<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by LH738:
1.)
2.) The bus comes regularly (more regularly than the Hoppa). Maybe all 20min average (depends also from peak/low times).
3.) I don't know why the bus is free. All public buses around Heathrow are free
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The Hoppa is one of the most annoying aspects of staying at hotels located near LHR (except for the Hilton connected to T4).
BAA has made the hotels give up their own shuttle bus operation (to reduce traffic into LHR) in favor of this pooled service which provides marginal service at high fares.
Whereas hotel shuttles have an incentive to provide good service, the Hoppa has no such incentive nor do they seem to operate according to any set schedule, which is tough since their frequencies are not that great off hours.
Alas, SFO has copied some of this terrible idea by making hotels double up on their shuttle services with another hotel, or facing higher SFO roadway access. At least hotels near SFO do not charge for their shuttles.
The local buses around LHR are free because BAA is trying to encourage greater use of public transport to LHR as part of their traffic mitigation scheme, which is related to their efforts to build T5.
Since Free buses compete with Hoppa, the casual traveler is not likely to be aware of this bargain. Spread the word!