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Woking to Heathrow
"Theo" wrote Woking-Clapham Junction Clapham Junction-Feltham 285 bus to LHR is the most obvious alternative, though somewhat slow. Guildford-Worcester Park X26 bus to LHR is one I haven't tried. I suspect if the M25 is borked then Woking to Heathrow is going to be difficult whatever. Staying on the train and getting off a Surbiton (if it stops) then taking a taxi might be one way to avoid it. Bus (any) Surbiton to Kingston then X26 to LHR is workable. Rail via Weybridge to Egham or Staines then, eg 441 bus works but Feltham is faster. -- Mike D |
Woking to Heathrow
In uk.railway Recliner wrote:
I'm not sure if this applies in the UK: Uber requires all of their drivers to have car insurance, and provides supplemental insurance coverage, but only while the app is on. Here’s how it works: When the Uber app is off, a driver is covered by their own personal car insurance. When the Uber app is turned on, a low level of liability insurance becomes active. When a trip is accepted, a higher level of coverage kicks in and remains active until the passenger exits the vehicle. Previously Uber had only offered coverage when a passenger was in the car, but the company updated their policy after a series of accidents which resulted in various lawsuits. I suspect, but don't know, that insurance companies won't see it that way. For instance, you get a job that takes you a long way from home and then you 'clock off'. I suspect the insurance company would not count the return journey as 'commuting', because that journey was generated by the job that you picked up, even if you're not technically working at that point. Typically insurance policies define it as 'commuting to a single place of work', which this isn't. I don't know if the deadheading parts are acceptable as business miles on conventional insurance policies. In the employees-not-contractors case, the judge allowed the time from turning on the app to getting a job as working time for hours calculations, but not the time to commute from outside of London to the edge of the Uber zone (I think the example was Southampton to Woking or thereabouts). I don't think you'd get away with saying your single place of work was Greater London. Theo |
Woking to Heathrow
Theo wrote:
In uk.railway Recliner wrote: I'm not sure if this applies in the UK: Uber requires all of their drivers to have car insurance, and provides supplemental insurance coverage, but only while the app is on. Here’s how it works: When the Uber app is off, a driver is covered by their own personal car insurance. When the Uber app is turned on, a low level of liability insurance becomes active. When a trip is accepted, a higher level of coverage kicks in and remains active until the passenger exits the vehicle. Previously Uber had only offered coverage when a passenger was in the car, but the company updated their policy after a series of accidents which resulted in various lawsuits. I suspect, but don't know, that insurance companies won't see it that way. For instance, you get a job that takes you a long way from home and then you 'clock off'. I suspect the insurance company would not count the return journey as 'commuting', because that journey was generated by the job that you picked up, even if you're not technically working at that point. Typically insurance policies define it as 'commuting to a single place of work', which this isn't. I don't know if the deadheading parts are acceptable as business miles on conventional insurance policies. In the employees-not-contractors case, the judge allowed the time from turning on the app to getting a job as working time for hours calculations, but not the time to commute from outside of London to the edge of the Uber zone (I think the example was Southampton to Woking or thereabouts). I don't think you'd get away with saying your single place of work was Greater London. No, Uber drivers need to have the same (expensive) private hire insurance as any other minicab: Quote: Uber drivers require private hire vehicle insurance with hire and reward. This level of cover ensures both the vehicle and passengers are covered in the event of an accident. http://www.staveleyhead.co.uk/commer...insurance/uber Quote: What kind of taxi insurance do Uber drivers need? If you are an Uber driver then you need to have commercial taxi insurance. A normal car insurance policy would be insufficient and is likely to be voided in the event that you have an accident while driving for Uber. Even if Uber doesn’t classify itself as a taxi service, and refers to its drivers as ‘your friend with a car’, the fact is that if you are picking up passengers for financial reward at a pre-booked location, you are effectively a private hire taxi driver. A private hire taxi insurance policy is therefore a legal requirement to cover your vehicle usage. And getting the right type of insurance is down to you – not Uber. It is particularly important that you have public liability cover as part of your policy, as otherwise you could be liable for all compensation costs should a passenger or a third party be injured. While Uber and similar services remain in a grey area for now and the laws surrounding it are likely to change in coming years, the best advice for Uber drivers for now is to make sure that their insurance policy is correct. From: http://parkinsurance.co.uk/uber-driv...axi-insurance/ |
Woking to Heathrow
