London Banter - View Single Post - Traveling with Luggage

John B · June 28th 06, 02:54 PM posted to uk.transport.london

wrote:
In late July we'll be coming into King's Cross Station with a fair
amount of luggage. Ideally we'd like to take the tube from there to
Southfields. What we haven't been able to determine from the available
information is whether we'd have multiple stairs to descend and climb
to do so (I know we'll have them at Southfields). I'd welcome advice
on what we'll encounter and whether we should just gulp and take a
taxi.

It seems to me that there are two possible routes
1) King's Cross - High Street Kensington - Southfields
2) King's Cross - Victoria - Southfields

Is either of these more or less a problem - it looks online as though
Victoria has more escalators?

There are lifts from the mainline station at KX to the Circle Line
concourse and also down to the Circle Line platforms (for High St
Kensington), whereas getting to the Victoria Line platforms at KX
requires a flight of stairs and an escalator.

Then at High Street Kensington, the District Line train to Southfields
will come on the *same* platform as the Circle Line train that you've
just left, whereas changing at Victoria will involve an escalator and a
flight of stairs.

The journey via High Street Kensington will be a bit, but not more than
10 mins, slower than the journey via Victoria. I'd strongly recommend
taking the Kensington route if you've got luggage.

Also, my research seems to indicate that an "oyster card" is the smart
thing for us to get for tube and bus travel during our week in London.
Does that make sense? If so, can I buy one at King's Cross?

Yes to both. As Helen says, online might be less hassle than at KX
laden with luggage.

You also need to think about how much travelling you're going to be
doing - an Oyster card comes in two varieties. It can either be a
Travelcard (a season ticket, in your case lasting a week) or
Pay-as-you-go (you put cash on it and then get money deducted per
journey).

If you're going to make more than about two Tube journeys a day within
central London, a Travelcard is a good idea; if you're going to make
fewer than that it will probably be cheaper and easier to get
Pay-as-you-go.

However, Pay-as-you-go is only valid on some ex-British Rail train
services (and is not valid on any ex-BR services from Wimbledon),
although it is valid on all trams, Tubes, buses and DLR trains, so if
you plan to use those then it complicates the picture again.

--
John Band
john at johnband dot org
www.johnband.org