On Nov 4, 4:21*pm, John Ray
wrote:
On 04/11/2010 15:37, Mizter T wrote:

One can take a peek at Stratford International and partake in the
unusual shuttle bus ride through the building site that links it to
Stratford (Regional) station without riding on the Highspeed trains -
just head to Stratford Regional and then find the shuttle bus from there
to Int'l (departs from the end of platform 11 or whatever it is), look
around the concourse/foyer and visit the flashy loos though note that
there are ticket gates which'll prevent you from getting down to the
platforms, before getting the shuttle bus back to Stratford Regional.
(There's some notional restriction on access to the Int'l station being
limited to SE Highspeed ticket holders, but given that there's ticket
machines and I think a ticket office available at the Int'l station, I
don't think this means much, and no-one checks for a ticket getting on
the shuttle bus either.)

A couple of months ago I took the shuttle bus to Stratford International
(as you say, there was no ticket check on the bus) and asked there for a
platform ticket, saying that I wanted to take some photographs. This was
issued to me for the princely sum of 10p, and I had the impression that
it was not an unusual request. The ticket was valid for 1 hour from the
time of issue; I overstayed by about 30 minutes and perhaps for that
reason the ticket would not open the barrier gate. However, the gate was
opened for me by a member of staff without any problem.

Conversely, the one time I found myself at the top of platform 11,
there was a ticket inspector checking people before they got the bus,
and selling tickets to those who didn't have them. (Being too much of
a cheapskate to pay a fiver to get to Central London, and grumbling a
bit about there being no supplement to a weekly travelcard, I retraced
my steps and took the Central Line instead.)