"Recliner" wrote in message ... tim... wrote: because that's what you did when I questioned the possibility that Uber might fail in an earlier discussion you used the spurious argument that some large company (Amazon was it) had invested and they wouldn't be investing in a company that might fail. No, it has the backing of large VC funds, no you didn't, you named a specific HITech company - thinking more it was probably Google which Amazon is not. Don't you know the difference? Don't be silly It is well know that all of the major HiTech companies invest in new starts ups, separate from their trading operations. They are awash with money, they have to do something with it. And I didn't discuss whether might one day fail to repay their investment. Yes you did - you told me I was an idiot for even considering the possibility. What I pointed out was that losing lots of money at this stage in its life was all part of the business plan, which its investors fully understood and supported. Nope, that wasn't the conversation at all If you want an example of an over-hyped company with an absurd valuation, which also loses money hand over fist, look at Tesla. Oh you agree then, I have been saying that for ages On that basis you should hold the opinion that none of these billion dollar companies can fail because it is 100% certain that all of them have the backing of some large company or other No. It just means you don't understand the difference between trading companies and investment funds. Nonsense You clearly said that the company wouldn't fail because some other company had invested 100s of millions in it, and they wouldn't have done that if there was a possibility it might fail. And you called me an idiot for thinking otherwise. The names of the companies here are irrelevant. The point that you made at the time stood on its own merits (or not) without them. |
Woking to Heathrow
"Recliner" wrote in message ... tim... wrote: "D A Stocks" wrote in message ... "Arthur Conan Doyle" wrote in message news:uk9vdc1iusv3qbo78opsvoja1ik1sljco1@None... "D A Stocks" wrote: if my initial experience is anything to go by, nicer cars, nicer drivers and cheaper. What's not to like? I used Uber Lux for a ride across London recently. Very nice. Wondered if the driver was doing a little moonlighting with his employer's vehicle, but that's his business. I'm not sure if the rules for Uber Lux are different, but my understanding is that Uber drivers use their own vehicles. FSVO The point about Uber's model is that they don't own them but that doesn't mean that the driver does either - he could be "borrowing" it (FTAOD - I'm not making some pedantic point about Lease-Hire) The driver can't just turn up in a random borrowed vehicle. who said it was "randomly borrowed" Uber must approve, and knows exactly what car he drives. It presumably does some checks on its ownership, really - why on earth would it need to do that? suitability, this is just a case of looking at the marque and the age whether it's licensed and insured for private hire, etc. Isn't this in the drivers name? tim |
Woking to Heathrow
"Roland Perry" wrote in message ... In message -septe mber.org, at 20:19:18 on Sat, 1 Apr 2017, Recliner remarked: The point about Uber's model is that they don't own them but that doesn't mean that the driver does either - he could be "borrowing" it (FTAOD - I'm not making some pedantic point about Lease-Hire) The driver can't just turn up in a random borrowed vehicle. Uber must approve, and knows exactly what car he drives. It presumably does some checks on its ownership, suitability, whether it's licensed and insured for private hire, etc. https://www.uber.com/en-GB/drive/lon...-requirements/ The main complaint is that they don't (do much checking). And reportedly the problem with insurance is they don't track cancellations I'm not even sure there's a mechanism for that even if they wanted to tim |
Woking to Heathrow
"Theo" wrote in message ... In uk.railway Recliner wrote: I'm not sure if this applies in the UK: Uber requires all of their drivers to have car insurance, and provides supplemental insurance coverage, but only while the app is on. Here’s how it works: When the Uber app is off, a driver is covered by their own personal car insurance. When the Uber app is turned on, a low level of liability insurance becomes active. When a trip is accepted, a higher level of coverage kicks in and remains active until the passenger exits the vehicle. Previously Uber had only offered coverage when a passenger was in the car, but the company updated their policy after a series of accidents which resulted in various lawsuits. I suspect, but don't know, that insurance companies won't see it that way. For instance, you get a job that takes you a long way from home and then you 'clock off'. I suspect the insurance company would not count the return journey as 'commuting', because that journey was generated by the job that you picked up, even if you're not technically working at that point. Typically insurance policies define it as 'commuting to a single place of work', which this isn't. I don't know if the deadheading parts are acceptable as business miles on conventional insurance policies. In the employees-not-contractors case, the judge allowed the time from turning on the app to getting a job as working time for hours calculations, but not the time to commute from outside of London to the edge of the Uber zone (I think the example was Southampton to Woking or thereabouts). I don't think you'd get away with saying your single place of work was Greater London. There are people who drive from Southampton to London to work as Uber drivers no wonder they don't cover their costs (Why can't they just work as a mini-cab in Southampton?) tim |
Woking to Heathrow
"Roland Perry" wrote in message ... In message , at 18:48:05 on Sat, 1 Apr 2017, tim... remarked: I'm not sure if the rules for Uber Lux are different, but my understanding is that Uber drivers use their own vehicles. FSVO The point about Uber's model is that they don't own them but that doesn't mean that the driver does either - he could be "borrowing" it See "and thus a lack of insurance". Can you not get private hire add-on insurance for a car that you do not own? Surely the assessable additional part of the risk here sits with the driver. tim |
Woking to Heathrow
In message
-septe mber.org, at 01:30:12 on Sun, 2 Apr 2017, Recliner remarked: If you are an Uber driver then you need to have commercial taxi insurance. A normal car insurance policy would be insufficient and is likely to be voided in the event that you have an accident while driving for Uber. Even if Uber doesn’t classify itself as a taxi service, and refers to its drivers as ‘your friend with a car’, the fact is that if you are picking up passengers for financial reward at a pre-booked location, you are effectively a private hire taxi driver. But hat if they don't - who is checking? A private hire taxi insurance policy is therefore a legal requirement to cover your vehicle usage. And getting the right type of insurance is down to you - not Uber. That answers the supposed Uber-provided supplemental insurance then. -- Roland Perry |
Woking to Heathrow
