In message , at 17:02:28 on Sat, 16 Nov
2013, d remarked:
I don't want to see people paying more than they need to, but the tube

can be very confusing for the first time visitor and at least HEx is

simple.



Until they get to paddington. I suspect a large number of first time visitors

will use HeX once and then never again especially when they go on the tube and

see the piccadilly going to heathrow on the map.


I doubt it. They'll think the tube is for the great unwashed like the
bus, hop into a taxi and go back to the airport via a taxi and
Paddington. You seem to be still making the mistake that HEx is for
backpackers.

--
Roland Perry

In message , at 17:04:38 on Sat, 16 Nov
2013, d remarked:
Government wouldn't build it, so why would they buy it now?

I don't blame them for not building it - its a line without a purpose other
than for travel to obscure parts of west london but mainly for BAA to fleece
tourists.

Still missing the point I see.
--
Roland Perry

On 16/11/2013 17:12, Roland Perry wrote:

In message , at 17:02:28 on Sat, 16 Nov
2013, d remarked:

Until they get to paddington. I suspect a large number of first time
visitors will use HeX once and then never again especially when they
go on the tube and see the piccadilly going to heathrow on the map.

I doubt it. They'll think the tube is for the great unwashed like the
bus, hop into a taxi and go back to the airport via a taxi and
Paddington. You seem to be still making the mistake that HEx is for
backpackers.

You seem to have a very binary view of the range of travellers that use
Heathrow.

On 15/11/2013 08:44, Peter Masson wrote:

"Mizter T" wrote

That said, I imagine that however good the information given at the
Heathrow tube stations, there'll still be a fair number of air
arrivees getting as far as Osterley on the tube before then finding
themselves and their baggage on the all-stations bustitution service A
from Osterley, which runs to Turnham Green (thence District line to
get further east into town).

They've thought of this. Replacement bus service B (eastbound) from
Terminals 1&3 to Hammersmith will call at Osterley, so any passengers
who join the Piccadilly Line at Heathrow won't have to endure the
all-stations bus at Osterley.


Thanks Peter - I'd missed that. A neat solution to an inevitable
problem! I wonder if they've operated the rail replacement buses in this
manner before - I only started this thread because I thought the
separate embarkation and disembarkation points (Gunnersbury and
Hammersmith) were of mild interest.

(That, and it's a less depressing subject than talking about road
safety, or the lack thereof, which has been in the news lately for all
the wrong reasons.)

In message , at 17:41:28 on Sat, 16 Nov
2013, Mizter T remarked:
Until they get to paddington. I suspect a large number of first time
visitors will use HeX once and then never again especially when they
go on the tube and see the piccadilly going to heathrow on the map.

I doubt it. They'll think the tube is for the great unwashed like the
bus, hop into a taxi and go back to the airport via a taxi and
Paddington. You seem to be still making the mistake that HEx is for
backpackers.

You seem to have a very binary view of the range of travellers that use
Heathrow.

I do. They are divided into people who would otherwise get a taxi, and
those who wouldn't. Reasons could include business vs leisure, funds to
fly business vs economy, and so on.

But you are welcome to disagree; the world is, after all, divided into
two groups: those who divide things into two groups and those who don't.
--
Roland Perry

On 16/11/2013 12:50, eastender wrote:

On 2013-11-16 11:18:43 +0000, Paul Corfield said:

Or via Whitechapel - 1 change to the H&C. Slow but a lot less palaver.

I always forget about that. Anyway, Circle line came first at Edg Rd -
it was freezing and I had no coat.

It sounds like at Paddington you headed straight to the Circle &
District line platforms - these days with the 'tea-cupped' Circle line
that's only ever going to get you one stop to the east (i.e. Edgware Rd)
before you need to change.

Best to head to the H&C & Circle platform - no need to change in order
to get to KXSP (plus the option of the H&C to Whitechapel - though that
does feel as though it'd going out of the way somewhat, but I guess it
probably wouldn't take that much longer).

