East Midlands Airport set to increase charges at rapid drop off point

It has been revealed that East Midlands Airport (EMA) is set to increase its charges for motorists dropping passengers at its rapid drop off (RDO) point.

EMA says that the increase in tariff will help to facilitate improvements to the drop-off point, which has been the subject of some controversy over recent weeks. 

EMA recently introduced a new waiting time structure in the RDO, reducing the waiting time to 5 minutes at a cost of £2, in the hope that it would ease traffic congestion in the area. However it resulted in having the opposite effect, creating huge traffic jams as vehicles attempted to leave the drop-off point within the 5 minute time frame.

To help improve clearing vehicles from the airport in a timely fashion, the airport has begun increasing staff presence at peak times. 

The new scheme, which will help pay for future infrastructure improvements, begins on Monday 24 June, with the rapid drop-off tariff changing from £2 for 10 minutes to £3 for 10 minutes.  

It was reported in the West Bridgford Wire that Karen Smart, East Midlands Airport’s Managing Director, said: “We recently made changes to the waiting times in rapid drop-off with the best intentions of resolving traffic flow issues which cause road congestion across the airport site. We still need to address this problem as passengers want to enter and leave the airport easily. However, we listened to customer feedback and many drivers felt that 5 minutes drop-off wasn’t long enough.  

“It is clear that the overall passenger experience of RDO can only be improved if we make some changes to the infrastructure and staff it better. But this comes at a cost and therefore we need to raise the funds to pay for it. The new price is also designed to encourage more passengers to consider other parking options as well as using public transport such as the SkyLink bus service.” 

Image Source: Geograph

Image Author: Robin Stott