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16th January
My daughter is due to arrive at Gatwick at 21:15 on 16th January and has to
get back to Cambridge. Looking at NRE and expecting a tube strike she couldn't see how she can get home, even with a choice of buses from Hitchin or Bishop's Stortford. Normally she could get Thameslink to SPILL and walk across to King's Cross but not at that time of night. She can probably get to London Bridge and then get a 35 or 47 bus to Liverpool Street (or even walk) in plenty of time to get the 23:58 to Bishop's Stortford. But will her through rail ticket be accepted on the bus if the tube isn't running? -- Colin Rosenstiel |
16th January
wrote in message
... My daughter is due to arrive at Gatwick at 21:15 on 16th January and has to get back to Cambridge. Looking at NRE and expecting a tube strike she couldn't see how she can get home, even with a choice of buses from Hitchin or Bishop's Stortford. Normally she could get Thameslink to SPILL and walk across to King's Cross but not at that time of night. She can probably get to London Bridge and then get a 35 or 47 bus to Liverpool Street (or even walk) in plenty of time to get the 23:58 to Bishop's Stortford. But will her through rail ticket be accepted on the bus if the tube isn't running? -- Colin Rosenstiel Suspension of the ASLEF strike seems to have answered your question. However an alternative would have been to use National Express coach service 797, leaving Gatwick at 2145. I appreciate that a near four hour journey may not be attractive (travelling via Heathrow and Stansted) but it would at least offer a through service, which could be helpful if your daughter has much luggage with her. JL |
16th January
In message , at
13:58:19 on Mon, 2 Jan 2012, J Lynch remarked: My daughter is due to arrive at Gatwick at 21:15 on 16th January .... an alternative would have been to use National Express coach service 797, leaving Gatwick at 2145. 30 minutes from gate to coach seems a trifle optimistic. If she's got any checked bags, completely impossible. -- Roland Perry |
16th January
wrote in message
... My daughter is due to arrive at Gatwick at 21:15 on 16th January and has to get back to Cambridge. Looking at NRE and expecting a tube strike she couldn't see how she can get home, even with a choice of buses from Hitchin or Bishop's Stortford. Normally she could get Thameslink to SPILL and walk across to King's Cross but not at that time of night. She can probably get to London Bridge and then get a 35 or 47 bus to Liverpool Street (or even walk) in plenty of time to get the 23:58 to Bishop's Stortford. But will her through rail ticket be accepted on the bus if the tube isn't running? Probably - have a look at the FCC website. Even the cash fare wouldn't be a huge deal-breaker if not. -- DAS |
16th January
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16th January
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16th January
On Sun, 01 Jan 2012 13:25:46 -0600, rosenstiel wrote:
Normally she could get Thameslink to SPILL and walk across to King's Cross but not at that time of night. She can probably get to London Bridge and then get a 35 or 47 bus to Liverpool Street (or even walk) in plenty of time to get the 23:58 to Bishop's Stortford. But will her through rail ticket be accepted on the bus if the tube isn't running? Erm, dunno, but the worst case scenario is a £2.20 bus fare....? (or £1.30 with Oyster) There's the 149 and 48 as bus options too. |
16th January
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16th January
In article ,
(Paul Corfield) wrote: On Mon, 02 Jan 2012 14:15:40 -0600, wrote: In article , (Paul Corfield) wrote: On Mon, 2 Jan 2012 16:57:25 +0000 (UTC), Martin Petrov wrote: On Sun, 01 Jan 2012 13:25:46 -0600, rosenstiel wrote: Normally she could get Thameslink to SPILL and walk across to King's Cross but not at that time of night. She can probably get to London Bridge and then get a 35 or 47 bus to Liverpool Street (or even walk) in plenty of time to get the 23:58 to Bishop's Stortford. But will her through rail ticket be accepted on the bus if the tube isn't running? Erm, dunno, but the worst case scenario is a £2.20 bus fare....? (or £1.30 with Oyster) £2.30 cash or £1.35 PAYG now - fares up today. Rail ticket acceptance would have to be pre-agreed and I'm not sure if Thameslink closures give TfL bus acceptance between London Bridge and Liverpool Street. I'm also not sure that a tube strike gives automatic acceptance of NR tickets on buses. I was told yesterday by the London Travel Information call centre that NR tickets would be accepted in a strike to get across central London between stations. Oh well I've learnt something. There's the 149 and 48 as bus options too. And the 133 as well which runs into the Bus Station rather than Bishopsgate. Yes, London Travel Information told me there are lots of options, all signposted at London Bridge and that staff would be present to assist. Did they also say how busy services normally are never mind during a strike day? I am always surprised how many people make the LOB - LST journey by bus, even off peak. You can easily have 30-40 people waiting despite the high frequencies. Sorry to seem like a party pooper but if the strikes are put back on then the buses are likely to be busy and quite probably badly disrupted at that time of day after a whole day of battling through traffic and dealing with strike crowds. It is worth remembering that routes 21 and 43 run from London Bridge to Moorgate which is only 3-4 mins walk to Liverpool Street. Indeed. I just report what I was told. :-) If she is able to walk with her luggage then she needs the directions as a back up option in order to get to Liverpool Street in a predictable manner. Hopefully none of this logistical back up will be necessary. I did at first tell he she would have time to walk but the whole idea was based on there being a strike and a 23:58 from Liverpool St but that only runs on Fridays. Oops! My excuse is that there are buses from Bishop's Stortford that day and the 23:58 runs to there every day. OK, I plead insanity. She'll be able to get a later train from Gatwick to Victoria now and the Victoria Line to King's Cross for the 00:04 to Hitchin. She still has to get a (rail replacement) bus to get to Cambridge. I was slightly surprised to see that a Cambridge-Gatwick off-peak return is valid on Gatwick Express these days. -- Colin Rosenstiel |
16th January
On Mon, 02 Jan 2012 10:58:05 -0600,
wrote: She told me it was £30 or thereabouts. Her return train ticket is £28. With YP? Neil -- Neil Williams, Milton Keynes, UK |
16th January
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16th January
wrote in message ... In article , (Neil Williams) wrote: On Mon, 02 Jan 2012 10:58:05 -0600, wrote: She told me it was £30 or thereabouts. Her return train ticket is £28. With YP? Yes. -- Colin Rosenstiel I fully agree that the coach service may not be an attractive option for everyone, but let's try to put a level playing field in place before we dismiss the idea. If even a 2247 train is ambitious, there is a later NatEx coach departure at 2325 from Gatwick (service 727) - which again provides a through service to Cambridge. As Neil Williams highlights, the rail fare quoted by Colin Rosenstiel is discounted using a Young Persons rail card, yet he suggests that a walk on coach fare will be "expensive", ignoring the availability of an annual Young Persons coach card for £10 (by contrast a YP rail card currently costs £28 for a year). If cost is not an issue, then in terms of convenience it seems that the (rail) journey described could involve the following journey legs:- Gatwick to Victoria (train) Victoria to Kings Cross (tube) Kings Cross to Hitchin (train) Hitchin to Cambridge (rail replacement bus) Presumably carrying the (checked) luggage, referred to by another poster, up and down two sets of underground escalators and from a train to a bus at Hitchin is not an inconvenience? I don't have a problem if the train is considered to be a better choice, but let's just consider the evidence first before dismissing other options. JL |
16th January
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