Park and train in/near West London
 

On May 5, 9:58*pm, Mark Goodge
wrote:
I have a meeting in London on Wednesday afternoon next week. Normally,
when I need to go to London I take the train since that's by far the
quickest option from where I live, but in this case I'll be starting
from the middle of nowhere in Worcestershire and returning thence
afterwards. Trains from that part of the country to London seem to be
universally crap, so my plan is to drive to somewhere on the edge of
the capital and train/tube the rest of the way.

So, does anyone have any recommendations for a good station to use as
a P&R? Essential requirements a reasonably easy access from the
M40, plenty of parking spaces so I can be sure of getting one in the
early afternoon on a working day, a reasonably frequent service to the
centre so I can just turn up and ride without needing to plan to catch
a particular train, and a not-too-lengthy jurney time from there to
Westminster. Someone else will be picking up the tab so parking
doesn't have to be free.


The obvious place when coming in on the M40/A40 into London is
Hillingdon Underground station on the Metropolitan and Piccadilly
lines - it's not far from where the M40 crosses the M25 and becomes
the A40 - you take the turn-off for Hillingdon, and I'm pretty sure
the Underground station is also signposted from the A40 too - see this
map:
http://www.streetmap.co.uk/oldmap.sr...&y=184750&lm=1

Take a Metropolitan line train (*not* a Piccadilly line train - that's
the round the houses route) which will convey you to Finchley road,
where you can make an easy cross-platform interchange onto the Jubilee
line straight to Westminster station (alternatively if you miss
Finchley Road you can change at Baker Street for a not-quite-so-
straightforward interchange to the Jubilee). TfL journey planner
estimates the total journey as being around 50 minutes - both lines
have frequent services (though coming back from Finchley Road/ Baker
Street on the Met line do make sure you're on a train heading to
Uxbridge!).

FWIW here's the Tube Map - Hillingdon's in the top left/north west
corner, one station east of Uxbridge:
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloa...d-Tube-map.gif

All that said I can't give you comprehensive gen on the parking
situation there, all I can say is what I can glean from the TfL
website - that there's a car park with 283 spaces and it'd cost you a
maximum of £3.70 during weekdays, see:
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/roadusers/tubestationcarparks/

I don't however know how quickly this fills up in the morning, nor
what the deal is with regards to the possibility of on-street parking
nearby - perhaps someone else knows this?

(If you were to arrive after 0930 weekdays and don't have an Oyster
card then get a zones 1-6 off-peak Day Travelcard at a cost of £7.50
rather than 2x £4 single tickets, though obviously there isn't much in
it but it'd save a bit of hassle and would give you the freedom to go
elsewhere should you want that.)


The other more leftfield suggestion I have is that of possibly parking
in the village of Lewknor - which is just off junction 6 of the M40 -
and then catching the frequent Oxford Tube coach service into London,
which ends up at Victoria Coach Station not far from Westminster.
However I have absolutely no idea what the parking situation is there
- one suspects the villagers aren't exactly going to be keen on it,
and other people will of course have had the same idea too... but I
guess it might work if it's early enough, I don't know. Do others?

Park and train in/near West London
 

On May 6, 12:04*am, Mizter T wrote:
On May 5, 9:58*pm, Mark Goodge
wrote:



I have a meeting in London on Wednesday afternoon next week. Normally,
when I need to go to London I take the train since that's by far the
quickest option from where I live, but in this case I'll be starting
from the middle of nowhere in Worcestershire and returning thence
afterwards. Trains from that part of the country to London seem to be
universally crap, so my plan is to drive to somewhere on the edge of
the capital and train/tube the rest of the way.

So, does anyone have any recommendations for a good station to use as
a P&R? Essential requirements a reasonably easy access from the
M40, plenty of parking spaces so I can be sure of getting one in the
early afternoon on a working day, a reasonably frequent service to the
centre so I can just turn up and ride without needing to plan to catch
a particular train, and a not-too-lengthy jurney time from there to
Westminster. Someone else will be picking up the tab so parking
doesn't have to be free.

The obvious place when coming in on the M40/A40 into London is
Hillingdon Underground station on the Metropolitan and Piccadilly
lines - it's not far from where the M40 crosses the M25 and becomes
the A40 - you take the turn-off for Hillingdon, and I'm pretty sure
the Underground station is also signposted from the A40 too - see this
map:http://www.streetmap.co.uk/oldmap.sr...&y=184750&lm=1

Take a Metropolitan line train (*not* a Piccadilly line train - that's
the round the houses route) which will convey you to Finchley road,
where you can make an easy cross-platform interchange onto the Jubilee
line straight to Westminster station (alternatively if you miss
Finchley Road you can change at Baker Street for a not-quite-so-
straightforward interchange to the Jubilee). TfL journey planner
estimates the total journey as being around 50 minutes - both lines
have frequent services (though coming back from Finchley Road/ Baker
Street on the Met line do make sure you're on a train heading to
Uxbridge!).

