Mizter T wrote:

Of course it's all very academic if there's nowhere to park at
Hillingdon! I dunno what the side streets are like nearby Hillingdon
station and if parking is allowed there - unlike lots of other London
borough websites, Hillingdon council don't provide any details of
where there are controlled parking zones in their borough so I can't
tell from that.


There are only 283 car parking spaces, which soon fill up. It was
inadequate from the day it opened in 1992.

Parking on-street at Hillingdon station is difficult. The A40
improvement that by-passed Hillingdon Circus, and incorporated the
construction of the new and rather high tech (for its time) Hillingdon
station, effectively marooned said station on an island between two dual
carriageway roads.

East and west of the station, on-street parking is prohibited. To the
north there is a sea of yellow lines and residents-only parking. To the
south, there is only time limited parking at Hillingdon Circus (for the
shops) and it is some distance before the parking becomes unrestricted.
There is strong demand for this unrestricted parking because of the
inadequacy of the car park at Hillingdon station.

On trips to London I have tried using Hillingdon several times and have
never managed to get a parking there. I usually drive to Amersham and
take Chiltern to either Harrow-on-the-Hill or Mar-lee-bone and the
Underground from either of those. But I have also driven a few times to
North Ealing station (Piccadilly Line) where you can usually get a space
in the car park by early afternoon. I didn't suggest North Ealing
because, if you cannot find a parking space, the alternatives are not
easy if you don't know the area. I used to live in Ealing, so I know it
quite well.

On May 6, 9:16*am, D DB 90001 wrote:

On May 6, 1:13*am, Mizter T wrote:

On May 6, 12:21*am, D DB 90001
wrote:

[snip]

Incidently the Oxford tube also stops at Hillingdon very close to the
tube station, so if the tube is misbehaving then it's not too late to
switch to coach there.

Though I'm not sure that you can use it for journeys from Hillingdon
into central London and v.v., though the website doesn't say this -
but the website is a bit shabby at providing the more esoteric
information (e.g. about the stop at Lewknor) so I wouldn't take what
it says (and doesn't say) as being definitive.

I can confirm that it is possible because I've done the journey
before, iirc, the fares were very reasonable as well, I think it was
about £2/3 for a single to central London.

Thanks for the info, that's certainly useful to know. Coming into
central London it's obviously dependent on whether or not there's any
free seats on board but as both Oxford Tube and Oxford Espress stop
there then you'd not have to wait long before another coach came
along.

Obviously similar considerations apply to coaches heading from London
to Oxford, but I imagine it might be a bit more complicated for
journeys in this direction - I can imagine that drivers would be
rather wary of selling a ticket to Hillingdon *from* central London
(especially at busy times) in case that meant a seat was taken up that
could potentially be sold to a passenger at the next stop who wanted
to travel all the way to Oxford. Perhaps you'd only reliably be able
to do this at the last central London stop (FSVO 'central London') -
for Oxford Tube this is Shepherd's Bush, for Oxford Espress it's Baker
Street.

I'm also curious now as to whether Hillingdon area folks ever try and
use the Oxford Tube/Espress as a nifty 'express' night bus to get from
central London back to Hillingdon.

Perhaps 'local' passengers are only really welcome to travel from
Hillingdon into central London, rather than the other way round.

This reminds me of someone telling me about how they used to travel
into town from their home in the London suburbs back in the 70's - the
normal way was on a regular London bus route, but if they were feeling
flush then they might opt for the quicker Green Line coach instead
(regarded as a somewhat cut-above way of doing things!). I can't
really think of anywhere where this might still be possible - bus
routes are a lot shorter these days of course, and long distance
coaches don't really stop at that many places (though the Bexleyheath
coach stop on the side of the A2 does come to mind).

Mizter T wrote:

Thanks for the info, that's certainly useful to know. Coming into
central London it's obviously dependent on whether or not there's any
free seats on board but as both Oxford Tube and Oxford Espress stop
there then you'd not have to wait long before another coach came
along.


But pointless if you cannot find anywhere to park.

On May 6, 1:43*pm, Tony Polson wrote:

Mizter T wrote:

Of course it's all very academic if there's nowhere to park at
Hillingdon! I dunno what the side streets are like nearby Hillingdon
station and if parking is allowed there - unlike lots of other London
borough websites, Hillingdon council don't provide any details of
where there are controlled parking zones in their borough so I can't
tell from that.

There are only 283 car parking spaces, which soon fill up. *It was
inadequate from the day it opened in 1992.

Parking on-street at Hillingdon station is difficult. *The A40
improvement that by-passed Hillingdon Circus, and incorporated the
construction of the new and rather high tech (for its time) Hillingdon
station, effectively marooned said station on an island between two dual
carriageway roads.

East and west of the station, on-street parking is prohibited. *To the
north there is a sea of yellow lines and residents-only parking. *To the
south, there is only time limited parking at Hillingdon Circus (for the
shops) and it is some distance before the parking becomes unrestricted.
There is strong demand for this unrestricted parking because of the
inadequacy of the car park at Hillingdon station.

On trips to London I have tried using Hillingdon several times and have
never managed to get a parking there.*[...]

Thanks for the info - I'll happily defer to your greater experience of
trying to do this. My Hillingdon suggestion evidently wasn't a very
good one then! Passing it when going along the A40, Hillingdon station
seems like an obvious candidate, but it's obviously not - that's what
comes from knowing what's out there but never having actually tried to
make use of it!


