If you are in Melbourne, there are quite a few ways and methods by which you can travel to the airport, and from the airport to the city. You could book an Uber, take the SkyBus service, or book a chauffeured car. In this post, we will do a comparison between the SkyBus and a chauffeured car to see which one is the better option for traveling to the airport and back.
What is SkyBus?
SkyBus is a bus service that operates in limited cities that include Melbourne, Hobart, Auckland, and Brisbane. The SkyBus service is quite affordable, and it runs 7 days a week. The Melbourne City Express (which is the SkyBus service that runs between Tullamarine Airport and Melbourne City) operates from 4:30 AM till midnight.
There are some very useful and convenient features of the SkyBus that make it an excellent travel option for airport transfers. Let’s discuss some of those in the next part.
Benefits of the SkyBus
The first benefit of the SkyBus is that it is very affordable and reasonably priced. In the Melbourne City Express Super Special offer, an adult ticket for a one-way trip costs just 15 AUD. If a child is accompanying the adult, the ticket for the former comes at a mere 2 dollars. In comparison to other car booking services, this is quite inexpensive.
The second benefit of the SkyBus is that the tickets can be easily bought online. Passengers have the choice of printing the ticket and showing it at the time of departure, or they can simply show their smartphone with the ticket opened on it. In the Melbourne City Express, the tickets are valid for three months from the time of purchase, unless a different period is specified.
You can either buy a one-way ticket or a return ticket. The one-way ticket can be used for a single trip in either direction viz. from the airport to the city terminal or vice versa. The return ticket allows you two trips back and forth from the city to the airport or vice versa. Passengers can simply buy a round-trip ticket and get to the airport to catch their flight. Then, when they come back (days, weeks, or even months later), they can show the return ticket at the SkyBus and get a ride back to the city. Since the tickets are valid for three months, there is no hurry in using them.
These are some of the numerous other benefits that you can enjoy when traveling on the SkyBus.
Some downsides….
There are some downsides to the SkyBus that passengers should be mindful of. However, these ‘cons’ do not indicate any sort of deficiency or incompetence in the quality of the service. Rather, these are simply some factors that are associated with public bus services in general and are merely listed as a part of the comparison between private car services and the SkyBus.
The SkyBus service, like other public buses, does not provide door-to-door pick-ups and drop-offs. There are designated stops and points where passengers are dropped off and picked up from.
Similarly, unlike privately hired cars, the passengers can’t specify the time of departure nor can any sort of stops/detours be made along the ride. There are certain timings and schedules that passengers have to follow in order to use the SkyBus.
Chauffeured Car Services
For passengers who are averse to traveling in public transportation, chauffeured car services are a suitable alternative. Melbourne Chauffeur Services is one such company that provides customers with luxurious automobiles driven by expert drivers. Chauffeured car services, like SkyBus, have different pros and cons. Let us look at some of these.
Advantages of Chauffeured Cars
The first benefit of chauffeured cars is that passengers can choose their own pick-up and drop-off points. Unlike buses and trains, you don’t have to be at a certain place in order to board. When making your reservation, you can enter your desired pick-up location and time.
Chauffeured cars also provide you with a greater degree of privacy and isolation as compared to public transportation. If you are not comfortable traveling in large crowds or groups of people, you can opt for chauffeur-driven cars to give yourself some comfortable privacy.
However, chauffeured car services can be very expensive and costly as compared to public transportation. The SkyBus offers a ticket at just 15 dollars (in the Melbourne City Express Super Special offer) whereas a privately-hired, chauffeured car will cost you much more.
Which is the better option: Chauffeured Cars or SkyBus?
SkyBus and chauffeured cars are both decent traveling options for airport transfers. However, there are different circumstances in which the SkyBus service would be the better choice, and there are other situations where chauffeured cars would be the better way to go. For solo travelers and people who can’t afford to spend money on a privately-hired car, using the SkyBus would be more suitable. If, however, you are looking to travel with a large family or with a foreign, corporate visitor, then a chauffeured car would be the better alternative.