On 2017\04\01 14:38, Theo wrote:
In uk.railway e27002 aurora wrote:

OK, so I have had it with the Woking RailAir coach link. I need an
alternative means of reaching the airport. Train from the South Coast
to Woking is fine. But what are the alternatives for reaching the
airport?

What's the problem with the RailAir coach?
Is it M25-related?

Woking-Clapham Junction
Clapham Junction-Feltham
285 bus to LHR

is the most obvious alternative, though somewhat slow.

Guildford-Worcester Park
X26 bus to LHR

is one I haven't tried.

Weybridge has direct trains to Feltham.

"Theo" wrote in message
...
In uk.railway e27002 aurora wrote:

OK, so I have had it with the Woking RailAir coach link. I need an
alternative means of reaching the airport. Train from the South Coast
to Woking is fine. But what are the alternatives for reaching the
airport?

What's the problem with the RailAir coach?

It gets delayed

It gets cancelled at the last minute (sometimes, but not always, due to the
above)

To catch up from a delay it sometimes dumps you at T4 (now T5) and doesn't
run to T123, leaving you to make your own way on HEx. This is OKish to the
airport but CFU for people travelling from the airport (as by the time they
find out that they need to take the train to T5 to pick up the bus it is too
late)

Oh and unless it has improved the people at the terminal don't have a
****ing clue where the bus is and how late it might be. WFT is it still
1980?

And OMG It only runs hourly now!!!! when did that happen?

Is it M25-related?

sometimes

tim

In article , (Roland Perry)
wrote:

In message , at 09:14:03 on Sat, 1 Apr
2017, Anna Noyd-Dryver remarked:

OK, so I have had it with the Woking RailAir coach link. I need an
alternative means of reaching the airport. Train from the South Coast
to Woking is fine. But what are the alternatives for reaching the
airport?

Where is your journey starting from?

And don't tell us - just stick it (and LHR) in Google maps and punch
the "train" icon.

Although if the Reading Railair link is out too, it may well be "via
Central London" is the only answer [including some via Reading,
Paddington and back].

Via Hounslow West used to be an option. Isn't it any more?

--
Colin Rosenstiel

In message , at 14:36:46 on Sat, 1 Apr 2017,
tim... remarked:
the one thing about the taxi trade is that they can't monopolies the
market through lower fares and then hike them when the competition
pulls out

the barriers to entry for a taxi company are so low that if you take
your fares back up to the regulated maximum the competition will soon
pile back in again.

to keep the competition out you have to keep your fares low forever

which is fine if your costs of operation really are low enough to
support that, but does mean that operating an unsustainably low fare to
grab market share doesn't work.

Except Uber is trying that. So your theory crashes in flames.
--
Roland Perry

In message uk9vdc1iusv3qbo78opsvoja1ik1sljco1@None, at 07:12:09 on
Sat, 1 Apr 2017, Arthur Conan Doyle remarked:
if my initial experience is
anything to go by, nicer cars, nicer drivers and cheaper. What's not to
like?

I used Uber Lux for a ride across London recently. Very nice. Wondered if the
driver was doing a little moonlighting with his employer's vehicle, but that's
his business.

Might be yours if it turns out it wasn't insured for moonlighting, and
you get injured.
--
Roland Perry

In message , at 14:38:22 on Sat,
1 Apr 2017, Theo remarked:
Staying on the train and getting off a Surbiton (if it
stops) then taking a taxi might be one way to avoid it.

Having lived in Surbiton at one time, getting from there to Heathrow by
road is a nightmare.
--
Roland Perry

"Roland Perry" wrote in message
...
In message , at 14:36:46 on Sat, 1 Apr 2017,
tim... remarked:
the one thing about the taxi trade is that they can't monopolies the
market through lower fares and then hike them when the competition pulls
out

the barriers to entry for a taxi company are so low that if you take your
fares back up to the regulated maximum the competition will soon pile back
in again.

to keep the competition out you have to keep your fares low forever

which is fine if your costs of operation really are low enough to support
that, but does mean that operating an unsustainably low fare to grab
market share doesn't work.

Except Uber is trying that.

I know

So your theory crashes in flames.

but as it hasn't got to the "lets put the fares up again" bit, how does,
where we are now prove that it will work?

There is a theory that its real MO is,

1) force out the competition

2) replace cars with self driving cars and put the fares up

But I don't believe that model will work either as:

a) I believe the date that driverless cars will be routinely available is 10
years beyond what the optimists think the date will be. (We have discussed
this before and you were in the same place as me), Uber can't survive that
long subsidising fares.

b) It will change the Uber business model from one of the owner-driver
financing the cars to Uber financing the cars, and I don't believe that the
financial markets will give Uber (FTAOD any one company, whoever they are)
the money to finance 100% of the world's taxi-cabs[1]. So there will still
be room for other companies to finance self-driving cabs and come into the
market and compete on a country by country basis. Uber does not own any of
the necessary IPR in self driving. There's nothing here that cannot be
replicated by someone else.

tim

[1] a finger in the air figure of about 250 trillion pounds, 400 times
Uber's current valuation

tim... wrote:


"Roland Perry" wrote in message
news
In message , at 12:15:44 on Sat, 1 Apr
2017, D A Stocks remarked:
I may well take another look at Uber when I make the reverse journey at
5.00 am on Monday morning: no more messing about with cash and and, if my
initial experience is anything to go by, nicer cars, nicer drivers and
cheaper. What's not to like?

The alleged exploitation of their workers, the implications for
proportionate corporation tax receipts flowing to the UK, and the
possibility that having captured the market they can hike their fares.

the one thing about the taxi trade is that they can't monopolies the market
through lower fares and then hike them when the competition pulls out

the barriers to entry for a taxi company are so low that if you take your
fares back up to the regulated maximum the competition will soon pile back
in again.

to keep the competition out you have to keep your fares low forever

which is fine if your costs of operation really are low enough to support
that, but does mean that operating an unsustainably low fare to grab market
share doesn't work.

History also shows that startups such as this are exceptional if they
succeed in the medium-long term, so what's your exit strategy if they pull
out of the Brighton market?

catch the bus

He's a user not an investor

And they aren't selling a unique product

This is just a generic observation of the venture capital funded world,
not a prediction about any particular company trading today.

The BBC opines: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-29653830

Careful, Recliner will be along soon to tell you you are an idiot

Huh? Why would I do that? I invest in many venture capital funds, and am
well aware that many startups fail. I've also long thought that many IT
companies are over-valued.

On 2017\04\01 14:59, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 14:38:22 on Sat,
1 Apr 2017, Theo remarked:
Staying on the train and getting off a Surbiton (if it
stops) then taking a taxi might be one way to avoid it.

Having lived in Surbiton at one time, getting from there to Heathrow by
road is a nightmare.

When I lived in Sutton I used the X26 (or I think it was called 726
then) to get to Heathrow. It wasn't a nightmare, so I think you're
massively exagerating.

"Arthur Conan Doyle" wrote in message
news:uk9vdc1iusv3qbo78opsvoja1ik1sljco1@None...
"D A Stocks" wrote:

if my initial experience is
anything to go by, nicer cars, nicer drivers and cheaper. What's not to
like?

I used Uber Lux for a ride across London recently. Very nice. Wondered if
the
driver was doing a little moonlighting with his employer's vehicle, but
that's
his business.

I'm not sure if the rules for Uber Lux are different, but my understanding
is that Uber drivers use their own vehicles.
--
DAS