wrote:

Examples? No premiums to the last two European airports I've used.
Admittedly Berlin Tegel was bus (at standard fare) not rail.

Hamburg used to be premium fare bus or local standard fare bus to the S
Bahn, now it's just S Bahn at standard fare.

Geneva is standard fare to the airport. From it is free (ticket pickup in
the baggage hall), a wonderful piece of customer service given the usual
hassles of having right money on arrival.

Neil
--
Neil Williams in Milton Keynes, UK. Put first name before the at to reply.

On 20/01/2013 22:07, Paul Corfield wrote:

On 20 Jan 2013 17:35:08 +0000 (GMT), Theo Markettos
wrote:

Heathrow Connect doesn't accept Oyster cards (between Heathrow and
Hayes & Harlington). So what's the recommended method to make a journey
between Heathrow and somewhere in Oysterland, for example Stratford changing
to/from the Central at Ealing Broadway?

[big snip]

Any better ideas?

Sigh. If only Heathrow Connect was 'zone 99' or something, would make life
a lot easier.

From memory the validators at Hayes and Harlington are in the ticket
hall so you would miss your train - no dashing on and off the same
one. I think the FGW frequency is not bad at H&H so the wait might not
be too long.

There are interchange validators at Ealing Broadway so you can touch
in and out on the "interchange route" between tube and NR services.

If you were not laden with luggage and didn't mind the interchange I'd
simply get the 140 bus from H&H - every 8 mins and stops right outside
the station door. This is on the assumption that you're determined to
maximise Oyster card use and avoid ticketing nonsenses. Might be no
good if you're time pressured.


The 140 would be my recommendation too, what with it stopping right
outside H&H station on the road overbridge - see the bus spider map:
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/gettingaround/maps/buses/pdf/hayesharlington-a4.pdf

For legacy reasons, the Oyster PAYG fare scale in use on the suburban
GWML is the TfL one (i.e. Tube rate), rather than the NR one. This means
that if you were to continue a journey from Paddington on the LU
network, you'd only be charged at the TfL (Tube) rate, rather than the
more expensive 'through fare' for TfL+NR journeys.

In message , at 16:46:51
on Sun, 20 Jan 2013, remarked:

Premium (extra cost) services to airports are very much the norm.

Examples? No premiums to the last two European airports I've used.

There's a premium on the metro to Madrid airport, and a premium "Airport
Express" train in Oslo. Stockholm has the Arlanda Express, Rome has the
Leonardo Express and don't forget the Gatwick Express.
--
Roland Perry

In message , at 16:46:51
on Sun, 20 Jan 2013, remarked:

As I keep saying it's high time the evil nonsense of the BAA (or
whatever it's called this week) monopoly was brought to an end. It should
be incorporated into the London public transport network

Given that BAA paid for it to be built, are you prepared to buy it
off them at cost (or some other larger figure)?

Like the PFI companies and Croydon Tramlink?

Was Croydon Tramlink built to be a separate privately-operated line?

BAA have had an ample return on their investment by now.

They manage to cover the running costs, but I don't know how much of the
capital investment has been paid back.

It's also a bit complicated because the objective of HEx is to create a
visible up-market service, for people who would never have used the
Piccadilly Line, and thus most of the passengers are abstracted from the
roads, an important public policy objective in West London.
--
Roland Perry

In article

, (Neil Williams) wrote:

wrote:

Examples? No premiums to the last two European airports I've used.
Admittedly Berlin Tegel was bus (at standard fare) not rail.

Hamburg used to be premium fare bus or local standard fare bus to the S
Bahn, now it's just S Bahn at standard fare.

Geneva is standard fare to the airport. From it is free (ticket pickup in
the baggage hall), a wonderful piece of customer service given the usual
hassles of having right money on arrival.

The important difference could be airports with proper through routes rather
than dedicated branches. Zurich is now on a through route with standard
zonal fares. It has no Supersaver fares to Swiss destinations though. You
have to book separately to Zurich HB to get them.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

In article , (Roland Perry)
wrote:

In message , at
16:46:51 on Sun, 20 Jan 2013, remarked:

Premium (extra cost) services to airports are very much the norm.

Examples? No premiums to the last two European airports I've used.

There's a premium on the metro to Madrid airport, and a premium
"Airport Express" train in Oslo. Stockholm has the Arlanda Express,
Rome has the Leonardo Express and don't forget the Gatwick Express.

The Gatwick Express paralleling non-premium services of course. What about
Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels?

--
Colin Rosenstiel

In article , (Roland Perry)
wrote:

In message , at
16:46:51 on Sun, 20 Jan 2013, remarked:

As I keep saying it's high time the evil nonsense of the BAA (or
whatever it's called this week) monopoly was brought to an end. It
should be incorporated into the London public transport network

Given that BAA paid for it to be built, are you prepared to buy it
off them at cost (or some other larger figure)?

Like the PFI companies and Croydon Tramlink?

Was Croydon Tramlink built to be a separate privately-operated line?

99 year concession wasn't it?

BAA have had an ample return on their investment by now.

They manage to cover the running costs, but I don't know how much of
the capital investment has been paid back.

It's also a bit complicated because the objective of HEx is to create
a visible up-market service, for people who would never have used the
Piccadilly Line, and thus most of the passengers are abstracted from
the roads, an important public policy objective in West London.

How successfully are they abstracted from the roads?

In any case this thread started discussing the situation where the normal
Piccadilly Line option is not available.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

In message , at 06:30:28
on Mon, 21 Jan 2013, remarked:
There's a premium on the metro to Madrid airport, and a premium
"Airport Express" train in Oslo. Stockholm has the Arlanda Express,
Rome has the Leonardo Express and don't forget the Gatwick Express.

The Gatwick Express paralleling non-premium services of course.

As does Heathrow Express.

What about Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels?

Paris has a RER station, a bit slow, but not especially expensive for
the distance. It doesn't have a fast train.

Brussels is very similar.

Amsterdam is on the main line, with a mixture of main line and suburban
trains. It's beyond the end of their metro. And while you can pay a
premium to use a "faster" train, in practice those faster trains aren't
that much quicker, so it's not worth it.
--
Roland Perry

In message , at 06:30:29
on Mon, 21 Jan 2013, remarked:
Was Croydon Tramlink built to be a separate privately-operated line?

99 year concession wasn't it?

I don't know, I didn't follow the project (although I got caught up in
some of the roadworks circa 1995).

BAA have had an ample return on their investment by now.

They manage to cover the running costs, but I don't know how much of
the capital investment has been paid back.

It's also a bit complicated because the objective of HEx is to create
a visible up-market service, for people who would never have used the
Piccadilly Line, and thus most of the passengers are abstracted from
the roads, an important public policy objective in West London.

How successfully are they abstracted from the roads?

Very much so, meeting the targets.

In any case this thread started discussing the situation where the normal
Piccadilly Line option is not available.

What they should do is put on extra "Connect" trains, and accept TfL
tickets. HEx is a red herring.
--
Roland Perry

On Mon, 21 Jan 2013 12:58:22 +0000
Roland Perry wrote:
It's also a bit complicated because the objective of HEx is to create
a visible up-market service, for people who would never have used the
Piccadilly Line, and thus most of the passengers are abstracted from
the roads, an important public policy objective in West London.

How successfully are they abstracted from the roads?

Very much so, meeting the targets.

Have they actually measured a decrease in traffic on the heathrow spur then
or are they just assuming they everyone who travels on HeX would have gone
by taxi beforehand and would never have dreamt of taking the piccadilly line?

B2003