My daughter is due to arrive at Gatwick at 21:15 on 16th January and has to
get back to Cambridge. Looking at NRE and expecting a tube strike she
couldn't see how she can get home, even with a choice of buses from Hitchin
or Bishop's Stortford.

Normally she could get Thameslink to SPILL and walk across to King's Cross
but not at that time of night. She can probably get to London Bridge and
then get a 35 or 47 bus to Liverpool Street (or even walk) in plenty of time
to get the 23:58 to Bishop's Stortford.

But will her through rail ticket be accepted on the bus if the tube isn't
running?

--
Colin Rosenstiel

wrote in message
...
My daughter is due to arrive at Gatwick at 21:15 on 16th January and has
to
get back to Cambridge. Looking at NRE and expecting a tube strike she
couldn't see how she can get home, even with a choice of buses from
Hitchin
or Bishop's Stortford.

Normally she could get Thameslink to SPILL and walk across to King's Cross
but not at that time of night. She can probably get to London Bridge and
then get a 35 or 47 bus to Liverpool Street (or even walk) in plenty of
time
to get the 23:58 to Bishop's Stortford.

But will her through rail ticket be accepted on the bus if the tube isn't
running?

--
Colin Rosenstiel


Suspension of the ASLEF strike seems to have answered your question. However
an alternative would have been to use National Express coach service 797,
leaving Gatwick at 2145. I appreciate that a near four hour journey may not
be attractive (travelling via Heathrow and Stansted) but it would at least
offer a through service, which could be helpful if your daughter has much
luggage with her.

JL

In message , at
13:58:19 on Mon, 2 Jan 2012, J Lynch
remarked:
My daughter is due to arrive at Gatwick at 21:15 on 16th January

....

an alternative would have been to use National Express coach service 797,
leaving Gatwick at 2145.

30 minutes from gate to coach seems a trifle optimistic. If she's got
any checked bags, completely impossible.
--
Roland Perry

wrote in message
...
My daughter is due to arrive at Gatwick at 21:15 on 16th January and has
to
get back to Cambridge. Looking at NRE and expecting a tube strike she
couldn't see how she can get home, even with a choice of buses from
Hitchin
or Bishop's Stortford.

Normally she could get Thameslink to SPILL and walk across to King's Cross
but not at that time of night. She can probably get to London Bridge and
then get a 35 or 47 bus to Liverpool Street (or even walk) in plenty of
time
to get the 23:58 to Bishop's Stortford.

But will her through rail ticket be accepted on the bus if the tube isn't
running?

Probably - have a look at the FCC website. Even the cash fare wouldn't be a
huge deal-breaker if not.

--
DAS

In article , (Roland Perry)
wrote:

In message , at
13:58:19 on Mon, 2 Jan 2012, J Lynch
remarked:
My daughter is due to arrive at Gatwick at 21:15 on 16th January

...

an alternative would have been to use National Express coach service 797,
leaving Gatwick at 2145.

30 minutes from gate to coach seems a trifle optimistic. If she's got
any checked bags, completely impossible.

Exactly. She's not entirely confident of getting even the 22:47 train, based
on past experience (she's a far more experienced intercontinental traveller
than I am).

And pay on the spot coach tickets are expensive, especially if she already
has a return train ticket that costs her less than coach single.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

On Mon, 02 Jan 2012 08:41:41 -0600,
wrote:
And pay on the spot coach tickets are expensive

Not massively. IMX they tend to be in a similar magnitude to, or a
bit less than, walk up off peak train tickets. The risk is of not
getting a seat.

Neil

--
Neil Williams, Milton Keynes, UK

On Sun, 01 Jan 2012 13:25:46 -0600, rosenstiel wrote:

Normally she could get Thameslink to SPILL and walk across to King's
Cross but not at that time of night. She can probably get to London
Bridge and then get a 35 or 47 bus to Liverpool Street (or even walk) in
plenty of time to get the 23:58 to Bishop's Stortford.

But will her through rail ticket be accepted on the bus if the tube
isn't running?

Erm, dunno, but the worst case scenario is a £2.20 bus fare....? (or
£1.30 with Oyster)

There's the 149 and 48 as bus options too.

In article ,
(Neil Williams) wrote:

On Mon, 02 Jan 2012 08:41:41 -0600, wrote:
And pay on the spot coach tickets are expensive

Not massively. IMX they tend to be in a similar magnitude to, or a
bit less than, walk up off peak train tickets. The risk is of not
getting a seat.