FWIW here's the Tube Map - Hillingdon's in the top left/north west
corner, one station east of Uxbridge:http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloa...d-Tube-map.gif

All that said I can't give you comprehensive gen on the parking
situation there, all I can say is what I can glean from the TfL
website - that there's a car park with 283 spaces and it'd cost you a
maximum of £3.70 during weekdays, see:http://www.tfl.gov.uk/roadusers/tubestationcarparks/

I don't however know how quickly this fills up in the morning, nor
what the deal is with regards to the possibility of on-street parking
nearby - perhaps someone else knows this?

(If you were to arrive after 0930 weekdays and don't have an Oyster
card then get a zones 1-6 off-peak Day Travelcard at a cost of £7.50
rather than 2x £4 single tickets, though obviously there isn't much in
it but it'd save a bit of hassle and would give you the freedom to go
elsewhere should you want that.)

The other more leftfield suggestion I have is that of possibly parking
in the village of Lewknor - which is just off junction 6 of the M40 -
and then catching the frequent Oxford Tube coach service into London,

Incidently the Oxford tube also stops at Hillingdon very close to the
tube station, so if the tube is misbehaving then it's not too late to
switch to coach there.

Park and train in/near West London
 

On May 6, 12:21*am, D DB 90001
wrote:

On May 6, 12:04*am, Mizter T wrote:

[snip OP's question]

The obvious place when coming in on the M40/A40 into London is
Hillingdon Underground station on the Metropolitan and Piccadilly
lines - it's not far from where the M40 crosses the M25 and becomes
the A40 - you take the turn-off for Hillingdon, and I'm pretty sure
the Underground station is also signposted from the A40 too - see this
map:http://www.streetmap.co.uk/oldmap.sr...&y=184750&lm=1

[big snip]

The other more leftfield suggestion I have is that of possibly parking
in the village of Lewknor - which is just off junction 6 of the M40 -
and then catching the frequent Oxford Tube coach service into London,

Incidently the Oxford tube also stops at Hillingdon very close to the
tube station, so if the tube is misbehaving then it's not too late to
switch to coach there.

Though I'm not sure that you can use it for journeys from Hillingdon
into central London and v.v., though the website doesn't say this -
but the website is a bit shabby at providing the more esoteric
information (e.g. about the stop at Lewknor) so I wouldn't take what
it says (and doesn't say) as being definitive.

Park and train in/near West London
 

Mizter T wrote:
The obvious place when coming in on the M40/A40 into London is
Hillingdon Underground station on the Metropolitan and Piccadilly
lines - it's not far from where the M40 crosses the M25 and becomes
the A40 - you take the turn-off for Hillingdon, and I'm pretty sure
the Underground station is also signposted from the A40 too - see this
map:
http://www.streetmap.co.uk/oldmap.sr...D184750&lm=3D1


Beware. It is a poor choice for two reasons.

First, the car park is small, and is invariably wedged (and beyond) by
mid morning. Second, the trains are very slow - there are an awful lot
of stops between Hillingdon and central London.

Park and train in/near West London
 

In message , at 01:18:33 on
Wed, 6 May 2009, Tony Polson remarked:

First, the car park is small, and is invariably wedged (and beyond) by
mid morning. Second, the trains are very slow - there are an awful lot
of stops between Hillingdon and central London.

I used to park at Ickenham - the next station up the line - having
arrived via the M40. As an end-to-end time it's not bad compared to
driving. The next place up the A40 it's worth using is the Hyde Park
car-park (not far from the A40 if you use the shortcuts near Paddington
Station, rather than Edgware Rd). But it'll still be half an hour from
there to Westminster, and the parking fees are quite high.
--
Roland Perry

Park and train in/near West London
 

On May 6, 1:13*am, Mizter T wrote:
On May 6, 12:21*am, D DB 90001
wrote:



On May 6, 12:04*am, Mizter T wrote:

[snip OP's question]

The obvious place when coming in on the M40/A40 into London is
Hillingdon Underground station on the Metropolitan and Piccadilly
lines - it's not far from where the M40 crosses the M25 and becomes
the A40 - you take the turn-off for Hillingdon, and I'm pretty sure
the Underground station is also signposted from the A40 too - see this
map:http://www.streetmap.co.uk/oldmap.sr...&y=184750&lm=1

[big snip]

The other more leftfield suggestion I have is that of possibly parking
in the village of Lewknor - which is just off junction 6 of the M40 -
and then catching the frequent Oxford Tube coach service into London,

Incidently the Oxford tube also stops at Hillingdon very close to the
tube station, so if the tube is misbehaving then it's not too late to
switch to coach there.

Though I'm not sure that you can use it for journeys from Hillingdon
into central London and v.v., though the website doesn't say this -
but the website is a bit shabby at providing the more esoteric
information (e.g. about the stop at Lewknor) so I wouldn't take what
it says (and doesn't say) as being definitive.

