Mizter T wrote:
I've certainly heard it said that the Westway routing makes the Oxford
Espress faster into central London, and obviously it misses Lewknor so
that's a time advantage too. Fares wise they're very similar too. Though
obviously if you're heading to west London then the Oxford Tube might well
land you in a better place. Worth noting that the Oxford Espress doesn't
run through the night, unlike the Oxford Tube.

I don't know the Oxford route, but also the other advantage of the motorway
is the ride is much smoother. The Cambridge-London buses spend about 50-60
mins on the M11, and then another hour lurching down every sidestreet in
east London. If I want to read a book or something I find it much more
comfortable (if not perfectly so) on the motorway sections.

On a similar note, I sometimes get off the Cambridge bus at Stratford to get
a quicker journey into London by train or tube. I wonder if you might
consider working out your options of onward travel from Hillingdon or
Shepherd's Bush, so if there's traffic or perhaps bad weather you can opt to
bail early and take the tube.

Oh, and 'I've just checked the rail season ticket cost - it's £4,104 (as
opposed to 4.5k), or with a Travelcard element (for unlimited travel within
London zones 1-6) it's £4,772 - though you could be better off just using
Oyster Pay-as-you-go to pay for any Tube or bus journeys within London (it
does depend on the specifics though).

You could buy a season for one bus (eg the Espress) and then just singles on
the other as and when you need to use it... it's still a considerable saving
over the train. Then Oyster for occasional journeys within London.

Theo