Piccadilly line 'bustitution' to Heathrow this weekend
 

Like last weekend, there's no service on the Piccadilly line from
Hammersmith to either Osterley or Uxbridge.

Whilst Picc trains are running between Osterley to Heathrow, LU is
thankfully not expecting passengers to or from Heathrow to change from
tube train to replacement bus then back onto tube train, and so are
running fast replacement bus services to Heathrow.

(The days of being able to jump on HEx with an LU ticket or Oyster in
these situations are sadly no more - one assumes TfL turned down HEx's
kind request to cross their palm with silver, or platinum more like.)

It's how they're doing this bustitution that's interesting, as it
depends on which direction you're travelling in:
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/livetravelnews/realtime/track.aspx?offset=weekend

Heading *to Heathrow*, the express buses to the airport (service B to
T1&3, service C to T4 and T5) leave from Gunnersbury station. Those
turfed off the Piccadilly at Hammersmith should find an easy
cross-platform interchange to the District to get to Gunnersbury.

Meanwhile *from Heathrow* the express buses (both service B and C)
terminate at Hammersmith, not Gunnersbury.

Presumably this separation of departure and arrival points works better
from the perspective of dealing with expected passenger volumes, and the
road congestion implications of having lots of buses trying to set down
and then pick up passengers. I'm guessing there might be a queue of
buses somewhere near Gunnersbury that have just come from dropping pax
off at Hammersmith, and can be made to wait so as to regulate the
services heading back to Heathrow.

That said, I imagine that however good the information given at the
Heathrow tube stations, there'll still be a fair number of air arrivees
getting as far as Osterley on the tube before then finding themselves
and their baggage on the all-stations bustitution service A from
Osterley, which runs to Turnham Green (thence District line to get
further east into town).

Piccadilly line 'bustitution' to Heathrow this weekend
 

"Mizter T" wrote

That said, I imagine that however good the information given at the
Heathrow tube stations, there'll still be a fair number of air arrivees
getting as far as Osterley on the tube before then finding themselves and
their baggage on the all-stations bustitution service A from Osterley,
which runs to Turnham Green (thence District line to get further east into
town).

They've thought of this. Replacement bus service B (eastbound) from
Terminals 1&3 to Hammersmith will call at Osterley, so any passengers who
join the Piccadilly Line at Heathrow won't have to endure the all-stations
bus at Osterley.

Peter

Piccadilly line 'bustitution' to Heathrow this weekend
 

On Fri, 15 Nov 2013 08:34:15 +0000
Mizter T wrote:
(The days of being able to jump on HEx with an LU ticket or Oyster in
these situations are sadly no more - one assumes TfL turned down HEx's
kind request to cross their palm with silver, or platinum more like.)

What goes around will come around - when Crossrail is up and running the
Heathrow Express business model will be a dead duck and I suspect they know
it so they're making hay while the sun still shines.

--
Spud

Piccadilly line 'bustitution' to Heathrow this weekend
 

In message , at 18:05:56 on Fri, 15 Nov
2013, d remarked:
when Crossrail is up and running the

Heathrow Express business model will be a dead duck

Only if Crossrail goes non-stop to Heathrow from Paddington, and accepts
Travelcards/Oyster.

Otherwise it's just as lame as Heathrow Connect today for international
travellers.
--
Roland Perry

Piccadilly line 'bustitution' to Heathrow this weekend
 

On 15/11/2013 18:31, Roland Perry wrote:

In message , at 18:05:56 on Fri, 15 Nov
2013, d remarked:
when Crossrail is up and running the

Heathrow Express business model will be a dead duck

Only if Crossrail goes non-stop to Heathrow from Paddington, and accepts
Travelcards/Oyster.

Otherwise it's just as lame as Heathrow Connect today for international
travellers.

Regarding your non-stop point - not at all. Even if Crossrail stops at
all six stations between Paddington and Heathrow it'll still be easier
to just stay on board (coming from points east) compared to changing at
Padd for a fast HEx train.

Re fares - that's yet to be revealed (or indeed finalised), and
hopefully journeys to Heathrow will be treated the same as if it was any
other zone 6 station. But I dare say that even if a small premium was
payable, that wouldn't be a significant deterrence to a fair number of
travellers as it could be easily be collected by Oyster / smartcard /
contactless payment card. (Wouldn't be seamless for those on paper
Travelcards though.)