In message , at 11:14:10 on Sun, 2 Apr 2017,
tim... remarked: The point about Uber's model is that they don't own them but that doesn't mean that the driver does either - he could be "borrowing" it (FTAOD - I'm not making some pedantic point about Lease-Hire) The driver can't just turn up in a random borrowed vehicle. Uber must approve, and knows exactly what car he drives. It presumably does some checks on its ownership, suitability, whether it's licensed and insured for private hire, etc. https://www.uber.com/en-GB/drive/lon...-requirements/ The main complaint is that they don't (do much checking). And reportedly the problem with insurance is they don't track cancellations I'm not even sure there's a mechanism for that even if they wanted to They could do spot checks on the drivers, say once a month on average for each, and blacklist the ones without insurance. -- Roland Perry |
Woking to Heathrow
In message , at 11:18:38 on Sun, 2 Apr 2017,
tim... remarked: I'm not sure if the rules for Uber Lux are different, but my understanding is that Uber drivers use their own vehicles. FSVO The point about Uber's model is that they don't own them but that doesn't mean that the driver does either - he could be "borrowing" it See "and thus a lack of insurance". Can you not get private hire add-on insurance for a car that you do not own? You might be able to, if you declare the vehicle. Surely the assessable additional part of the risk here sits with the driver. The vehicle will make a difference too. A minibus, versus a Toyota versus a Jag. -- Roland Perry |
Woking to Heathrow
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Woking to Heathrow
In article , (Roland Perry)
wrote: In message , at 11:14:10 on Sun, 2 Apr 2017, tim... remarked: The point about Uber's model is that they don't own them but that doesn't mean that the driver does either - he could be "borrowing" it (FTAOD - I'm not making some pedantic point about Lease-Hire) The driver can't just turn up in a random borrowed vehicle. Uber must approve, and knows exactly what car he drives. It presumably does some checks on its ownership, suitability, whether it's licensed and insured for private hire, etc. https://www.uber.com/en-GB/drive/lon...-requirements/ The main complaint is that they don't (do much checking). And reportedly the problem with insurance is they don't track cancellations I'm not even sure there's a mechanism for that even if they wanted to They could do spot checks on the drivers, say once a month on average for each, and blacklist the ones without insurance. I think you mean take them to court to get 6 points on their licence? -- Colin Rosenstiel |
Woking to Heathrow
In article , (Roland Perry)
wrote: In message , at 18:05:09 on Sat, 1 Apr 2017, remarked: In this country any hire car is subject to local authority licensing and testing. Although reportedly TfL is overwhelmed by the number of Uber cars being brought into the system, and may not be checking as thoroughly as they could. That may be the legislation in London, different from that in the rest of the country, not being fit for purpose. TfL is simply failing to cope with the doubling of the number of such vehicles in a couple of years. Elsewhere that might be the Uber cars' problem. -- Colin Rosenstiel |
Woking to Heathrow
On Sat, 01 Apr 2017 09:47:12 +0100, e27002 aurora
wrote: OK, so I have had it with the Woking RailAir coach link. I need an alternative means of reaching the airport. Train from the South Coast to Woking is fine. But what are the alternatives for reaching the airport? Has anyone used Uber? How does it work? What is the service like? There are very good reasons to go to Heathrow - I still go there to catch long haul flights. I'm prepared to put up with GWR to Reading then the bus to get a non stop flight. Equally Gatwick sometimes via Reading. That said, going from Bristol, Southampton or Exeter (all possibilities for me) means a shorter and easier journey at the UK end but for long haul will mean a chage of plane somewhere. Are you in a position to make somekind of trade off and use either Southampton or Gatwick? |
Woking to Heathrow
On 02/04/2017 11:16, tim... wrote:
"Theo" wrote in message ... In uk.railway Recliner wrote: I'm not sure if this applies in the UK: Uber requires all of their drivers to have car insurance, and provides supplemental insurance coverage, but only while the app is on. Here’s how it works: When the Uber app is off, a driver is covered by their own personal car insurance. When the Uber app is turned on, a low level of liability insurance becomes active. When a trip is accepted, a higher level of coverage kicks in and remains active until the passenger exits the vehicle. Previously Uber had only offered coverage when a passenger was in the car, but the company updated their policy after a series of accidents which resulted in various lawsuits. I suspect, but don't know, that insurance companies won't see it that way. For instance, you get a job that takes you a long way from home and then you 'clock off'. I suspect the insurance company would not count the return journey as 'commuting', because that journey was generated by the job that you picked up, even if you're not technically working at that point. Typically insurance policies define it as 'commuting to a single place of work', which this isn't. I don't know if the deadheading parts are acceptable as business miles on conventional insurance policies. In the employees-not-contractors case, the judge allowed the time from turning on the app to getting a job as working time for hours calculations, but not the time to commute from outside of London to the edge of the Uber zone (I think the example was Southampton to Woking or thereabouts). I don't think you'd get away with saying your single place of work was Greater London. There are people who drive from Southampton to London to work as Uber drivers no wonder they don't cover their costs (Why can't they just work as a mini-cab in Southampton?) The money is better than here perhaps. Also some local mini-cab companies have embraced Uber and have the infrastructure to play it both ways as required. -- Graeme Wall This account not read. |
Woking to Heathrow
On 02/04/2017 12:54, Graham Harrison wrote:
On Sat, 01 Apr 2017 09:47:12 +0100, e27002 aurora wrote: OK, so I have had it with the Woking RailAir coach link. I need an alternative means of reaching the airport. Train from the South Coast to Woking is fine. But what are the alternatives for reaching the airport? Has anyone used Uber? How does it work? What is the service like? There are very good reasons to go to Heathrow - I still go there to catch long haul flights. I'm prepared to put up with GWR to Reading then the bus to get a non stop flight. Equally Gatwick sometimes via Reading. That said, going from Bristol, Southampton or Exeter (all possibilities for me) means a shorter and easier journey at the UK end but for long haul will mean a chage of plane somewhere. Are you in a position to make somekind of trade off and use either Southampton or Gatwick? No flights from Southampton to the US. -- Graeme Wall This account not read. |
Woking to Heathrow
tim... wrote:
"Recliner" wrote in message ... tim... wrote: because that's what you did when I questioned the possibility that Uber might fail in an earlier discussion you used the spurious argument that some large company (Amazon was it) had invested and they wouldn't be investing in a company that might fail. No, it has the backing of large VC funds, no you didn't, you named a specific HITech company - thinking more it was probably Google which Amazon is not. Don't you know the difference? Don't be silly It is well know that all of the major HiTech companies invest in new starts ups, separate from their trading operations. They are awash with money, they have to do something with it. And I didn't discuss whether might one day fail to repay their investment. Yes you did - you told me I was an idiot for even considering the possibility. What I pointed out was that losing lots of money at this stage in its life was all part of the business plan, which its investors fully understood and supported. Nope, that wasn't the conversation at all If you want an example of an over-hyped company with an absurd valuation, which also loses money hand over fist, look at Tesla. Oh you agree then, I have been saying that for ages On that basis you should hold the opinion that none of these billion dollar companies can fail because it is 100% certain that all of them have the backing of some large company or other No. It just means you don't understand the difference between trading companies and investment funds. Nonsense You clearly said that the company wouldn't fail because some other company had invested 100s of millions in it, and they wouldn't have done that if there was a possibility it might fail. And you called me an idiot for thinking otherwise. The names of the companies here are irrelevant. The point that you made at the time stood on its own merits (or not) without them. That's definitely not the way I remember it. You're going to have to dig up the thread if you want to pursue this. |
Woking to Heathrow
tim... wrote:
"Roland Perry" wrote in message ... In message -septe mber.org, at 20:19:18 on Sat, 1 Apr 2017, Recliner remarked: The point about Uber's model is that they don't own them but that doesn't mean that the driver does either - he could be "borrowing" it (FTAOD - I'm not making some pedantic point about Lease-Hire) The driver can't just turn up in a random borrowed vehicle. Uber must approve, and knows exactly what car he drives. It presumably does some checks on its ownership, suitability, whether it's licensed and insured for private hire, etc. https://www.uber.com/en-GB/drive/lon...-requirements/ The main complaint is that they don't (do much checking). And reportedly the problem with insurance is they don't track cancellations I'm not even sure there's a mechanism for that even if they wanted to Yes, they apparently contact the insurance company the driver claimed to have a policy with, and they could ask to be informed if the policy lapsed. That may be even be available online. |
Woking to Heathrow
On Sun, 2 Apr 2017 13:12:14 +0100, Graeme Wall
wrote: On 02/04/2017 12:54, Graham Harrison wrote: On Sat, 01 Apr 2017 09:47:12 +0100, e27002 aurora wrote: OK, so I have had it with the Woking RailAir coach link. I need an alternative means of reaching the airport. Train from the South Coast to Woking is fine. But what are the alternatives for reaching the airport? Has anyone used Uber? How does it work? What is the service like? There are very good reasons to go to Heathrow - I still go there to catch long haul flights. I'm prepared to put up with GWR to Reading then the bus to get a non stop flight. Equally Gatwick sometimes via Reading. That said, going from Bristol, Southampton or Exeter (all possibilities for me) means a shorter and easier journey at the UK end but for long haul will mean a chage of plane somewhere. Are you in a position to make somekind of trade off and use either Southampton or Gatwick? No flights from Southampton to the US. Not non-stop but by the time you've got to Heathrow (much less fought your way through) you could be through Southampton and en-route to Paris (as an example) to get a flight to the USA. And Gatwick does have flights to the US (albeit, not many). (Let's face it any long haul from Southampton means changing planes in Europe somewhere). Personally, I'd prefer the non-stop from Heathrow but that doesn't mean our OP might not be prepared to avoid Heathrow. |
Woking to Heathrow
On 02/04/2017 15:33, Graham Harrison wrote:
On Sun, 2 Apr 2017 13:12:14 +0100, Graeme Wall wrote: On 02/04/2017 12:54, Graham Harrison wrote: On Sat, 01 Apr 2017 09:47:12 +0100, e27002 aurora wrote: OK, so I have had it with the Woking RailAir coach link. I need an alternative means of reaching the airport. Train from the South Coast to Woking is fine. But what are the alternatives for reaching the airport? Has anyone used Uber? How does it work? What is the service like? There are very good reasons to go to Heathrow - I still go there to catch long haul flights. I'm prepared to put up with GWR to Reading then the bus to get a non stop flight. Equally Gatwick sometimes via Reading. That said, going from Bristol, Southampton or Exeter (all possibilities for me) means a shorter and easier journey at the UK end but for long haul will mean a chage of plane somewhere. Are you in a position to make somekind of trade off and use either Southampton or Gatwick? No flights from Southampton to the US. Not non-stop but by the time you've got to Heathrow (much less fought your way through) you could be through Southampton and en-route to Paris (as an example) to get a flight to the USA. The problem is most Paris - US flights use Charles de Gaulle and flights from Southampton go to Orly. So no advantage. Years ago Air France did operate a link between Southampton and CdG but that was best part of 30 years ago. And Gatwick does have flights to the US (albeit, not many). (Let's face it any long haul from Southampton means changing planes in Europe somewhere). Personally, I'd prefer the non-stop from Heathrow but that doesn't mean our OP might not be prepared to avoid Heathrow. I gather Adrian's complaint is not so much about using Heathrow as the bus service from Woking which is fairly poor for such an important link. The NRE website doesn't even give it as an option travelling from Portsmouth -- Graeme Wall This account not read. |