I can confirm that it is possible because I've done the journey
before, iirc, the fares were very reasonable as well, I think it was
about £2/3 for a single to central London.

Park and train in/near West London
 

On May 6, 9:16*am, D DB 90001 wrote:
On May 6, 1:13*am, Mizter T wrote:





On May 6, 12:21*am, D DB 90001
wrote:

On May 6, 12:04*am, Mizter T wrote:

[snip OP's question]

The obvious place when coming in on the M40/A40 into London is
Hillingdon Underground station on the Metropolitan and Piccadilly
lines - it's not far from where the M40 crosses the M25 and becomes
the A40 - you take the turn-off for Hillingdon, and I'm pretty sure
the Underground station is also signposted from the A40 too - see this
map:http://www.streetmap.co.uk/oldmap.sr...&y=184750&lm=1

[big snip]

The other more leftfield suggestion I have is that of possibly parking
in the village of Lewknor - which is just off junction 6 of the M40 -
and then catching the frequent Oxford Tube coach service into London,

Incidently the Oxford tube also stops at Hillingdon very close to the
tube station, so if the tube is misbehaving then it's not too late to
switch to coach there.

Though I'm not sure that you can use it for journeys from Hillingdon
into central London and v.v., though the website doesn't say this -
but the website is a bit shabby at providing the more esoteric
information (e.g. about the stop at Lewknor) so I wouldn't take what
it says (and doesn't say) as being definitive.

I can confirm that it is possible because I've done the journey
before, iirc, the fares were very reasonable as well, I think it was
about £2/3 for a single to central London.- Hide quoted text -

And the X90 as well, presumably? Pretty sure that does Hillingdon,
and the prices exactly matched when I last did it.

Park and train in/near West London
 

On May 6, 9:27*am, MIG wrote:
On May 6, 9:16*am, D DB 90001 wrote:



On May 6, 1:13*am, Mizter T wrote:

On May 6, 12:21*am, D DB 90001
wrote:

On May 6, 12:04*am, Mizter T wrote:

[snip OP's question]

The obvious place when coming in on the M40/A40 into London is
Hillingdon Underground station on the Metropolitan and Piccadilly
lines - it's not far from where the M40 crosses the M25 and becomes
the A40 - you take the turn-off for Hillingdon, and I'm pretty sure
the Underground station is also signposted from the A40 too - see this
map:http://www.streetmap.co.uk/oldmap.sr...&y=184750&lm=1

[big snip]

The other more leftfield suggestion I have is that of possibly parking
in the village of Lewknor - which is just off junction 6 of the M40 -
and then catching the frequent Oxford Tube coach service into London,

Incidently the Oxford tube also stops at Hillingdon very close to the
tube station, so if the tube is misbehaving then it's not too late to
switch to coach there.

Though I'm not sure that you can use it for journeys from Hillingdon
into central London and v.v., though the website doesn't say this -
but the website is a bit shabby at providing the more esoteric
information (e.g. about the stop at Lewknor) so I wouldn't take what
it says (and doesn't say) as being definitive.

I can confirm that it is possible because I've done the journey
before, iirc, the fares were very reasonable as well, I think it was
about £2/3 for a single to central London.- Hide quoted text -

And the X90 as well, presumably? *Pretty sure that does Hillingdon,
and the prices exactly matched when I last did it.

Indeed. Both are equally valid and the frequencies are roughly the
same, so it really doesn't matter which one.

Park and train in/near West London
 

On May 6, 1:18*am, Tony Polson wrote:

Mizter T wrote:
The obvious place when coming in on the M40/A40 into London is
Hillingdon Underground station on the Metropolitan and Piccadilly
lines - it's not far from where the M40 crosses the M25 and becomes
the A40 - you take the turn-off for Hillingdon, and I'm pretty sure
the Underground station is also signposted from the A40 too - see this
map:
http://www.streetmap.co.uk/oldmap.sr...D184750&lm=3D1

Beware. *It is a poor choice for two reasons. *

First, the car park is small, and is invariably wedged (and beyond) by
mid morning. *Second, the trains are very slow - there are an awful lot
of stops between Hillingdon and central London.

Re the journey time - on the Met it's eleven stations to Finchley Road
and takes about 32 minutes, then on the Jubilee a further 14 minutes
to get to Westminster station. The TfL journey planner estimates the
whole journey at taking between 47 and 50 minutes. Jubilee line trains
are very regular, whilst Met line trains to Uxbridge are every 10
minutes off-peak.

From Beaconsfield there are 4tph into Marylebone (not quite every 15
minutes but not far off) which take either 30 or 40 minutes depending
on the stopping pattern. From Marylebone one needs to add on the five
minute walk to Baker Street to catch the Jubilee to Westminster for
the 7 minute journey to Westminster.