[...] I usually drive to Amersham and
take Chiltern to either Harrow-on-the-Hill or Mar-lee-bone and the
Underground from either of those. [...]

I see from the TfL website that it's not an LU car park... so I've
just checked the Chiltern DC website and voila, all the requisite info
is there (680 spaces, £5 maximum cost for a day's parking):
http://www.chiltern.gov.uk/site/scri...documentID=213

I'm guessing there's always a space?

I suppose another advantage of Amersham is that the fares are cheaper,
as LU fares apply including on Chiltern Railways.


[...]*But I have also driven a few times to
North Ealing station (Piccadilly Line) where you can usually get a space
in the car park by early afternoon. *I didn't suggest North Ealing
because, if you cannot find a parking space, the alternatives are not
easy if you don't know the area. *I used to live in Ealing, so I know it
quite well.

The magic of local knowledge!

On Wed, 6 May 2009 05:29:04 -0700 (PDT), Mizter T put finger to
keyboard and typed:

I guess I should be saying that one could avoid adding to the
congestion and pollution and could also save oneself the hassle of
driving into central London by doing 'The Right Thing' and making use
of a public transport option.

I am planning to do "the right thing" as you put it, and use a public
transport system. It's just that, unlike most times when I visit
London, I will be starting from a location that is not served by rail.
Hence the thread title being "park and train".

Mark
--
Blog: http://mark.goodge.co.uk
Stuff: http://www.good-stuff.co.uk

On May 6, 2:29*pm, Tony Polson wrote:

Mizter T wrote:

Thanks for the info, that's certainly useful to know. Coming into
central London it's obviously dependent on whether or not there's any
free seats on board but as both Oxford Tube and Oxford Espress stop
there then you'd not have to wait long before another coach came
along.

But pointless if you cannot find anywhere to park.

Of course. As I've just posted downthread, I'll happily defer to your
wisdom on this one!

I think I was simply mildly intrigued by the slight curiosity of being
able to catch one of these coach services from Hillingdon into town.
Occasionally knowing about such transport oddities might even be
useful!

And I do wonder if local residents make use of it at all - it could
actually be useful for them.

On May 6, 3:58*pm, Mark Goodge
wrote:

On Wed, 6 May 2009 05:29:04 -0700 (PDT), Mizter T put finger to
keyboard and typed:

I guess I should be saying that one could avoid adding to the
congestion and pollution and could also save oneself the hassle of
driving into central London by doing 'The Right Thing' and making use
of a public transport option.

I am planning to do "the right thing" as you put it, and use a public
transport system. It's just that, unlike most times when I visit
London, I will be starting from a location that is not served by rail.
Hence the thread title being "park and train".


Please don't get the idea I was trying to be preachy, I really wasn't!
Hence the phrase 'The Right Thing' being capitalised and in inverted
commas! (And the impersonal use of "one instead of "you" was very
deliberate too.)

Indeed during past discussions on these two newsgroups I've actively
countered the common notion that London is some sort of impassable
mass which is impossible to drive through. Which does somewhat bring
me into conflict with my other self, the public transport proponent!
I'll readily admit to a degree of hypocrisy here.

Anyway I trust the various suggestions have been useful, I hope you've
ignored my "obvious" yet fairly rubbish suggestion of Hillingdon, and
wonder if you might update us with whatever choice you make in the end
and tell us how well it worked.

In message
, at
05:29:04 on Wed, 6 May 2009, Mizter T remarked:
if you're coming west along the A40 and
want to head south to Marble Arch / Park Lane and beyond, one should
pretty much always take the so-called "Paddington slip" off the A40
(which IIRC is signposted "Ring Road South"). Once you're off the road
here it's a question of whether you continue direct along Westbourne
Terrace to Lancaster Gate (though the CC zone) or otherwise travel via
Edgware Road, which is a 'free road' that cuts through the CC zone, as
is Park Lane and the whole of the Inner Ring Road.

I'd forgotten about the congestion zone - shows how often I drive in
London (must be about seven years since I drove inside the zone, and
five years since I've driven inside the M25).
--
Roland Perry

In message
, at
04:21:56 on Wed, 6 May 2009, Mizter T remarked:
Of course it's all very academic if there's nowhere to park at
Hillingdon! I dunno what the side streets are like nearby Hillingdon
station and if parking is allowed there - unlike lots of other London
borough websites, Hillingdon council don't provide any details of
where there are controlled parking zones in their borough so I can't
tell from that.

I doubt there's much on-street parking, but I always found a space at
Ickenham station.
--
Roland Perry

On May 6, 10:58*am, Mark Goodge
wrote:
I am planning to do "the right thing" as you put it, and use a public
transport system. It's just that, unlike most times when I visit
London, I will be starting from a location that is not served by rail.
Hence the thread title being "park and train".

Have you considered Warwick Parkway? Less driving, more sitting being
productive on a train. Decent-sized car park, and trains are roughly
half-hourly to Marylebone (whence, of course, you can either take the
Bakerloo one stop and change cross-platform to the Jubilee, or just
walk five minutes to Baker Street and pick up the Jubbly there)

That's assuming, of course, that you're coming from far enough north
in Worcestershire that you'll be going past Warwick on the M40
anyway...