In message , at 19:17:53 on Thu, 9 Oct
2014, Clive Page remarked:
On 09/10/2014 11:32, wrote:
London TravelWatch published yesterday a report on improving surface
access to London's airports. It can be found at:-
http://www.londontravelwatch.org.uk/news/view?id=497&x[0]=news/list

That's an interesting report, with fairly sensible (if fairly obvious)
conclusions. But one item on p6 stuck me as a bit odd, it says:

"London’s Oystercard/contactless payments ticketing system should be
extended to cover journeys on Heathrow Express and Heathrow Connect to
and from Heathrow Airport, and on journeys to and from Luton Airport
Parkway and Stansted Airport stations"

I've seen similar (or were they an earlier version of the same) reports
about extending Oyster to those airports. Maybe the roll-out of
contactless payments will trump that, especially for the tourist market
who are unlikely to have Oysters (on arrival at Luton, anyway).

I would have thought that covering journeys to/from Luton Airport (not
merely Airport Parkway) would be the think to aim for. Since the
shuttle bus is no longer free, without this arriving passengers will
have to find cash to pay for the bus, and only then could they use
their Oyster cards for the rail part of the journey. At present if
they can find the (well-hidden) places to buy rail tickets in the
airport they can buy a through ticket.

There's a prominent machine in baggage reclaim. I agree that there
should be better advertised ones landside (eg at the bus station).

The report also says on p27 that the bus is free to those holding rail
tickets - this is very misleading, as it only applies to those who have
bought a rail ticket to/from the *airport*, i.e. which has a higher
fare because it includes the shuttle bus element. All others have to
pay the extra fare, currently £1-60.

In the absence of a Cheap Day Single, I wonder how many tourists
arriving buy the much more expensive Open Single, rather than a Cheap
Day Return and throw the other half away?

Which if those fares would Oyster/CPC charge if you made only a single
journey?
--
Roland Perry