" wrote:

On 26/06/2011 12:47, Recliner wrote:
I've not noticed anything posted here, but it looks like the
much-delayed Heathrow pods are finally in service (or are they
technically still on trial?). Anyone here tried them yet?

Here's a recent video I came across:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NCnvBS2SME. It looks like a rather slow
and bumpy ride, but still better than the previous bus, and the views
are good. You even get delays before journeys start, just like the Tube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZ1cQVMm2rA

I notice they have right-hand running, despite being from a UK company.
This initial system isn't exactly ambitious, with very few stops (I
think two in the car park, and one at the terminal).


I heard a rumour here a while ago that they plan to have staff on site
for about a month after the PRT's start up to keep gawkers away.


I used the pods twice during the last week as I parked my car at T5
Business Car Park for a trip to Paris. They are quite a bit more
professional than I expected, with high quality finishes inside and
out. With a couple of reservations, they work well enough.

My reservations are (1) that headroom is poor - I'm 5' 10" tall and
had to duck to enter and leave the pod, which was inconvenient with
two bags (one cabin, one checked) - and (2) that the ride quality is
atrocious.

I could probably tolerate the lack of headroom. Once seated, it isn't
a problem. But the ride is desperately uncomfortable, with sharp,
undamped vertical shocks which are probably down to the small diameter
wheels and thin, solid rubber "tyres".

The design asks far too much of a primitive suspension system to soak
up the shocks that would normally be absorbed by the sidewalls of
pneumatic tyres. Well, they aren't pneumatic and they have no
sidewalls, so it is all left to suspension that is too sharply sprung
and has too little travel.

Of course the track is also part of the problem. If it had been
constructed to higher standards (a more even surface) there might have
been the chance of a smoother ride.

I'm unlikely to use the pods again as my future flights to Paris will
be to Orly Airport rather than Charles de Gaulle, so I will be flying
from London City instead. Orly is more convenient for where my
clients are based.

But if I should ever use Terminal 5 to fly to other destinations, I
will be sure to avoid the Business Car Park and the pods with the
appalling ride. A good idea let down by poor attention to a very
important detail.

If anyone wants to try the pods for themselves, there appeared to be
no restrictions on their use. There was no need to have parked in the
T5 Business Car Park.

You just get in a pod and go. There is a choice of two stations (A
and B) in the Business Car Park and just one in the terminal at the
north end of the short stay car park at T5, on Level 2.