On Wed, 02 Jul 2014 23:06:59 +0100, Mizter T
wrote:
If you're getting a GN train to King's Cross, then I'd think
Gatwick and
Luton airports are more or less much of a muchness in terms of
onward
travel - though no shuttle bus at Gatwick of course.

But possibly the inter terminal shuttle which is not really any
quicker.

Neil

--
Neil Williams. Use neil before the at to reply.

In message , at
23:45:22 on Wed, 2 Jul 2014, Arthur Figgis
remarked:
Nothing says "Welcome to Britain" more than the recorded messages
telling you how to use the escalators, presumably for the benefit of
Johnny Foreigner who has never before encountered such things in his
primitive Continental homeland.

At Kings Cross they have those creepy front-projected cardboard cut-outs
telling you *not* to use the escalators if you have baggage.

And getting back to FCC, and patronising announcements, they now play a
message about how to open the doors. Apparently you have to press the
illuminated button, who'd a thunk-it?
--
Roland Perry

In message , at 23:06:59 on Wed, 2 Jul 2014,
Mizter T remarked:
[Luton Airport]
It's not very accessible by public transport from Cambridge (or Ely)
though, is it?

No it isn't. So my focus for any future trips would change to Stansted/
Gatwick rather than Luton/Gatwick. I was only using Luton when East
Midlands didn't have a suitable flight and because it was on the M1/MML
corridor.

If you're getting a GN train to King's Cross, then I'd think Gatwick
and Luton airports are more or less much of a muchness in terms of
onward travel - though no shuttle bus at Gatwick of course.

Somehow, the trip to Luton via London feels "wrong". Although there's a
bus from Hitchin to the airport if the time of day is right.

The question of course is how many destinations does Luton offer that
Stansted doesn't. Gatwick generally opens up a whole new set of
possibilities.
--
Roland Perry

In message , at 23:29:48 on Wed, 2 Jul
2014, John Levine remarked:
NatEx have coaches from Cambridge to Luton Airport every two hours
from 02:20 to 20:20. They take about 1:35. Seems reasonably
accessible to me.

Ely is harder. The Cambridge train station is a long way from the
coach station, so it's not a very good place to change.

Indeed, I'd have to allow at least 3/4hr from home to the coach stops in
Cambridge.

The coach stops at the Hitchin train station, but you can't get there
from Ely without changing at Letchworth.

The xx.30 semi-fasts stop at Hitchin, but a change at Cambridge is
necessary because the Kings Cross trains from Kings Lynn are fast
Cambridge-KX.

Or you could take the train to Stansted airport and the coach from
there.

But it's an hour to Stansted Airport (more or less) so two and half
hours, plus the latency of the change at Stansted isn't very attractive.
--
Roland Perry

In article , (Roland Perry)
wrote:

In message , at
23:45:22 on Wed, 2 Jul 2014, Arthur Figgis
remarked:
Nothing says "Welcome to Britain" more than the recorded messages
telling you how to use the escalators, presumably for the benefit of
Johnny Foreigner who has never before encountered such things in his
primitive Continental homeland.

At Kings Cross they have those creepy front-projected cardboard
cut-outs telling you *not* to use the escalators if you have baggage.

And getting back to FCC, and patronising announcements, they now play
a message about how to open the doors. Apparently you have to press
the illuminated button, who'd a thunk-it?

That might be because the current buttons aren't up to the PRM spec. Once
the 365s are all refurbished that might change,

--
Colin Rosenstiel

wrote in message
...
In article , (Clive
Page)
wrote:

On 02/07/2014 07:02, Walter Briscoe wrote:
Relevant URLs, please?

I can't find anything online, but there are posters at the station
claiming an improvement from the start of 2014 (which can't be a
result of covering the windows etc as this wasn't done until this
June). Here is an extract from an email I got from the local station
manager in response to my complaint.

quote
The strategy for example for train drop off times and covering
windows is a proven science used throughout the rail industry. It
has used a simple science that if a customer cannot see a train they
won't be able to run for it. Our published timetables for example,
clearly indicate that to access the station here in a safe manner the
customer should arrive at least 7 minutes prior to the train
departure. It is unfortunate that many passengers do leave
travelling until the last minute and this is when we see the majority
of our accidents.