So if one caught the slower train from/back to Beaconsfield it
wouldn't be *that* much faster. Though of course parking at
Beaconsfield means leaving the motorway earlier and driving for
slightly less distance (though Beaconsfield station is a bit further
away from the M40).

Of course it's all very academic if there's nowhere to park at
Hillingdon! I dunno what the side streets are like nearby Hillingdon
station and if parking is allowed there - unlike lots of other London
borough websites, Hillingdon council don't provide any details of
where there are controlled parking zones in their borough so I can't
tell from that.

The one thing I can say is that the Hillingdon option is much cheaper
when it comes to fares - as I said, off-peak it'd be £7.50 for an
Oystercard-less passenger, whilst from Beaconsfield an off-peak day
return to Marylebone is £12.90 and a bundled Day Travelcard is £17.00.
Of course if someone else is paying then such considerations are
likely of far less importance, but they might well be relevant for
people making recreational day trips (esp. as the Hillingdon car park
costs a maximum of £1 for weekend parking - again no idea how early it
gets full up on saturdays and sundays).

I'd probably go with the Oxford P&R plus coach option anyway, or maybe
the Beaconsfield option.

Park and train in/near West London
 

On May 6, 6:40*am, Roland Perry wrote:

In message , at 01:18:33 on
Wed, 6 May 2009, Tony Polson remarked:

First, the car park is small, and is invariably wedged (and beyond) by
mid morning. *Second, the trains are very slow - there are an awful lot
of stops between Hillingdon and central London.

I used to park at Ickenham - the next station up the line - having
arrived via the M40. As an end-to-end time it's not bad compared to
driving. The next place up the A40 it's worth using is the Hyde Park
car-park (not far from the A40 if you use the shortcuts near Paddington
Station, rather than Edgware Rd). But it'll still be half an hour from
there to Westminster, and the parking fees are quite high.

City of Westminster council refer to it as the Marble Arch/ Park Lane
car park, as it has two entrances. Their webpage on it is here -
prices are, as you say, pricey:
http://www.westminster.gov.uk/carparks/marble_arch.cfm

Depends where in Westminster one is headed, but it could be a pleasant
walk through Green Park and St James' Park (and poss a bit quicker
than half-hour). The other options would be to head to Bond Street or
maybe Green Park for the Jubilee line into Westminster, or take a
frequent 148 bus from Park Lane which goes via Victoria along Victoria
Street to Parliament Square where it then heads across the river.

Regarding getting off the A40 (the Westway) - there's ways of doing it
and ways of not doing it, additionally these ways differ according to
whether or not the congestion charge is in force / whether or not you
want to avoid the CC zone.

Regardless of this however if you're coming west along the A40 and
want to head south to Marble Arch / Park Lane and beyond, one should
pretty much always take the so-called "Paddington slip" off the A40
(which IIRC is signposted "Ring Road South"). Once you're off the road
here it's a question of whether you continue direct along Westbourne
Terrace to Lancaster Gate (though the CC zone) or otherwise travel via
Edgware Road, which is a 'free road' that cuts through the CC zone, as
is Park Lane and the whole of the Inner Ring Road.

Continuing along the A40 will mean you end up on the Marylebone Road,
which has limited opportunities for turning right into (though they do
exist, but I can't remember where), and these right turns will lead
you into the CC zone. It's not possible to get off the A40 on to the
top of Edgware Road directly - you will instead be conveyed on the
Marylebone Flyover (properly called the Harrow Rd Flyover) over the
top of Edgware Road and onto Marylebone Road.

This helpful PDF from TfL outlines all the various permutations for
getting on and off the A40 avoiding the CC zone:
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/roadusers/...AccessMaps.pdf

Of course this will all be largely irrelevant from some time in 2010
onward when the western extension of the Congestion Charging zone is
scrapped (though the central area CC zone south of Marylebone Rd will
remain) - a retrograde step IMO (coming from a somewhat retrograde
Mayor) but that's another discussion - point being that in the mean
time, if you want to come off the A40 and park at the Marble Arch/
Park Lane car park (or indeed just drive to points south) then there's
absolutely no need to pay the £8 congestion charge for the privilege
of driving little over a mile in the CC zone when you can avoid it
quite easily.

I guess I should be saying that one could avoid adding to the
congestion and pollution and could also save oneself the hassle of
driving into central London by doing 'The Right Thing' and making use
of a public transport option.

Park and train in/near West London
 

Mizter T wrote:

Of course it's all very academic if there's nowhere to park at
Hillingdon! I dunno what the side streets are like nearby Hillingdon
station and if parking is allowed there - unlike lots of other London
borough websites, Hillingdon council don't provide any details of
where there are controlled parking zones in their borough so I can't
tell from that.


There are only 283 car parking spaces, which soon fill up. It was
inadequate from the day it opened in 1992.

Parking on-street at Hillingdon station is difficult. The A40
improvement that by-passed Hillingdon Circus, and incorporated the
construction of the new and rather high tech (for its time) Hillingdon
station, effectively marooned said station on an island between two dual
carriageway roads.

