Hi, I will be getting the Heathrow Express on Sunday evening (8ish) to
Paddington and then need to travel onwards to the Holiday Inn Express
Old Street, near Old Street underground station. Can you advise the
best route and approx time/cost of a taxi?

"DrTeeth" wrote in message
oups.com...

Hi, I will be getting the Heathrow Express on Sunday evening (8ish) to
Paddington and then need to travel onwards to the Holiday Inn Express
Old Street, near Old Street underground station. Can you advise the
best route and approx time/cost of a taxi?

The Transport for London Journey Planner http://journeyplanner.tfl.gov.uk/
suggests taking the London Underground Circle Line from Paddington to
Kings Cross and then Northern Line to Old Street, with a journey time of
(a very optimistic) 19 minutes. I'd say 30 minutes is more likely.

I would suggest this is a much better and cheaper way to travel than
taking a taxi, unless you have a lot of baggage.

Ian

Ian F. wrote:
"DrTeeth" wrote in message
oups.com...

Hi, I will be getting the Heathrow Express on Sunday evening
(8ish) to Paddington and then need to travel onwards to the
Holiday Inn Express Old Street, near Old Street underground
station. Can you advise the best route and approx time/cost of a
taxi?

The Transport for London Journey Planner
http://journeyplanner.tfl.gov.uk/ suggests taking the London
Underground Circle Line from Paddington to Kings Cross and then
Northern Line to Old Street, with a journey time of (a very
optimistic) 19 minutes. I'd say 30 minutes is more likely.

That may be the case normally, but (assuming the OP means next Sunday 19
March), the Journey Planner is not showing any routes that involve a
Circle Line train to Kings Cross. It evidently thinks that this stretch
of line is closed for engineering work, as it was on 11/12 March, but
this doesn't match other information on the TfL site.

However, the 205 bus runs from Paddington directly to Old Street
station. On Sundays, the frequency is about every 12 minutes, and the
journey should take about 25 minutes (timetable) or 40 minutes (Journey
Planner estimate). Last bus at 00:26.

According to the Journey Planner, the bus departs from stop H. Take the
exit from the station opposite platform 8, go up the slope, turn left at
the top (Praed Street) and walk about 50 yards to bus stop H.

--
Richard J.
(to e-mail me, swap uk and yon in address)

In message of Mon, 13
Mar 2006 00:42:44 in uk.transport.london, Richard J.
writes
Ian F. wrote:
"DrTeeth" wrote in message
oups.com...

Hi, I will be getting the Heathrow Express on Sunday evening
(8ish) to Paddington and then need to travel onwards to the
Holiday Inn Express Old Street, near Old Street underground
station. Can you advise the best route and approx time/cost of a
taxi?

The Transport for London Journey Planner
http://journeyplanner.tfl.gov.uk/ suggests taking the London
Underground Circle Line from Paddington to Kings Cross and then
Northern Line to Old Street, with a journey time of (a very
optimistic) 19 minutes. I'd say 30 minutes is more likely.

I would prefer a change at Moorgate as there are no steps upward in the
change (unless the train terminates at Moorgate) while there are about
30 at KX. In both cases, boarding the front carriage gives a little time
saving.

The continuing lack of weekend service at Moorgate is a PITA. Yesterday
at about 11.30, no booking office window was open. At Liverpool Street,
only one window was open with a queue of about 15. (My business was
complicated and not amenable to a ticket machine.)


That may be the case normally, but (assuming the OP means next Sunday
19 March), the Journey Planner is not showing any routes that involve a
Circle Line train to Kings Cross. It evidently thinks that this
stretch of line is closed for engineering work, as it was on 11/12
March, but this doesn't match other information on the TfL site.

However, the 205 bus runs from Paddington directly to Old Street
station. On Sundays, the frequency is about every 12 minutes, and the
journey should take about 25 minutes (timetable) or 40 minutes (Journey
Planner estimate). Last bus at 00:26.

According to the Journey Planner, the bus departs from stop H. Take
the exit from the station opposite platform 8, go up the slope, turn
left at the top (Praed Street) and walk about 50 yards to bus stop H.


The 205 is a round the houses service which diverts to visit Marylebone,
Euston (eastbound only) and Liverpool Street stations. I find it a handy
parallel for the Metropolitan and Circle lines given the grotesque
difference between 0.80 for an Oyster bus fare and 1.50 for an Oyster
Zone 1 tube fare. I am really impressed by the success of the recent
draconian price war against cash. On buses, I estimate less than 5% of
passengers now use cash.

http://journeyplanner.tfl.gov.uk/user/XSLT_TRIP_REQUEST2?language=en
between Moorgate and Paddington stations by bus shows "fastest" journey
now takes 2 buses and 66 minutes. The minimum change route takes 57
minutes. (sic) It compares very badly with 18 minutes by tube.
--
Walter Briscoe

On 12 Mar 2006 14:42:18 -0800, "DrTeeth" wrote:

Hi, I will be getting the Heathrow Express on Sunday evening (8ish) to
Paddington and then need to travel onwards to the Holiday Inn Express
Old Street, near Old Street underground station. Can you advise the
best route and approx time/cost of a taxi?

Taxis are available from the main rank at Paddington. I have no idea as
to cost or time as I don't use taxis.

Depending on how much luggage you are bringing with you then it would be
just as easy to take the 205 bus. It starts at Paddington and stops
about 5 minutes walk away from the Holiday Inn at Old Street.

Paddington stop locations shown on

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/buses/spiders/pdf/paddington.pdf

Stop E is up a short set of stairs and is where the 205 starts from.
Stop H is accessed via a ramp from the station out to the street and is
not far from the HEX platforms.

You simply get off at stop C and walk along past stop K (see link)
towards the Coronet St stop.

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/buses/spiders/pdf/old-street.pdf

The bus costs £1.50 and you will need to buy a ticket in advance from a
roadside machine at the bus stop at Paddington. The need to
pre-purchase does not apply at the Old Street area as that is outside of
the "pay before you board" zone - in case you decide to make any other
bus trips.
--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!

Wow - thanks very much all for the speedy (and detailed) replies. Will
have a bit of luggage with me so was thinking taxi but someone had
suggested that this could cost as much as £20 for a 5 mile journey
(seems a bit much)

Bus therefore looks like the best bet - thanks once again for all the
help!

In message . com,
DrTeeth writes

Wow - thanks very much all for the speedy (and detailed) replies. Will
have a bit of luggage with me so was thinking taxi but someone had
suggested that this could cost as much as £20 for a 5 mile journey
(seems a bit much)

It depends on the time taken as much as the mileage. On a Sunday evening
at 8pm Paddington to Old Street might be a bit less than £20 - but not a
lot!

--
Paul Terry

"DrTeeth" wrote in news:1142275506.589377.51600
@v46g2000cwv.googlegroups.com:

Wow - thanks very much all for the speedy (and detailed) replies. Will
have a bit of luggage with me so was thinking taxi but someone had
suggested that this could cost as much as £20 for a 5 mile journey
(seems a bit much)

Bus therefore looks like the best bet - thanks once again for all the
help!


The other way is Piccadilly line from Heathrow to Kings Cross, then Northern
to Old Street. The cash single fare is GBP 4.00 which takes you all the way
in 65-70 minutes (the Heathrow Express is GBP 14.50 single from Heathrow to
Paddington, plus bus/cab fare)

Its all so complicated - I think I'll get a taxi!!!!