Woking to Heathrow
In message , at 06:45:45
on Sun, 2 Apr 2017, remarked: https://www.uber.com/en-GB/drive/lon...-requirements/ The main complaint is that they don't (do much checking). And reportedly the problem with insurance is they don't track cancellations I'm not even sure there's a mechanism for that even if they wanted to They could do spot checks on the drivers, say once a month on average for each, and blacklist the ones without insurance. I think you mean take them to court to get 6 points on their licence? Uber isn't able to do such prosecutions. -- Roland Perry |
Woking to Heathrow
In article , (Roland Perry)
wrote: In message , at 06:45:45 on Sun, 2 Apr 2017, remarked: https://www.uber.com/en-GB/drive/lon...-requirements/ The main complaint is that they don't (do much checking). And reportedly the problem with insurance is they don't track cancellations I'm not even sure there's a mechanism for that even if they wanted to They could do spot checks on the drivers, say once a month on average for each, and blacklist the ones without insurance. I think you mean take them to court to get 6 points on their licence? No, but the licensing authorities and police are. -- Colin Rosenstiel |
Woking to Heathrow
In message , at 12:29:00
on Sun, 2 Apr 2017, remarked: https://www.uber.com/en-GB/drive/lon...-requirements/ The main complaint is that they don't (do much checking). And reportedly the problem with insurance is they don't track cancellations I'm not even sure there's a mechanism for that even if they wanted to They could do spot checks on the drivers, say once a month on average for each, and blacklist the ones without insurance. I think you mean take them to court to get 6 points on their licence? No, but the licensing authorities and police are. Why would Uber snitch on their customers (and make no mistake, Uber's customers are the drivers, passengers are the customers of the drivers). -- Roland Perry |
Woking to Heathrow
On Sun, 2 Apr 2017 15:55:48 +0100, Graeme Wall
wrote: On 02/04/2017 15:33, Graham Harrison wrote: On Sun, 2 Apr 2017 13:12:14 +0100, Graeme Wall wrote: On 02/04/2017 12:54, Graham Harrison wrote: On Sat, 01 Apr 2017 09:47:12 +0100, e27002 aurora wrote: OK, so I have had it with the Woking RailAir coach link. I need an alternative means of reaching the airport. Train from the South Coast to Woking is fine. But what are the alternatives for reaching the airport? Has anyone used Uber? How does it work? What is the service like? There are very good reasons to go to Heathrow - I still go there to catch long haul flights. I'm prepared to put up with GWR to Reading then the bus to get a non stop flight. Equally Gatwick sometimes via Reading. That said, going from Bristol, Southampton or Exeter (all possibilities for me) means a shorter and easier journey at the UK end but for long haul will mean a chage of plane somewhere. Are you in a position to make somekind of trade off and use either Southampton or Gatwick? No flights from Southampton to the US. Not non-stop but by the time you've got to Heathrow (much less fought your way through) you could be through Southampton and en-route to Paris (as an example) to get a flight to the USA. The problem is most Paris - US flights use Charles de Gaulle and flights from Southampton go to Orly. So no advantage. Years ago Air France did operate a link between Southampton and CdG but that was best part of 30 years ago. And Gatwick does have flights to the US (albeit, not many). (Let's face it any long haul from Southampton means changing planes in Europe somewhere). Personally, I'd prefer the non-stop from Heathrow but that doesn't mean our OP might not be prepared to avoid Heathrow. I gather Adrian's complaint is not so much about using Heathrow as the bus service from Woking which is fairly poor for such an important link. The NRE website doesn't even give it as an option travelling from Portsmouth I think you need to update your knowledge. Flybe operate Southampton/Charles de Gaulle. But the precise detail isn't the issue. What I'm suggesting is that by using a different airport and therefore avoiding the Woking/Heathrow bus It MIGHT (and I stress might) be that the total journey from home to destination could be as quick and less stressful. The precise combination is going to depend on the actual start and end points. Whilst NRE says Portsmouth/Heathrow via Woking can be done in as little as 2hrs 15 mins it also tells me that changing at Winchester Birmingham International is 3hrs 15mins. If the Woking link is so unreliable some people might argue that XC is a better bet and if the flight times mesh with the flights a less congested airport such as Birmingham (and even less congested, Southampton) might provide an equivalent journey even allowing for the extra hour to get to Birmingham and (depending on the destination) having to change en route when Heathrow might be non-stop. It could even be cheaper. When I was booking London/San Francisco return last year a chance remark had me look at Manchester/London/San Francisco. That was cheaper even though I was using the same flights LON/SFO/LON. Aren't market forces wonderful?! Her's a final thing. If you're going on holiday to Argentina and one of the places you wnt to go to is Iguassu how do you get there? I was so fixated on Argentina that I was assuming fly to Buenos Aires then back to Iguassu. It wasn't until the agency I was using suggested it that I realised a better way was London/Sao Paulo/Iguassu, stay on the Brazilian side and then get a transfer to the Argentine airport to continue to BA and, after touring othe bits of Argentina fly non stop back to London. A bit of flexibility and thinking a little out of the box can sometimes bear fruit. |
