Edinburgh Airport trolleys

[Ranger43]

Just arrive back into Edinburgh this morning to find out you have to pay £1 for a trolly at baggage reclain, what next paying for toilets

[MGW]

In over 35 years of flying in and out of EDI, at the peak 12 to 13 business trips a year plus holidays, I don’t think I have used a luggage trolley even once.

[Froggee]

Welcome to Edinburgh Airport. Never knowingly under-monetised.

The trolleys were brought in with a big fanfare:

Like other airports, dedicated team, state- of-the-art (I kid you not), so they can be available for those that need them

I imagine airports are legally obliged to provide toilets but not trolleys. Here’s the thing. Of course you don’t need them on a business trip. The two main groups that I can see requiring them are families with young children and frail (old) people. I’d love if someone had a crack at a discrimination lawsuit. But given that $8 is normal in the US and Edinburgh charges a fiver to drop someone off, the direction of travel is guaranteed.

And seeing as you showed interest, here’s the relevant excerpt from a recent trip report!

“We were just in time for Edinburgh Airport’s new fleet of “state-of-the-art luggage trolleys” and against my natural instincts I decided I was willing to pay £1 to obtain one. To do this involves tapping a credit card and then one of the three trolley bays turns green which means the magnetic field securing the trolleys is temporarily switched off. I had a slight problem though in that there was a fellow desperately trying to wrangle one out without paying £1. I considered tapping my card as there was a 2:3 chance that the lane he was in would not light up and I could casually remove a trolley. It would have been good for giggles. But if the lane he was in lit up, then he would get my trolley and I doubt he would be willing to hand it over given how hard he had fought for it. So I waited. And waited. Until he eventually gave up. As I took my trolley, he looked at me in consternation. “Erm, you have to pay now mate” I said holding up my HSBC World Elite card. He skulked off.”

[JDB]

@Froggee – so is it a £1 fee as opposed to a £1 deposit? A £1 deposit is a very effective way of reducing the cost of trolley abandonment/collection but a pure fee will probably dissuade some users and not raise much net money towards collector wages.

[Froggee]

It is a fee. But you know the score. You get people used to the concept of paying to use a trolley and then steadily increase the price at more than inflation. This is what they did with the drop off charge.

The latest increase in the drop off charge was justified because so many people were dropping off, they had redevelop the ground floor of the multi storey car park to increase capacity to drop off! Erm, does that not result in more drop off revenue though?

I bet you one Scottish pound, sir, that the price to use a trolley at Edinburgh doubles within three years.

[Lady London]

I’ll raise you @Froggee. I’ll bet it at least triples.

[LD27]

Let’s just hope EDI doesn’t become like Frankfurt airport. I was sitting close to BA check in desks waiting for them to open. In half an hour I was shocked how many times the same people went through the rubbish bins looking for plastic bottles which could be recycled for cash and removed the trolleys left at checked in which obviously contained deposits.

[JDB]

@Froggee it does indeed sound likely they will increase the fee once it’s established. That’s also what will happen if they introduce some sort of % property tax or wealth tax. Back to airports though, I was interested because Heathrow spends hundreds of thousands on trolley collection across the airport and a deposit system might just discourage people from leaving their trolley in the car park blocking a car or just random places.

I don’t know how the Edinburgh funding model works but at Heathrow the £5 drop off fee and car parking fees go into the pot to reduce the passenger service charge and is also intended to help reduce emissions at the airport, a real issue to have any prospect of getting permission for expansion with or without a third runway.

[SamG]

I put a quid in a trolley at Stansted on Friday, moved it away from the rack and was looking for another coin in my bag for a second trolley. When I got back up someone had nicked it 🤣

Karma though as the quid had come from a trolley I’d found in the short stay car park on departure

To be honest I do not mind that much it’s a pain try to remember to have coins when I very rarely use cash otherwise

[Gordon]

SamG wrote:

I put a quid in a trolley at Stansted on Friday, moved it away from the rack and was looking for another coin in my bag for a second trolley. When I got back up someone had nicked it 🤣

Karma though as the quid had come from a trolley I’d found in the short stay car park on departure

To be honest I do not mind that much it’s a pain try to remember to have coins when I very rarely use cash otherwise

I’ve never really bothered with the trolleys, with a large check in case and a cabin case, each for me and my wife, 4 wheels on each are quite easy to navigate. But if you are luggage heavy, it’s a different story I guess.

[Sandgrounder]

They deserve to have a stack of them dragged down to Ingliston to dodge the airport premium on the tram

[SamG]

I’ve got 2 x 2yr old and I refuse to pay Hertz etc prices for car seat hire so they’re an absolute necessity at the moment unfortunately, car seats are the most annoyingly bulky item to travel with, otherwise I’m 100% with you @Gordon!

[Gordon]

SamG wrote:

I’ve got 2 x 2yr old and I refuse to pay Hertz etc prices for car seat hire so they’re an absolute necessity at the moment unfortunately, car seats are the most annoyingly bulky item to travel with, otherwise I’m 100% with you @Gordon!

Ahh ok, I can now see your predicament! I clearly remember those days, with anguish, but we are now in our 60’s and our three children in their thirties, that’s one thing less we have to worry about. That will come for you I’m sure.