East and west of the station, on-street parking is prohibited. To the
north there is a sea of yellow lines and residents-only parking. To the
south, there is only time limited parking at Hillingdon Circus (for the
shops) and it is some distance before the parking becomes unrestricted.
There is strong demand for this unrestricted parking because of the
inadequacy of the car park at Hillingdon station.

On trips to London I have tried using Hillingdon several times and have
never managed to get a parking there. I usually drive to Amersham and
take Chiltern to either Harrow-on-the-Hill or Mar-lee-bone and the
Underground from either of those. But I have also driven a few times to
North Ealing station (Piccadilly Line) where you can usually get a space
in the car park by early afternoon. I didn't suggest North Ealing
because, if you cannot find a parking space, the alternatives are not
easy if you don't know the area. I used to live in Ealing, so I know it
quite well.

Park and train in/near West London
 

On May 6, 9:16*am, D DB 90001 wrote:

On May 6, 1:13*am, Mizter T wrote:

On May 6, 12:21*am, D DB 90001
wrote:

[snip]

Incidently the Oxford tube also stops at Hillingdon very close to the
tube station, so if the tube is misbehaving then it's not too late to
switch to coach there.

Though I'm not sure that you can use it for journeys from Hillingdon
into central London and v.v., though the website doesn't say this -
but the website is a bit shabby at providing the more esoteric
information (e.g. about the stop at Lewknor) so I wouldn't take what
it says (and doesn't say) as being definitive.

I can confirm that it is possible because I've done the journey
before, iirc, the fares were very reasonable as well, I think it was
about £2/3 for a single to central London.

Thanks for the info, that's certainly useful to know. Coming into
central London it's obviously dependent on whether or not there's any
free seats on board but as both Oxford Tube and Oxford Espress stop
there then you'd not have to wait long before another coach came
along.

Obviously similar considerations apply to coaches heading from London
to Oxford, but I imagine it might be a bit more complicated for
journeys in this direction - I can imagine that drivers would be
rather wary of selling a ticket to Hillingdon *from* central London
(especially at busy times) in case that meant a seat was taken up that
could potentially be sold to a passenger at the next stop who wanted
to travel all the way to Oxford. Perhaps you'd only reliably be able
to do this at the last central London stop (FSVO 'central London') -
for Oxford Tube this is Shepherd's Bush, for Oxford Espress it's Baker
Street.

I'm also curious now as to whether Hillingdon area folks ever try and
use the Oxford Tube/Espress as a nifty 'express' night bus to get from
central London back to Hillingdon.

Perhaps 'local' passengers are only really welcome to travel from
Hillingdon into central London, rather than the other way round.

This reminds me of someone telling me about how they used to travel
into town from their home in the London suburbs back in the 70's - the
normal way was on a regular London bus route, but if they were feeling
flush then they might opt for the quicker Green Line coach instead
(regarded as a somewhat cut-above way of doing things!). I can't
really think of anywhere where this might still be possible - bus
routes are a lot shorter these days of course, and long distance
coaches don't really stop at that many places (though the Bexleyheath
coach stop on the side of the A2 does come to mind).

Park and train in/near West London
 

Mizter T wrote:

Thanks for the info, that's certainly useful to know. Coming into
central London it's obviously dependent on whether or not there's any
free seats on board but as both Oxford Tube and Oxford Espress stop
there then you'd not have to wait long before another coach came
along.


But pointless if you cannot find anywhere to park.

Park and train in/near West London
 

On May 6, 1:43*pm, Tony Polson wrote:

Mizter T wrote:

Of course it's all very academic if there's nowhere to park at
Hillingdon! I dunno what the side streets are like nearby Hillingdon
station and if parking is allowed there - unlike lots of other London
borough websites, Hillingdon council don't provide any details of
where there are controlled parking zones in their borough so I can't
tell from that.

There are only 283 car parking spaces, which soon fill up. *It was
inadequate from the day it opened in 1992.

Parking on-street at Hillingdon station is difficult. *The A40
improvement that by-passed Hillingdon Circus, and incorporated the
construction of the new and rather high tech (for its time) Hillingdon
station, effectively marooned said station on an island between two dual
carriageway roads.

East and west of the station, on-street parking is prohibited. *To the
north there is a sea of yellow lines and residents-only parking. *To the
south, there is only time limited parking at Hillingdon Circus (for the
shops) and it is some distance before the parking becomes unrestricted.
There is strong demand for this unrestricted parking because of the
inadequacy of the car park at Hillingdon station.

On trips to London I have tried using Hillingdon several times and have
never managed to get a parking there.*[...]

Thanks for the info - I'll happily defer to your greater experience of
trying to do this. My Hillingdon suggestion evidently wasn't a very
good one then! Passing it when going along the A40, Hillingdon station
seems like an obvious candidate, but it's obviously not - that's what
comes from knowing what's out there but never having actually tried to
make use of it!