Woking to Heathrow
On 02/04/2017 18:58, Graham Harrison wrote:
On Sun, 2 Apr 2017 15:55:48 +0100, Graeme Wall wrote: On 02/04/2017 15:33, Graham Harrison wrote: On Sun, 2 Apr 2017 13:12:14 +0100, Graeme Wall wrote: On 02/04/2017 12:54, Graham Harrison wrote: On Sat, 01 Apr 2017 09:47:12 +0100, e27002 aurora wrote: OK, so I have had it with the Woking RailAir coach link. I need an alternative means of reaching the airport. Train from the South Coast to Woking is fine. But what are the alternatives for reaching the airport? Has anyone used Uber? How does it work? What is the service like? There are very good reasons to go to Heathrow - I still go there to catch long haul flights. I'm prepared to put up with GWR to Reading then the bus to get a non stop flight. Equally Gatwick sometimes via Reading. That said, going from Bristol, Southampton or Exeter (all possibilities for me) means a shorter and easier journey at the UK end but for long haul will mean a chage of plane somewhere. Are you in a position to make somekind of trade off and use either Southampton or Gatwick? No flights from Southampton to the US. Not non-stop but by the time you've got to Heathrow (much less fought your way through) you could be through Southampton and en-route to Paris (as an example) to get a flight to the USA. The problem is most Paris - US flights use Charles de Gaulle and flights from Southampton go to Orly. So no advantage. Years ago Air France did operate a link between Southampton and CdG but that was best part of 30 years ago. And Gatwick does have flights to the US (albeit, not many). (Let's face it any long haul from Southampton means changing planes in Europe somewhere). Personally, I'd prefer the non-stop from Heathrow but that doesn't mean our OP might not be prepared to avoid Heathrow. I gather Adrian's complaint is not so much about using Heathrow as the bus service from Woking which is fairly poor for such an important link. The NRE website doesn't even give it as an option travelling from Portsmouth I think you need to update your knowledge. Flybe operate Southampton/Charles de Gaulle. That's fairly recent, thanks for the update. Ignore my remarks then. [snip] Her's a final thing. If you're going on holiday to Argentina and one of the places you wnt to go to is Iguassu how do you get there? I was so fixated on Argentina that I was assuming fly to Buenos Aires then back to Iguassu. It wasn't until the agency I was using suggested it that I realised a better way was London/Sao Paulo/Iguassu, stay on the Brazilian side and then get a transfer to the Argentine airport to continue to BA and, after touring othe bits of Argentina fly non stop back to London. When we go to Buenos Aires we are visiting her indoors' rellies, so tend to go direct there and then travel on later, which is the practical option anyway of heading south or west. Last time we did Iguacu we took a long distance bus from BA that does an overnight run. It's better than it sounds, the initial bit out to Zarate to cross the Parana river is quite interesting but then it gets fairly boring until you are most of the way there, that's the bit you do at night. Also when we did it, open-jaw tickets were very expensive.[1] The modern system of booking each leg separately makes it a much more economical proposition to do it the way you did. PS Hope you enjoyed the trip, Iguacu is much more impressive than Niagara. [1] At the time straightforward return tickets weren't particularly cheap either. -- Graeme Wall This account not read. |
Woking to Heathrow
"Graham Harrison" wrote in message
... A bit of flexibility and thinking a little out of the box can sometimes bear fruit. One possibility may be to fly via Dublin or Shannon. You can pre-clear US immigration and customs (you arrive in the USA as a domestic flight) and, with a bit of creative ticketing, you can save a small fortune on UK departure tax. -- DAS |
Woking to Heathrow
In message , at 18:58:17 on
Sun, 2 Apr 2017, Graham Harrison remarked: It could even be cheaper. When I was booking London/San Francisco return last year a chance remark had me look at Manchester/London/San Francisco. That was cheaper even though I was using the same flights LON/SFO/LON. Aren't market forces wonderful?! That's because you were in fact paying the "right" price, and people paying more were mainly doing so for the perceived benefit of both a direct flight and easier access (for them) because it's Heathrow. Market forces do play a small part in that the airline would prefer to sell the lucrative trans-atlantic leg to a passenger they subsidise on the domestic leg, rather than have them fly from Manchester direct to the USA on different airline, leaving them an empty seat. There's also a certain amount of "no-one got fired buying a direct ticket on a well known airline from Heathrow" effect. -- Roland Perry |
Woking to Heathrow
On Sun, 2 Apr 2017 12:22:51 +0100, Roland Perry
wrote: In message , at 11:14:10 on Sun, 2 Apr 2017, tim... remarked: The point about Uber's model is that they don't own them but that doesn't mean that the driver does either - he could be "borrowing" it (FTAOD - I'm not making some pedantic point about Lease-Hire) The driver can't just turn up in a random borrowed vehicle. Uber must approve, and knows exactly what car he drives. It presumably does some checks on its ownership, suitability, whether it's licensed and insured for private hire, etc. https://www.uber.com/en-GB/drive/lon...-requirements/ The main complaint is that they don't (do much checking). And reportedly the problem with insurance is they don't track cancellations I'm not even sure there's a mechanism for that even if they wanted to They could do spot checks on the drivers, say once a month on average for each, and blacklist the ones without insurance. Presuming lack of access to insurers' databases then that depends on production of paperwork for policies which could have been since cancelled. --- This email has been checked for viruses by AVG. http://www.avg.com |