Most of the recommendations have now been implemented and we have
already seen a drastic decrease in our passenger accidents which is
great news not only for the customer who passes through our station
as we have obviously made it a safer place to travel through, but
also to our staff who pass through it, plus of course benefits to the
business. Some of these projects, due to their success will be
rolled out across our network as good practise.
end quote

7 minutes is utterly ridiculous!

for granny with luggage (nor unreasonable at an airport station) it would
seem perfectly reasonable

but it is, of course, ridiculous to use such an outlier for the average
person

tim

In message , at 11:00:34 on Thu, 3 Jul
2014, tim..... remarked:
7 minutes is utterly ridiculous!

for granny with luggage (nor unreasonable at an airport station) it
would seem perfectly reasonable

Everyone keeps overlooking that the 7 minutes in question is from
*platform* to *platform*. Not from kerbside to platform.

How many grannies (with or without luggage) are *changing* trains at
Luton Airport Parkway?
--
Roland Perry

In article , (Roland Perry)
wrote:

In message , at 23:29:48 on Wed, 2 Jul
2014, John Levine remarked:
NatEx have coaches from Cambridge to Luton Airport every two hours
from 02:20 to 20:20. They take about 1:35. Seems reasonably
accessible to me.

Ely is harder. The Cambridge train station is a long way from the
coach station, so it's not a very good place to change.

Indeed, I'd have to allow at least 3/4hr from home to the coach stops
in Cambridge.

The coach stops at the Hitchin train station, but you can't get there
from Ely without changing at Letchworth.

The xx.30 semi-fasts stop at Hitchin, but a change at Cambridge is
necessary because the Kings Cross trains from Kings Lynn are fast
Cambridge-KX.

Apart from the 10.11 and 16.06 from Ely which form the 10.30 and 16.25 from
Cambridge and call at Hitchin (and the 17.07 and later trains from Lynn
which do the same), connection times at Cambridge from Ely into the xx.30
and xx.55 are not good. That is why I suggested that taking the bus from
Cambridge railway station to Drummer Street and getting the airport coach
from Parkside would be as quick.

Or you could take the train to Stansted airport and the coach from
there.

But it's an hour to Stansted Airport (more or less) so two and half
hours, plus the latency of the change at Stansted isn't very
attractive.
--
Roland Perry


--
Colin Rosenstiel

In message , at 05:16:25
on Thu, 3 Jul 2014, remarked:
The coach stops at the Hitchin train station, but you can't get there
from Ely without changing at Letchworth.

The xx.30 semi-fasts stop at Hitchin, but a change at Cambridge is
necessary because the Kings Cross trains from Kings Lynn are fast
Cambridge-KX.

Apart from the 10.11 and 16.06 from Ely which form the 10.30 and 16.25 from
Cambridge and call at Hitchin (and the 17.07 and later trains from Lynn
which do the same), connection times at Cambridge from Ely into the xx.30
and xx.55 are not good. That is why I suggested that taking the bus from
Cambridge railway station to Drummer Street and getting the airport coach
from Parkside would be as quick.

Looking at Transport Direct, starting *now* they recommend changing at
Cambridge for a Hitchin train then catching the 787 coach. 2hrs 6mins.

Next quickest is catching a train to Stevenage and getting the #100 bus
from there. 2hrs 22mins.

Going via St Pancras is 2hrs 44mins.
--
Roland Perry

In article , (Roland Perry)
wrote:

In message , at
05:16:25 on Thu, 3 Jul 2014, remarked:
The coach stops at the Hitchin train station, but you can't get there
from Ely without changing at Letchworth.

The xx.30 semi-fasts stop at Hitchin, but a change at Cambridge is
necessary because the Kings Cross trains from Kings Lynn are fast
Cambridge-KX.

Apart from the 10.11 and 16.06 from Ely which form the 10.30 and 16.25
from Cambridge and call at Hitchin (and the 17.07 and later trains from
Lynn which do the same), connection times at Cambridge from Ely into the
xx.30 and xx.55 are not good. That is why I suggested that taking the bus
from Cambridge railway station to Drummer Street and getting the airport
coach from Parkside would be as quick.

Looking at Transport Direct, starting *now* they recommend changing
at Cambridge for a Hitchin train then catching the 787 coach. 2hrs
6mins.

Next quickest is catching a train to Stevenage and getting the #100
bus from there. 2hrs 22mins.

Going via St Pancras is 2hrs 44mins.

Huh? Looking at Webtis, I get 2hrs 28mins at 11:52 from Ely, and that
includes the usual ludicrous connection allowance from the Cross to St
Pancras, in this case 42 minutes. You could do it in 23 and arrive over half
an hour earlier in under 2 hours at 13:48 via EMT. Off the 11:25 from Ely
you could get there at 13:21 if you can get to St Pancras in 10 minutes.

--
Colin Rosenstiel