No coat?! Sounds like you were coming back from exotic climes...

On 16/11/2013 16:12, Roland Perry wrote:

In message

, at 09:56:01 on Sat, 16 Nov 2013, Recliner
remarked:
To some extent, but these are very different markets. HEx for the people
who would have got a taxi, HC for airport workers and people living in
West London, and the tube for Londoners who want cheap and slow.

Yes, but the HEx touts are also pushing it at people who aren't really in
the target market, and for whom the Tube would be better (both because
it's cheaper and also because it's more likely to take them where they need
to go). For many of those people, the Tube would actually be faster, too.

Concur with the above - HEx is pushed at *everyone* arriving at
Heathrow, not just those who might otherwise hop in a taxi.


Why doesn't TfL send out "tube touts", or make more of an effort to
publicise its service?

'Tube touts' would hardly be welcomed by HAL. Likewise, HAL is in
control of the messages that arriving passengers see.

TfL could do with having a more prominent section on their website
regarding travel to and from Heathrow - all there is at the moment is this:
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/gettingaround/2558.aspx

Any tourist or city guide for London worthy of the name should include
an outline of the airport travel options.


I don't want to see people paying more than they need to, but the tube
can be very confusing for the first time visitor and at least HEx is
simple.

On 16/11/2013 17:55, Roland Perry wrote:

In message , at 17:41:28 on Sat, 16 Nov
2013, Mizter T remarked:
Until they get to paddington. I suspect a large number of first time
visitors will use HeX once and then never again especially when they
go on the tube and see the piccadilly going to heathrow on the map.

I doubt it. They'll think the tube is for the great unwashed like the
bus, hop into a taxi and go back to the airport via a taxi and
Paddington. You seem to be still making the mistake that HEx is for
backpackers.

You seem to have a very binary view of the range of travellers that
use Heathrow.

I do. They are divided into people who would otherwise get a taxi, and
those who wouldn't. Reasons could include business vs leisure, funds to
fly business vs economy, and so on.

But you are welcome to disagree; the world is, after all, divided into
two groups: those who divide things into two groups and those who don't.

And you seem to think that HEx is solely about serving the first group
(the taxi takers). It's certainly aimed and marketed at a rather larger
cross section than that, and I would suggest that if one looked at a
fair number of HEx passengers you'd find people who, it its absence,
would have taken another form of public transport (i.e. the Tube) rather
than a taxi.

But then again, when some people see things in binary, I'm happy to look
on matters in more of an analogue manner.

In message , at 18:14:10 on Sat, 16 Nov
2013, Mizter T remarked:
And you seem to think that HEx is solely about serving the first group
(the taxi takers). It's certainly aimed and marketed at a rather larger
cross section than that, and I would suggest that if one looked at a
fair number of HEx passengers you'd find people who, it its absence,
would have taken another form of public transport (i.e. the Tube)
rather than a taxi.

But then again, when some people see things in binary, I'm happy to
look on matters in more of an analogue manner.

Not at all, I just remember the reason it was built. Of course there
will be some blurring at the edges, but you'd probably be surprised the
number of people whose immediate reaction on arriving at a foreign (as
in both overseas and unfamiliar) airport is to head for the taxi rank.

A lot of my former colleagues wouldn't even do that - they insisted on a
limo from the hotel (although not all taxi drivers are as honest as the
London ones).
--
Roland Perry

In message , at 18:07:26 on Sat, 16 Nov
2013, Mizter T remarked:
Any tourist or city guide for London worthy of the name should include
an outline of the airport travel options.

They should, and the same in other cities worldwide.

I used to run a site like for internal use at a former client. It's
astonishing how superficial and out-of-date many public sites are.

I've always put it down to the people compiling the guides never having
got their hands dirty, and going everywhere by taxi themselves...

It's very tempting at 6am after a long flight, or 11pm when all you want
is to get to the hotel *now*, I have to say.
--
Roland Perry