Ashley Brown wrote:
Dave Arquati wrote:

One might think that a journey from the outskirts of London into the
centre would be quickest via a fast National Rail operator, like c2c
vs the District line from Upminster into the City.

[snip]

I used to travel from Hayes (Hillingdon) to Imperial College by a bus to
Hayes & Harlington, Thames Trains to Paddington, then Circle round to
Gloucester Road. Not only did this exclude me from student fares at the
time, it also meant travelling into Zone 1 and having to tolerate the
Circle.

About 18 months ago I switched to a bus to Northolt, tube to Notting
Hill Gate and then a 52 or 70 to Imperial (the 70 dropping me off right
outside). Not only did it cut my journey time by 15-30 minutes both
ways, it also means I never enter Zone 1 except by bus, halving the
amount I was paying on travel (as I became eligible for student fares as
well).

I considered the Circle from NHG to GR, but it takes so long that it's
really not worth it, particularly as I'd have to walk from GR and it
costs a lot more.

This is only a trip I make every few weeks so it's not too much of an
issue for me (the off-peak fare would be 10p extra if I got off at NHG
and took the bus), and I wasn't travelling to College itself anyway. But
for a regular journey it's certainly a good idea.

I even wrote a brief article for the student paper about why the Circle
line is so crap (amongst other things).

I've found the Central Line fantastically fast and have had very few
problems with it - frozen brakes on a train on the way to an exam was
probably the most problematic, but I still got there in time!

I presume the automatic train operation on the Central helps speed up
journey times a bit.


--
Dave Arquati
Imperial College, SW7
www.alwaystouchout.com - Transport projects in London