Woking to Heathrow
In article , (Roland Perry)
wrote: In message , at 12:29:00 on Sun, 2 Apr 2017, remarked: https://www.uber.com/en-GB/drive/lon...-requirements/ The main complaint is that they don't (do much checking). And reportedly the problem with insurance is they don't track cancellations I'm not even sure there's a mechanism for that even if they wanted to They could do spot checks on the drivers, say once a month on averagefor each, and blacklist the ones without insurance. I think you mean take them to court to get 6 points on their licence? No, but the licensing authorities and police are. Why would Uber snitch on their customers (and make no mistake, Uber's customers are the drivers, passengers are the customers of the drivers). Because the consequences of them being found out covering up such illegality will have far more serious consequences for their business than jettisoning the odd driver or two. -- Colin Rosenstiel |
Woking to Heathrow
On Sun, 2 Apr 2017 01:15:45 +0100, Graham Nye
wrote: On 2017-04-01 11:07, e27002 aurora wrote: e27002 aurora wrote: OK, so I have had it with the Woking RailAir coach link. I need an alternative means of reaching the airport. Train from the South Coast to Woking is fine. But what are the alternatives for reaching the airport? Starting from the Portsmouth area. The national rail journey planner suggests a number of options - Waterloo, Paddington, Heathrow or Southampton, Reading, the other railair coach. If you're going to do part of the journey by coach you could do the whole journey by National Express - half an hour longer but a quarter of the rail price. That's what I do from the West Country rather than messing around at Reading. (Travelling off-peak from Portsmouth Harbour seems to save a whole 3% off the anytime fare. How generous.) Using Portsmouth Harbour would mean travelling in the opposite direction, probably be rail! But that one might be doable. The sanest suggestion is to travel to Waterloo, then taxi to Paddington, then Heathrow Express. But, if I use a taxi to cross central London, I may as well use one from Woking and save an hour. |
Woking to Heathrow
On Sat, 1 Apr 2017 12:15:44 +0100, "D A Stocks"
wrote: "e27002 aurora" wrote in message .. . Uber first became available in Brighton and Hove about a year ago but when I tried it soon after the launch there were never any drivers available, so I have always used one of the local taxi firms booking by phone from home or by taking a taxi off the rank from a local station. However, when I arrived at Brighton Station last Thursday evening the length of queue at the rank suggested it would be at least 10-15 minutes before I would get a ride (for a 5 minute journey); this is because the daft queuing system only allows 1 or 2 taxis to load at a time, leading to long queues of both passengers and taxis at busy times. I fired up the Uber app and there were cars available within a couple of minutes from a pick-up point just outside the station so I went for it. The driver told me there are now around 90 drivers operating in the area, and the fare was quite a bit less than a metered taxi. I may well take another look at Uber when I make the reverse journey at 5.00 am on Monday morning: no more messing about with cash and and, if my initial experience is anything to go by, nicer cars, nicer drivers and cheaper. What's not to like? App now installed on my Android. |
Woking to Heathrow
"Graham Harrison" wrote in message ... On Sun, 2 Apr 2017 15:55:48 +0100, Graeme Wall wrote: I think you need to update your knowledge. Flybe operate Southampton/Charles de Gaulle. But it's not a good idea booking a transatlantic fight (any long haul) using a non-inline connection the costs of your local flight being late/cancelled are too large tim |
Woking to Heathrow
"Recliner" wrote in message ... tim... wrote: "Roland Perry" wrote in message ... In message -septe mber.org, at 20:19:18 on Sat, 1 Apr 2017, Recliner remarked: The point about Uber's model is that they don't own them but that doesn't mean that the driver does either - he could be "borrowing" it (FTAOD - I'm not making some pedantic point about Lease-Hire) The driver can't just turn up in a random borrowed vehicle. Uber must approve, and knows exactly what car he drives. It presumably does some checks on its ownership, suitability, whether it's licensed and insured for private hire, etc. https://www.uber.com/en-GB/drive/lon...-requirements/ The main complaint is that they don't (do much checking). And reportedly the problem with insurance is they don't track cancellations I'm not even sure there's a mechanism for that even if they wanted to Yes, they apparently contact the insurance company the driver claimed to have a policy with, well I guessed that they could do that I just thought that doing that for 10,000 drivers, once a month (say) was going to be too much aggro for both parties and they could ask to be informed if the policy lapsed. That may be even be available online. It was this that I didn't thing was available tim |
Woking to Heathrow
"e27002 aurora" wrote in message ... On Sun, 2 Apr 2017 01:15:45 +0100, Graham Nye wrote: On 2017-04-01 11:07, e27002 aurora wrote: e27002 aurora wrote: OK, so I have had it with the Woking RailAir coach link. I need an alternative means of reaching the airport. Train from the South Coast to Woking is fine. But what are the alternatives for reaching the airport? Starting from the Portsmouth area. The national rail journey planner suggests a number of options - Waterloo, Paddington, Heathrow or Southampton, Reading, the other railair coach. If you're going to do part of the journey by coach you could do the whole journey by National Express - half an hour longer but a quarter of the rail price. That's what I do from the West Country rather than messing around at Reading. (Travelling off-peak from Portsmouth Harbour seems to save a whole 3% off the anytime fare. How generous.) Using Portsmouth Harbour would mean travelling in the opposite direction, probably be rail! But that one might be doable. The sanest suggestion is to travel to Waterloo, then taxi to Paddington, then Heathrow Express. why would you get a taxi from Waterloo to Padd when there's a direct tube line? tim |
Woking to Heathrow
On 03/04/2017 09:00, tim... wrote:
"Graham Harrison" wrote in message ... On Sun, 2 Apr 2017 15:55:48 +0100, Graeme Wall wrote: I think you need to update your knowledge. Flybe operate Southampton/Charles de Gaulle. But it's not a good idea booking a transatlantic fight (any long haul) using a non-inline connection the costs of your local flight being late/cancelled are too large That was the advantage of the original service, it was operated by Air France so I could book through to Buenos Aires via CdG in safety. Ten the service was taken over by BA an operated initially by Manx Airways and switched to Orly. As Graham has pointed out, Flybe now serve CdG so it is worth looking at again. -- Graeme Wall This account not read. |
Woking to Heathrow
On Sun, 02 Apr 2017 12:54:42 +0100, Graham Harrison
wrote: On Sat, 01 Apr 2017 09:47:12 +0100, e27002 aurora wrote: OK, so I have had it with the Woking RailAir coach link. I need an alternative means of reaching the airport. Train from the South Coast to Woking is fine. But what are the alternatives for reaching the airport? Has anyone used Uber? How does it work? What is the service like? There are very good reasons to go to Heathrow - I still go there to catch long haul flights. I'm prepared to put up with GWR to Reading then the bus to get a non stop flight. Equally Gatwick sometimes via Reading. That said, going from Bristol, Southampton or Exeter (all possibilities for me) means a shorter and easier journey at the UK end but for long haul will mean a chage of plane somewhere. Are you in a position to make somekind of trade off and use either Southampton or Gatwick? Gatwick would be wonderful. Unfortunately, my destinations are usually easily available from Gatwick. So, two weeks back my Air China ' plane touched down just before 16:00 after a 12-hour flight from Beijing. I had risen at 5:30 CST in Hebei province to reach the airport in plenty of time. 5:30 CST is 21:30 GMT the previous day. By 17:00, having cleared immigration, picked up my baggage and passed thru customs, I was at the Heathrow Central bus station. There I had a thirty-five-minute wait for the express to Woking. Customarily the driver stows one's baggage. That evening he told his passengers to stow their own baggage. I would add my back was not in good shape. At Woking, I caught a delayed fast train at about 18:16. Unfortunately someone used it to terminate his earthly life between Worplesdon and Guildford. And, we were held outside Guildford for 2.5 hours. At Guildford, not unreasonably all passengers had to alight. Within ten minutes we were on a stopping service to Portsmouth. I walked into my UK home at about 23:00. It is very likely a minicab, or taxi, would have gotten me to Woking considerably earlier. There are three trains an hour on the Portsmouth direct. So, chances are I would have caught an earlier train and been home by 20:30 - 21:00. As an aside, the events of that evening showed the value of having a guard on board. Apparently, the driver went into shock. The card called the BTP, and Network Rail. He saw that the driver was given tea and comfort. As we lost heating and the lighting the guard dealt with a sick passenger and a lady going into labour. The issue of the role of guards needs careful attention before they are eliminated. |
Woking to Heathrow
On 03/04/2017 09:04, tim... wrote:
"e27002 aurora" wrote in message ... On Sun, 2 Apr 2017 01:15:45 +0100, Graham Nye wrote: On 2017-04-01 11:07, e27002 aurora wrote: e27002 aurora wrote: OK, so I have had it with the Woking RailAir coach link. I need an alternative means of reaching the airport. Train from the South Coast to Woking is fine. But what are the alternatives for reaching the airport? Starting from the Portsmouth area. The national rail journey planner suggests a number of options - Waterloo, Paddington, Heathrow or Southampton, Reading, the other railair coach. If you're going to do part of the journey by coach you could do the whole journey by National Express - half an hour longer but a quarter of the rail price. That's what I do from the West Country rather than messing around at Reading. (Travelling off-peak from Portsmouth Harbour seems to save a whole 3% off the anytime fare. How generous.) Using Portsmouth Harbour would mean travelling in the opposite direction, probably be rail! But that one might be doable. The sanest suggestion is to travel to Waterloo, then taxi to Paddington, then Heathrow Express. why would you get a taxi from Waterloo to Padd when there's a direct tube line? IIRC Adrian has a medical condition which may make humping suitcases on and off the tube rather onerous. He is probably right in saying that a taxi from Woking is probably better than taxi and Heathrow Express from Padd. There are also a number of specialist airport service car hire companies in the Woking/Guildford area that might work out cheaper than a taxi off the rank. -- Graeme Wall This account not read. |
Woking to Heathrow
On Mon, 3 Apr 2017 09:04:24 +0100, "tim..."
wrote: "e27002 aurora" wrote in message .. . On Sun, 2 Apr 2017 01:15:45 +0100, Graham Nye wrote: On 2017-04-01 11:07, e27002 aurora wrote: e27002 aurora wrote: OK, so I have had it with the Woking RailAir coach link. I need an alternative means of reaching the airport. Train from the South Coast to Woking is fine. But what are the alternatives for reaching the airport? Starting from the Portsmouth area. The national rail journey planner suggests a number of options - Waterloo, Paddington, Heathrow or Southampton, Reading, the other railair coach. If you're going to do part of the journey by coach you could do the whole journey by National Express - half an hour longer but a quarter of the rail price. That's what I do from the West Country rather than messing around at Reading. (Travelling off-peak from Portsmouth Harbour seems to save a whole 3% off the anytime fare. How generous.) Using Portsmouth Harbour would mean travelling in the opposite direction, probably be rail! But that one might be doable. The sanest suggestion is to travel to Waterloo, then taxi to Paddington, then Heathrow Express. why would you get a taxi from Waterloo to Padd when there's a direct tube line? Have you ever tried to manoeuvre on the Underground with a large suitcase and a sizable piece of hand baggage, i.e. a pilot's case? I only tried once. :-) |
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