[...] I usually drive to Amersham and
take Chiltern to either Harrow-on-the-Hill or Mar-lee-bone and the
Underground from either of those. [...]

I see from the TfL website that it's not an LU car park... so I've
just checked the Chiltern DC website and voila, all the requisite info
is there (680 spaces, £5 maximum cost for a day's parking):
http://www.chiltern.gov.uk/site/scri...documentID=213

I'm guessing there's always a space?

I suppose another advantage of Amersham is that the fares are cheaper,
as LU fares apply including on Chiltern Railways.


[...]*But I have also driven a few times to
North Ealing station (Piccadilly Line) where you can usually get a space
in the car park by early afternoon. *I didn't suggest North Ealing
because, if you cannot find a parking space, the alternatives are not
easy if you don't know the area. *I used to live in Ealing, so I know it
quite well.

The magic of local knowledge!

Park and train in/near West London
 

On Wed, 6 May 2009 05:29:04 -0700 (PDT), Mizter T put finger to
keyboard and typed:

I guess I should be saying that one could avoid adding to the
congestion and pollution and could also save oneself the hassle of
driving into central London by doing 'The Right Thing' and making use
of a public transport option.

I am planning to do "the right thing" as you put it, and use a public
transport system. It's just that, unlike most times when I visit
London, I will be starting from a location that is not served by rail.
Hence the thread title being "park and train".

Mark
--
Blog: http://mark.goodge.co.uk
Stuff: http://www.good-stuff.co.uk

Park and train in/near West London
 

On May 6, 2:29*pm, Tony Polson wrote:

Mizter T wrote:

Thanks for the info, that's certainly useful to know. Coming into
central London it's obviously dependent on whether or not there's any
free seats on board but as both Oxford Tube and Oxford Espress stop
there then you'd not have to wait long before another coach came
along.

But pointless if you cannot find anywhere to park.

Of course. As I've just posted downthread, I'll happily defer to your
wisdom on this one!

I think I was simply mildly intrigued by the slight curiosity of being
able to catch one of these coach services from Hillingdon into town.
Occasionally knowing about such transport oddities might even be
useful!

And I do wonder if local residents make use of it at all - it could
actually be useful for them.

Park and train in/near West London
 

On May 6, 3:58*pm, Mark Goodge
wrote:

On Wed, 6 May 2009 05:29:04 -0700 (PDT), Mizter T put finger to
keyboard and typed:

I guess I should be saying that one could avoid adding to the
congestion and pollution and could also save oneself the hassle of
driving into central London by doing 'The Right Thing' and making use
of a public transport option.

I am planning to do "the right thing" as you put it, and use a public
transport system. It's just that, unlike most times when I visit
London, I will be starting from a location that is not served by rail.
Hence the thread title being "park and train".


Please don't get the idea I was trying to be preachy, I really wasn't!
Hence the phrase 'The Right Thing' being capitalised and in inverted
commas! (And the impersonal use of "one instead of "you" was very
deliberate too.)

Indeed during past discussions on these two newsgroups I've actively
countered the common notion that London is some sort of impassable
mass which is impossible to drive through. Which does somewhat bring
me into conflict with my other self, the public transport proponent!
I'll readily admit to a degree of hypocrisy here.

Anyway I trust the various suggestions have been useful, I hope you've
ignored my "obvious" yet fairly rubbish suggestion of Hillingdon, and
wonder if you might update us with whatever choice you make in the end
and tell us how well it worked.

Park and train in/near West London
 

In message
, at
05:29:04 on Wed, 6 May 2009, Mizter T remarked:
if you're coming west along the A40 and
want to head south to Marble Arch / Park Lane and beyond, one should
pretty much always take the so-called "Paddington slip" off the A40
(which IIRC is signposted "Ring Road South"). Once you're off the road
here it's a question of whether you continue direct along Westbourne
Terrace to Lancaster Gate (though the CC zone) or otherwise travel via
Edgware Road, which is a 'free road' that cuts through the CC zone, as
is Park Lane and the whole of the Inner Ring Road.

I'd forgotten about the congestion zone - shows how often I drive in
London (must be about seven years since I drove inside the zone, and
five years since I've driven inside the M25).
--
Roland Perry

Park and train in/near West London
 

In message
, at
04:21:56 on Wed, 6 May 2009, Mizter T remarked:
Of course it's all very academic if there's nowhere to park at
Hillingdon! I dunno what the side streets are like nearby Hillingdon
station and if parking is allowed there - unlike lots of other London
borough websites, Hillingdon council don't provide any details of
where there are controlled parking zones in their borough so I can't
tell from that.

I doubt there's much on-street parking, but I always found a space at
Ickenham station.
--
Roland Perry

Park and train in/near West London
 

On May 6, 10:58*am, Mark Goodge
wrote:
I am planning to do "the right thing" as you put it, and use a public
transport system. It's just that, unlike most times when I visit
London, I will be starting from a location that is not served by rail.
Hence the thread title being "park and train".

