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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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