On Tue, 09 Mar 2010 22:19:14 +0000
Steve M wrote:
the time when I make that journey to work. Wait 2 mins to buy or collect
ticket at Victoria (usually a �3 Advance). Board train, which leaves

2 minutes?

Liar.

*plonk*

B2003

On Mar 10, 10:36*am, wrote:

I've never used gatwick express.

If you are willing to pay a premium for service, as it seems you are,
why not consider it?

Neil

On Wed, 10 Mar 2010 01:48:51 -0800 (PST)
Neil Williams wrote:
On Mar 10, 10:36=A0am, wrote:

I've never used gatwick express.

If you are willing to pay a premium for service, as it seems you are,
why not consider it?

Because all gatwick express does is speed up the journey by a few minutes. My
main gripe is the hassle and unreliability of public transport. If I'm not
in a hurry coming back from an airport or I don't have a lot of luggage I'll
probably use PT, but going to it I want to make sure I get there to get the
flight without the possibility of yet more ****ups on the tubes or trains.

B2003

On Mar 10, 11:47*am, wrote:

Because all gatwick express does is speed up the journey by a few minutes.. My
main gripe is the hassle and unreliability of public transport.

And is a bit more comfortable, quieter and has good luggage storage
space. So it improves a few of those things, though admittedly
doesn't remove the purgatory of crossing London with heavy luggage.

Neil

CJB wrote:
As might be expected from the bankrupt wholly Spanish-owned BAA its
train services were cashing in big-time on the disruption to the
Piccadilly Line this weekend. In the past All Zone Travel Cards have
been accepted on both HEX and CONnect. However in an admirable
demonstration of 'rip-off' Britiain, and at the expense of its long
suffering airline passengers, BAA and its two Paddington / Heathrow
train 'services' were not accepting any Travel Cards this weekend.
Instead BAA was charging the usual full-price rip-off fares it
normally does for its tatty and worn trains into outer London. And HEX
staff were seen today (Sunday) at T5 ensuring that passengers do
indeed pay the exorbitant £18 (whatever) SINGLE fare into West London.
Indeed they were stationed at every TfL ticket machine deterring
passengers from even thinking of going by tube/bus/tube into Central
London. CJB.

Looks like Chris J Brady has been sending this bolloc#s to the press too:

http://www.uxbridgegazette.co.uk/wes...3046-26002178/

Hardly surprising TPTB won't give him a new Freedom pass then...

Paul S

In message , at 17:07:53 on Tue, 9 Mar
2010, d remarked:

******** to PT.

You can see Bow Locks from PT, viz: the DLR. I wonder if there was ever
a fly-boat sevice on that stretch of canal?
--
Roland Perry

In message
p.homeip.net, at
19:19:00 on Tue, 9 Mar 2010, Paul Cummins
remarked:
Please explain how you take another route when you are already on
the M4. You can use crayon if that is all they will allow you.

Get off at the next junction, maybe? The M4 is 193 miles long and has 49 junctions -
that's a junction every 4 miles or so, on average.

But there are stretches much longer than that, east Reading to west
Maidenhead, for example. (I forget the exact names of the junctions).
--
Roland Perry

In message , d
writes

Slightly higher? A lot higher last time I checked it out. Hardly worth it
to save all of 10 mins. Aside from that the journey is identical.

I certainly agree that Southern is much better value for a run to
Gatwick - and it only costs a fiver, compared with 70 quid for a taxi.

I don't really understand the reason for the polarised arguments in this
debate. I have thrice forked out the enormous cost for a taxi to Gatwick
because of a flight so early that I wasn't confident that the bus to
Clapham Junction would get me there on time. One of these three
occasions was fine, on another I only just arrived at Gatwick in time
because of a jam on the M25. On the third occasion (earlier this year)
the taxi couldn't even get onto the M25, let alone anywhere near
Gatwick, and I missed my flight.

In contrast, I've never had the slightest delay in either direction when
using Southern's CJ-Gatwick service. It's faster, more relaxing and very
much cheaper than a taxi.

--
Paul Terry

In message , at 20:24:43 on Wed,
10 Mar 2010, Paul Terry remarked:
I don't really understand the reason for the polarised arguments in
this debate.

It's usenet. innit.
--
Roland Perry

On Mar 10, 6:09*pm, Paul Corfield wrote:

I have encountered more delays than I care to recall with the aircraft
being unable to get off its gate on time or up in the air on time or the
clods at Heathrow being unable to unload a plane in anything less an
hour - even when its the first one down in the morning so there's excuse
that "they're busy emptying another aircraft".

This is one reason I prefer flying on low-costs for short-haul - steps
at both ends, and a significant incentive to turn things around
quickly. (Another is that easyJet's booking engine *just works*).

Even then, though, arrival time is not predictable within a 10-20
minute window once you get later in the day.

Neil