Have you considered Warwick Parkway? Less driving, more sitting being
productive on a train. Decent-sized car park, and trains are roughly
half-hourly to Marylebone (whence, of course, you can either take the
Bakerloo one stop and change cross-platform to the Jubilee, or just
walk five minutes to Baker Street and pick up the Jubbly there)

That's assuming, of course, that you're coming from far enough north
in Worcestershire that you'll be going past Warwick on the M40
anyway...

Park and train in/near West London
 

Mizter T wrote:


On May 6, 2:29*pm, Tony Polson wrote:

Mizter T wrote:

Thanks for the info, that's certainly useful to know. Coming into
central London it's obviously dependent on whether or not there's any
free seats on board but as both Oxford Tube and Oxford Espress stop
there then you'd not have to wait long before another coach came
along.

But pointless if you cannot find anywhere to park.

Of course. As I've just posted downthread, I'll happily defer to your
wisdom on this one!

I think I was simply mildly intrigued by the slight curiosity of being
able to catch one of these coach services from Hillingdon into town.
Occasionally knowing about such transport oddities might even be
useful!

And I do wonder if local residents make use of it at all - it could
actually be useful for them.


I think it was reasonably well used when the stop was at the Master
Brewer pub/motel, which was located on the north east side of the A40/
Long Lane traffic lights at Hillingdon Circus.

The road diversion devastated the Master Brewer's business. It lost
almost all of its passing trade. It was still there a couple of years
ago, boarded up, but I think it has probably been demolished.

PS I just looked on Google Street View and the site is now just a pile
of rubble.

Park and train in/near West London
 

Mizter T wrote:

Thanks for the info - I'll happily defer to your greater experience of
trying to do this. My Hillingdon suggestion evidently wasn't a very
good one then! Passing it when going along the A40, Hillingdon station
seems like an obvious candidate, but it's obviously not - that's what
comes from knowing what's out there but never having actually tried to
make use of it!


[...] I usually drive to Amersham and
take Chiltern to either Harrow-on-the-Hill or Mar-lee-bone and the
Underground from either of those. [...]

I see from the TfL website that it's not an LU car park... so I've
just checked the Chiltern DC website and voila, all the requisite info
is there (680 spaces, =A35 maximum cost for a day's parking):
I'm guessing there's always a space?

In my experience, yes, and I usually travel after the morning peak when
you would expect it to be at its fullest.

I suppose another advantage of Amersham is that the fares are cheaper,
as LU fares apply including on Chiltern Railways.

Indeed. Chiltern from Aylesbury is getting expensive:

Anytime Day Travelcard is £30.50, Off Peak Day Travelcard is £20.00.

From Amersham:

Anytime Day Travelcard is £16.20, Off Peak Day Travelcard is £9.00.

Even with the cost of parking and diesel, it's a lot cheaper.

But I have also driven a few times to
North Ealing station (Piccadilly Line) where you can usually get a space
in the car park by early afternoon. =A0I didn't suggest North Ealing
because, if you cannot find a parking space, the alternatives are not
easy if you don't know the area. =A0I used to live in Ealing, so I know it
quite well.

The magic of local knowledge!


It's definitely best to avoid Hillingdon. It was a lost opportunity; a
great idea for a park and ride but just not enough parking.

Park and train in/near West London
 

I'm also curious now as to whether Hillingdon area folks ever try and
use the Oxford Tube/Espress as a nifty 'express' night bus to get from
central London back to Hillingdon.

Perhaps 'local' passengers are only really welcome to travel from
Hillingdon into central London, rather than the other way round.

This reminds me of someone telling me about how they used to travel
into town from their home in the London suburbs back in the 70's - the
normal way was on a regular London bus route, but if they were feeling
flush then they might opt for the quicker Green Line coach instead
(regarded as a somewhat cut-above way of doing things!). I can't
really think of anywhere where this might still be possible - bus
routes are a lot shorter these days of course, and long distance
coaches don't really stop at that many places (though the Bexleyheath
coach stop on the side of the A2 does come to mind).

I used to live in Hillingdon and yes it was possible to use the Oxford
Tube/X90 as a night bus from Central London. It was around £4 I
believe (about two years ago) and it was absolutely brilliant. 20
minutes from Marble Arch compared to 90 mins or so for the N207, which
was further away from my house. Well worth the extra few quid.

I don't know if many other people used it, though. The times I used it
there never was anyone else getting off at Hillingdon.

Park and train in/near West London
 

On Wed, 6 May 2009 10:29:32 -0700 (PDT), Alistair Bell put finger to
keyboard and typed:

On May 6, 10:58*am, Mark Goodge
wrote:
I am planning to do "the right thing" as you put it, and use a public
transport system. It's just that, unlike most times when I visit
London, I will be starting from a location that is not served by rail.
Hence the thread title being "park and train".