Piccadilly line 'bustitution' to Heathrow this weekend
 

In message , at 18:49:40 on Fri, 15 Nov
2013, Mizter T remarked:
when Crossrail is up and running the
Heathrow Express business model will be a dead duck

Only if Crossrail goes non-stop to Heathrow from Paddington, and accepts
Travelcards/Oyster.

Otherwise it's just as lame as Heathrow Connect today for international
travellers.

Regarding your non-stop point - not at all. Even if Crossrail stops at
all six stations between Paddington and Heathrow it'll still be easier
to just stay on board (coming from points east) compared to changing at
Padd for a fast HEx train.

Only if your journey starts in the Crossrail corridor.

If you are a foreign businessman or tourist and have arrived at Heathrow
then the only sane choice based on experience of similar scenarios
worldwide is to get the Airport Express to wherever it goes, and take
your chances onward from there. After all, it's only supposed to be a
taxi-replacement, not an alternative for any other form of public
transport.

Re fares - that's yet to be revealed (or indeed finalised), and
hopefully journeys to Heathrow will be treated the same as if it was
any other zone 6 station. But I dare say that even if a small premium
was payable, that wouldn't be a significant deterrence to a fair number
of travellers as it could be easily be collected by Oyster / smartcard
/ contactless payment card. (Wouldn't be seamless for those on paper
Travelcards though.)

But not those "never been to London, have no idea what the fares
structure is" travellers the Express is targeted at.
--
Roland Perry

Piccadilly line 'bustitution' to Heathrow this weekend
 

"Paul Corfield" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 15 Nov 2013 18:49:40 +0000, Mizter T
wrote:


Not sure what the premium will be but I'd not be surprised if it is
similar to Heathow Connect. Given the way HAL operate the Heathrow
stations I think it will be a struggle to make Travelcard and / or
Oyster PAYG work in any sort of sensible way. I expect a lot of work
will be required to get to a workable solution.

Make it work like Madrid

Install barriers and make anyone who hasn't already got a "premium" ticket
buy a (suggest 5 pound!) excess from a machine

These barriers don't seem to restrict the passenger flow at MAD and that's
with this being the only rail connection to the airport

Of course, they will have to stop giving "free" rides from T123 to T4 (etc)

tim

Piccadilly line 'bustitution' to Heathrow this weekend
 

In message , at 22:08:15 on Fri, 15
Nov 2013, tim...... remarked:
Make it work like Madrid

Install barriers and make anyone who hasn't already got a "premium"
ticket buy a (suggest 5 pound!) excess from a machine

These barriers don't seem to restrict the passenger flow at MAD and
that's with this being the only rail connection to the airport

Of course, they will have to stop giving "free" rides from T123 to T4 (etc)

The latter won't work, as it's a fundamental requirement for Heathrow in
the modern age to be able to move passengers from one terminal to
another free of charge.
--
Roland Perry

Piccadilly line 'bustitution' to Heathrow this weekend
 

Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 22:08:15 on Fri, 15 Nov
2013, tim...... remarked:
Make it work like Madrid

Install barriers and make anyone who hasn't already got a "premium"
ticket buy a (suggest 5 pound!) excess from a machine

These barriers don't seem to restrict the passenger flow at MAD and
that's with this being the only rail connection to the airport

Of course, they will have to stop giving "free" rides from T123 to T4 (etc)

The latter won't work, as it's a fundamental requirement for Heathrow in
the modern age to be able to move passengers from one terminal to another free of charge.

But not necessarily by underground train -- lots of airports use
inter-terminal buses, as does Heathrow for air-side movements.

Piccadilly line 'bustitution' to Heathrow this weekend
 

On Fri, 15 Nov 2013 18:31:01 +0000, Roland Perry
wrote:
Only if Crossrail goes non-stop to Heathrow from Paddington, and
accepts
Travelcards/Oyster.

Paddington is in the middle of nowhere in London terms, hence why the
Picc Line is often still a viable choice. Crossrail will serve more
useful places more quickly.

Neil

--
Neil Williams. Use neil before the at to reply.