Both London and Cardiff have many differences of the passenger transport operations and have many ways of keeping tourists visiting the capital, so I will be comparing each capital and their transport methods. However, they both provide suitable transportation links required for their City, in order to meet customer’s satisfaction.

Firstly, both of the capital city’s charge a reasonable for transportation methods for the inbound and domestic visitors (planes and trains), although London charges £1.50 per bus ride whereas Cardiff only charge a £1. By having low cost bus rides in both of the cities no matter of the difference in cost it carries on appealing to tourists as they can go round the cities for a low cost and spend the rest of the money on tourist attractions or on food and drink.

London transport have more frequent trains and buses which arrive every ten minutes in central whereas in Cardiff the buses and trains arrive every fifteen minutes making London more appealing for tourists wanting to travel around to different attractions on the same day without have long transport waits. By having frequent trains and buses in London its create the city as an efficient place for tourists to visit as they can create an itinerary and keep to it as they know how long it will take to get from one location to another and how long they have to wait for a bus or train meaning they can plan a full packaged day and use public transport rather than walking or getting a Uber taxi

City airport is a lot closer to central London (49 minutes) whereas Cardiff airport is only 30 minutes away from the city center. However, there are less transport links to choose from for the inbound and domestic tourists to get to the main city area whereas London has a wide variety of links.

This might be suitable for tourist to visit London instead of Cardiff, as there are different choices the fares vary in money meaning it will attract all people with different budgets. By having airports near the cities it means it will bring in more tourists who only want to go to London for a few days and don’t want to spent it transporting from the airport to the city and then back again. By having an airport nearby it is also beneficial as the tourists will be able to then work out where to stay and visit on a map. 

London also have many designated bike lanes on the roads within the capital making it easy for tourists to get around without getting stuck in the traffic, it is also appealing for tourists who are environmental aware and want to stay active during their holiday. The government have also provided many stands around the capital where tourists can hire bikes for a fee (£2 for 24 hours) which makes London more appealing as tourists are helping improve air quality and seeing the sights from a different view. By having bike lanes and bike stands it means that people can travel around London easily and do not have to spend a lot of money hiring a bike. By having people hire bikes it means that it keeps London a popular destination as people are wanting to participate in more sustainable tourism and the bike transport is environmentally as the money gained is then spent on making more bike lanes

D2

In the final part of the assignment I will evaluate the contribution of passenger transport to the popularity and appeal in London and make recommendations for improvements.

                 

My first recommendation for London is to make travel fares cheaper because the prices go up every year instead of going down.

In addition, tourists travelling to London from another country for holidays, with children under 16 years olds should have travel fares for their children for half price. This will be appealing for tourists, as it is more cost effective.

My second recommendation for London is to change all of the buses to more economically friendly and reduce carbon emissions. Because London already is polluted very badly by many cars driving everyday, and trains operating, I believe this will be a suitable step towards improving air quality around London. This change will highly be appreciated by travelers, as it may resolve in people travelling by bus to work instead of their car or any other transport because its more suitable for the environment.

Also, London should consider on making as many bike lanes as possible, due to high amount of people deciding to cycle when traveling to and from work. By making more bike lanes it might encourage more people to use their bikes, as some of the routes still do not have bike lanes, which may be stopping people to travel by bike due to roads being too busy and not safe around bikes. This may also reduce traffic by 2%.

In addition, during peak times trains should be travelling more frequently as it will reduce people being squeezed inside the train and at the same time it will improve safety around the station, due to people not pushing each other.

Another recommendation is that people should be able to top up their oyster card via online, which will be a flexible option as people could do this from their home. As many business travelers do not have time in the morning to queue and then top up the oyster cards before the journey to work. However, at the moment the only way you can top up your oyster card is by auto top u, meaning it will automatically top up when the allowance goes down to £10.

Good aspects of London Transport

There are a lot of good aspects of London transport and the main one is the different types of transport: domestic flights, rail, bus & coach, Taxis, domestic ferries and river bus meaning there a lot of options for tourists and workers to have if: they have to get to a different location, one is busy or not working or going to another location.

Another good aspect of the transport in London is how often the transport types run and how frequent they arrive. The transport types are normally on time unless a problem has occurred (someone jumped onto the tracks, weather, workers striking or signal failure)

My final good aspect of London transport is how disabled friendly the transport types are. Some of the train stations are disabled friendly as they have lifts as well as stairs for the wheelchairs and people who can not walk far. Once on the train there are seats that are for disabled people and people should give up their seats if there is a disabled person on board.

British airways are an example of a domestic airline who offer special assistance on and off the aircraft and special seats near exits and toilets for the people.

Also another transport provider that are suitable for disabled people are the buses as they can bring out a ramp so they can get on and then on the bus there is a certain area where wheelchairs can go so they are not going to get knocked when people get off the bus and seats for people who can not go up the stairs or need some space to sit down.

Bad aspects of London Transport

A bad aspect of London transport is the over crowding on platforms waiting for the trains and at bus stops waiting for the bus, because so many tourists want to cover all of London and workers mainly leave all at the same time (5pm) meaning everyone gets to the stations and bus stops at the same time and the platforms are not wide enough.

There are different fare prices depending on the time if it is peak or off peak, meaning during the peak times not only do the fares go up but there will be a lot of people on the platforms and bus stops both morning and evening.

Which leads to my last bad aspect which there is more chance of another terrorist attack happening when its peak time and the platforms/ trains are full capacity as the terrorists can kill as many people in one go rather than doing multiple attacks over a period of time. Even though this aspect is not directly relating to the transport types it still affects them.