Have you considered Warwick Parkway? Less driving, more sitting being
productive on a train. Decent-sized car park, and trains are roughly
half-hourly to Marylebone (whence, of course, you can either take the
Bakerloo one stop and change cross-platform to the Jubilee, or just
walk five minutes to Baker Street and pick up the Jubbly there)

That's assuming, of course, that you're coming from far enough north
in Worcestershire that you'll be going past Warwick on the M40
anyway...

No; I'll be probably starting on the edge of the Cotswolds in
south-east Worcestershire. I did consider somewhere like
Moreton-in-Marsh or Evesham (I'll probably be close enough to one or
other of those for it to be reasonably convenient), but the trains on
that line are slow and infrequent and I've heard too many stories of
poor reliability. So I'm not particularly inclined to trust them,
given that my travel time is likely to be somewhat inflexible.

Mark
--
Blog: http://mark.goodge.co.uk
Stuff: http://www.good-stuff.co.uk

Park and train in/near West London
 

In uk.railway Mizter T wrote:
This reminds me of someone telling me about how they used to travel
into town from their home in the London suburbs back in the 70's - the
normal way was on a regular London bus route, but if they were feeling
flush then they might opt for the quicker Green Line coach instead

I used to do the same from my part of Cambridge (Trumpington) into the
centre. Until a year or two ago, there was only a bus every two or three
hours on a Sunday. But Cambridge-Trumpington-London is an hourly(-ish)
National Express service. So I used to catch these instead to go the 3
miles into town. At a pound each way it was cheaper than the local buses
too! Got some funny looks from the drivers though.

Theo

Park and train in/near West London
 

In article ,
Tony Polson wrote:

It's definitely best to avoid Hillingdon. It was a lost opportunity; a
great idea for a park and ride but just not enough parking.

Interesting. A few years ago we were staying with friends in Marlow and
they recommended Hillingdon as the easiest way to get into central
London. It worked for us - plenty of parking at around 10 in the
morning in the summer. I can't tell exactly but I think this was about
5 years ago - 2004 or 2005. Things must have changed.

Sam

Park and train in/near West London
 

On Wed, 6 May 2009 08:24:28 -0700 (PDT), Mizter T put finger to
keyboard and typed:

Anyway I trust the various suggestions have been useful, I hope you've
ignored my "obvious" yet fairly rubbish suggestion of Hillingdon, and
wonder if you might update us with whatever choice you make in the end
and tell us how well it worked.

FWIW, I used Beaconsfield. It met all the requirements: Easy access
from the M40, a frequent service and plenty of parking. The only fly
in the ointment was the fact that the card terminal didn't seem to
like my credit card, despite it having plenty of available credit, so
I had to go and get some cash from a nearby ATM before I could travel.

I had seriously considered using one of the Cotswold Line stations
(such as Moreton-in-Marsh) as that would have been convenient for my
starting point, but in the end I was glad I didn't. I ended up staying
in London far longer than expected, mainly due to the fact that the
meeting was shifted to a new location and I took the opportunity to
stay behind afterwards for a bit of sightseeing - which wouldn't have
been possible if I'd needed to catch a specific train on an infrequent
schedule in order to get back at a reasonable time. The service
to/from Beaconsfield, by contrast, is frequent enough to be pretty
much turn-up-and-go all day, so I could just set off when I felt like
it rather than trying to match my movements to a timetable.

Mark
--
Blog: http://mark.goodge.co.uk
Stuff: http://www.good-stuff.co.uk

Park and train in/near West London
 

Mark Goodge wrote:

On Wed, 6 May 2009 08:24:28 -0700 (PDT), Mizter T put finger to
keyboard and typed:

Anyway I trust the various suggestions have been useful, I hope you've
ignored my "obvious" yet fairly rubbish suggestion of Hillingdon, and
wonder if you might update us with whatever choice you make in the end
and tell us how well it worked.

FWIW, I used Beaconsfield. It met all the requirements: Easy access
from the M40, a frequent service and plenty of parking. The only fly
in the ointment was the fact that the card terminal didn't seem to
like my credit card, despite it having plenty of available credit, so
I had to go and get some cash from a nearby ATM before I could travel.

I had seriously considered using one of the Cotswold Line stations
(such as Moreton-in-Marsh) as that would have been convenient for my
starting point, but in the end I was glad I didn't. I ended up staying
in London far longer than expected, mainly due to the fact that the
meeting was shifted to a new location and I took the opportunity to
stay behind afterwards for a bit of sightseeing - which wouldn't have
been possible if I'd needed to catch a specific train on an infrequent
schedule in order to get back at a reasonable time. The service
to/from Beaconsfield, by contrast, is frequent enough to be pretty
much turn-up-and-go all day, so I could just set off when I felt like
it rather than trying to match my movements to a timetable.


You're welcome. ;-)