She told me it was £30 or thereabouts. Her return train ticket is £28.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

In article ,
(Paul Corfield) wrote:

On Mon, 2 Jan 2012 16:57:25 +0000 (UTC), Martin Petrov
wrote:

On Sun, 01 Jan 2012 13:25:46 -0600, rosenstiel wrote:

Normally she could get Thameslink to SPILL and walk across to King's
Cross but not at that time of night. She can probably get to London
Bridge and then get a 35 or 47 bus to Liverpool Street (or even walk)
in plenty of time to get the 23:58 to Bishop's Stortford.

But will her through rail ticket be accepted on the bus if the tube
isn't running?

Erm, dunno, but the worst case scenario is a £2.20 bus fare....? (or
£1.30 with Oyster)

£2.30 cash or £1.35 PAYG now - fares up today.

Rail ticket acceptance would have to be pre-agreed and I'm not sure if
Thameslink closures give TfL bus acceptance between London Bridge and
Liverpool Street. I'm also not sure that a tube strike gives
automatic acceptance of NR tickets on buses.

I was told yesterday by the London Travel Information call centre that NR
tickets would be accepted in a strike to get across central London between
stations.

There's the 149 and 48 as bus options too.

And the 133 as well which runs into the Bus Station rather than
Bishopsgate.

Yes, London Travel Information told me there are lots of options, all
signposted at London Bridge and that staff would be present to assist.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

In article ,
(Paul Corfield) wrote:

On Mon, 02 Jan 2012 14:15:40 -0600, wrote:

In article ,
(Paul Corfield) wrote:

On Mon, 2 Jan 2012 16:57:25 +0000 (UTC), Martin Petrov
wrote:

On Sun, 01 Jan 2012 13:25:46 -0600, rosenstiel wrote:

Normally she could get Thameslink to SPILL and walk across to King's
Cross but not at that time of night. She can probably get to London
Bridge and then get a 35 or 47 bus to Liverpool Street (or even
walk) in plenty of time to get the 23:58 to Bishop's Stortford.

But will her through rail ticket be accepted on the bus if the tube
isn't running?

Erm, dunno, but the worst case scenario is a £2.20 bus fare....? (or
£1.30 with Oyster)

£2.30 cash or £1.35 PAYG now - fares up today.

Rail ticket acceptance would have to be pre-agreed and I'm not sure if
Thameslink closures give TfL bus acceptance between London Bridge and
Liverpool Street. I'm also not sure that a tube strike gives
automatic acceptance of NR tickets on buses.

I was told yesterday by the London Travel Information call centre that NR
tickets would be accepted in a strike to get across central London
between stations.

Oh well I've learnt something.

There's the 149 and 48 as bus options too.

And the 133 as well which runs into the Bus Station rather than
Bishopsgate.

Yes, London Travel Information told me there are lots of options, all
signposted at London Bridge and that staff would be present to assist.

Did they also say how busy services normally are never mind during a
strike day? I am always surprised how many people make the LOB - LST
journey by bus, even off peak. You can easily have 30-40 people
waiting despite the high frequencies.

Sorry to seem like a party pooper but if the strikes are put back on
then the buses are likely to be busy and quite probably badly
disrupted at that time of day after a whole day of battling through
traffic and dealing with strike crowds. It is worth remembering that
routes 21 and 43 run from London Bridge to Moorgate which is only 3-4
mins walk to Liverpool Street.

Indeed. I just report what I was told. :-)

If she is able to walk with her luggage then she needs the directions
as a back up option in order to get to Liverpool Street in a
predictable manner.

Hopefully none of this logistical back up will be necessary.

I did at first tell he she would have time to walk but the whole idea was
based on there being a strike and a 23:58 from Liverpool St but that only
runs on Fridays. Oops! My excuse is that there are buses from Bishop's
Stortford that day and the 23:58 runs to there every day. OK, I plead
insanity.

She'll be able to get a later train from Gatwick to Victoria now and the
Victoria Line to King's Cross for the 00:04 to Hitchin. She still has to get
a (rail replacement) bus to get to Cambridge. I was slightly surprised to
see that a Cambridge-Gatwick off-peak return is valid on Gatwick Express
these days.

--
Colin Rosenstiel