David of Broadway wrote:
Richard J. wrote:
David of Broadway wrote:

I'm still worried about time. Do the buses tend to be overcrowded
or should I be able to fit on the first one that pulls up? And do
they tend to get stuck in traffic?

Don't know, because the buses to T123 will have many more
passengers than the existing ones to T4. Depends how many extra
buses they manage to lay on.

According to the email from TfL, headways are 5-15 minutes (how
incredibly vague!). I have no idea if that's sufficient. Anybody
know?

Hmm. Since the trains are every 5 minutes for most of the day, I would
hope they would match that frequency, but of course the capacity of one
bus is a lot less than that of a train. My limited experience of
observing the T4 service is that they got it about right, if that's any
reassurance.

Also, on a different note, the email says that the bus will drop me
off at Terminal 2. How long a walk is it from there to Terminal 3?
Or is there another bus I should take?

It's around 5 to 10 minutes, all underground and much of it on
travolators. The LU shuttle bus drops off at T2, but if you catch a
285, say, it will take you to the central bus station, about half way
between T2 and T3.

The posters in stations advise passengers to allow an
extra 20 minutes; is that realistic? Exactly where in the train
should I be to be closest to the exit at Hatton Cross? (No, I
don't have the Way Out book.)

The Journey Planner indicates that some journeys will need an
extra 30 minutes. There are two exits from the platform, one near
the back of the train and one near the middle, as far as I
remember.

Do you know which one is closer to the bus stop?

Same distance, because both converge on the same stairs into the ticket
hall. The bus station is right outside, and includes both the special
buses and the normal services.

Probably because BAA wouldn't play ball. The HEx/HC line into the
airport is BAA's private railway, they own HEx and have a share in
HC with First GW.

I obviously wouldn't expect BAA to do it for nothing. But TfL could
(and should, in my opinion) have offered compensation.

In some past outages, Travelcards have been valid on HEx. Now, I do
think it's a little bit ridiculous to require a Travelcard (why
would somebody who's making a single trip to the airport,
especially before 9:30, have any use for a Travelcard?), but it's
still a lot better than nothing.

That applied during engineering works that stopped the Piccadilly at
Hyde Park Corner. The rule was probably because LU wanted to get
sufficient revenue to set against the exorbitant charges that BAA made.

[..]
And why is this outage taking place in the middle of the week
(immediately following a holiday weekend, yet!) in the first
place?

Because, say LU, at this time of year the airport is busier at
weekends.

Hmmm, I suppose that makes some sense. But why immediately
following a holiday weekend? Don't some people delay their returns
until after Bank Holiday? (An honest question -- as an American,
I don't know British travel customs. In the U.S., lots of people
extend their holiday weekends.) And, aside from Bank Holiday in
particular, doesn't travel drop off substantially as September
progresses?

No. Business travel increases to normal levels after the summer lull.
This week is probably the best option, after the holiday peak and before
the business traffic ramps up.
--
Richard J.
(to e-mail me, swap uk and yon in address)