Rant: why is T5 so badly connected?
Jan 6, 2019, 6:06 pm
#61
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Jan 6, 2019, 7:12 pm
#62
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I went through a phase of booking HEX tickets 90 days in advance for £5.50 to treat myself even though from most points in London the tube is quicker and cheaper the small premium will be justified on airport bound trains as certain times of the day. HEX however changed this quite sneakily to weekends and bank holidays making travel on normal days a lot more.
You also have the night bus 7 days a week for a mere £1.50 for late arrivals and early departures and of course on Friday and Saturday nights there is now the night tube making Saturday and Sunday early morning flights cheaper and easier.
Typically despite living 20 mins from LCY I’d depart from LHR mostly due to destination not being served from LCY. LGW has trains 24 hours a day and now accepts Oyster and the departure airport experience is very much improved on what it was but it’s still my third choice all in all pretty happy getting to/from T5.. could be worse.
Jan 6, 2019, 8:41 pm
#63
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As these posts evidence, the time needed to get to the airport is well understood, frequencies are good, so I don't see much of a problem EXCEPT for those who have an early flight and face the tube's late start.
KLIA Ekspres is great, fast and cost effective, if you're on your own and happen to be staying at one of the station hotels. If you're a couple/party, or going to need a final taxi to your hotel/home (not close to an LRT station and/or you have bags) it's likely cheaper and much more convenient, less faff, using taxi from the airport.
Bargain transport is the bus at £2. Comfortable, of course air-conditioned, half-hourly, it takes about one hour to Sentral. From there the same onward connection caveats apply.
Bargain transport is the bus at £2. Comfortable, of course air-conditioned, half-hourly, it takes about one hour to Sentral. From there the same onward connection caveats apply.
Jan 6, 2019, 9:27 pm
#64
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The HEX is great for those of us in W1. I can leave my house an hour before wheels up and still have time for coffee and a sandwich in the GF or CCR. The experience of heading straight to LHR from a meeting in the city is somewhat less rosy...
Jan 6, 2019, 10:25 pm
#65
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With a travel time of 20 minutes from Paddington to T5, 5 mins from HEX platform to First Wing (if you run) and 35 minutes conformance, you'd have to get from your front door in W1 to the HEX in zero seconds flat. 😊
Jan 6, 2019, 10:37 pm
#66
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This thread strikes me as the tree that hides the forest type. Public transport in London (and arguably in the UK) is just generally poor, non-comprehensive, quite expensive, and relying on an outdating infrastructure which requires extensive works most Sundays of the year! Heathrow connections suffer from that general picture but are comparatively not so bad, at least the tube goes there! HEX goes from Paddington, arguably the least central of all major London stations (even the reference to W1 above is mistaken in my view: great for "Marble Arch W1", no doubt, but try it from "Cambridge Circus W1" and the picture is already quite different!). Crossrail should improve things a lot, but arguably, T5 will not be the luckiest part of the airport even after it opens... Ultimately, the T123 block gets the bulk of the privileges and T4 and T5 fight for the leftovers...
Jan 6, 2019, 11:09 pm
#68
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As a tourist I have been able to get anywhere I wanted to all on public transit and connections that were quite short ( by my standards). I've never felt the need to rent a car for example, which would be the default in many other cities.
Jan 6, 2019, 11:50 pm
#69
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The statistics of the MoL is that 90% of London homes are within... 1,500 metres (1.5km) of a tube or train or tram station, ie a distance 5 times longer!! Apart from the City of London, the Borough with the most homes that are close to tube stops is Camden, and even then, it is only 85% of homes within 500 metres of a tube stop. In much of the East and South, the tube network is still rather poor, and in Havering, Barking and Dagenham, and Bexley, the proportion of homes which are more than 1,500 metres away from a tube stop is very large. the proportion of the London population living within 250m of a tube/train/tram station (I haven’t seen figures on 300, their stats seem to have 1500, 1000, 500 and 250) is actually very small! The price premium for being close to a tube stop is also significant.
You are right that it depends on what you compare it to. For instance, there are more homes away from stations in Strathclyde or Greater Manchester, but arguably those urban areas did not so much start as single core and more as multi-core/urban sprawls. What I a comparing it to when I say that the London transport system is thus not less large UK cities but rather other "first world" metropoles - Paris, New York City, Tokyo, Moscow, or even other European main cities such as Berlin, Budapest, Copenhagen, Zurich, etc all of which have a much denser, effective, and cheaper urban transportation network especially when you count all rail infrastructure (ie train, tube, and tram).
Last edited by orbitmic; Jan 7, 2019 at 4:11 am
Jan 7, 2019, 12:48 am
#70
Join Date: Jul 2007
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I love using public transport, trains and trams especially. Since relocating from Yorkshire to Dunstable for work in 2011, I always used public transport to get to T5. When one of sons graduated from uni and got a job at TFL, he nominated me to have a free oyster card…. Happy days.
My journey from home to T5 would be to catch a bus to Luton railway station which run frequently. However, at Luton station you have no lift access to platforms! What’s this all about? The station carries over 3.5 million users per year. This was bad enough for me lugging a heavy suitcase or 2, but what about wheel chair users, parents with strollers, and those with less mobility? That’s another story.
St Pancras to Piccadilly line is doable with lifts to platform but it is not fun in peak time crowds trying to get onto a packed carriage with suitcases. Then it’s about an hour journey from St Pancras which isn’t too bad.
Alternatively I would take the train to Farringdon and then switch to tube to get HEX from Paddington. Farringdon inter change is brilliant coming from the north as only a couple of steps and yards to get onto the tube. This saved a bit of time over the tube, but HEX is expensive particularly when compared to free oyster card travel.
I did this for a year or so but now free oyster card travel stays in my wallet. I just drive, as I find it less of a hassle even having to use the M25. I plan drive with a one hour delay contingency, which if I don’t need it means more time in lounge.
Also because work schedule often has me arriving back into LHR on a Sunday from DUB or EDI, it is so much better going straight to car than trying to get home on public transport. No way is driving and parking cheaper… but my mantra “life’s too short”.
My journey from home to T5 would be to catch a bus to Luton railway station which run frequently. However, at Luton station you have no lift access to platforms! What’s this all about? The station carries over 3.5 million users per year. This was bad enough for me lugging a heavy suitcase or 2, but what about wheel chair users, parents with strollers, and those with less mobility? That’s another story.
St Pancras to Piccadilly line is doable with lifts to platform but it is not fun in peak time crowds trying to get onto a packed carriage with suitcases. Then it’s about an hour journey from St Pancras which isn’t too bad.
Alternatively I would take the train to Farringdon and then switch to tube to get HEX from Paddington. Farringdon inter change is brilliant coming from the north as only a couple of steps and yards to get onto the tube. This saved a bit of time over the tube, but HEX is expensive particularly when compared to free oyster card travel.
I did this for a year or so but now free oyster card travel stays in my wallet. I just drive, as I find it less of a hassle even having to use the M25. I plan drive with a one hour delay contingency, which if I don’t need it means more time in lounge.
Also because work schedule often has me arriving back into LHR on a Sunday from DUB or EDI, it is so much better going straight to car than trying to get home on public transport. No way is driving and parking cheaper… but my mantra “life’s too short”.
Last edited by IntVic; Jan 7, 2019 at 12:50 am Reason: grammar
Jan 7, 2019, 1:11 am
#71
Join Date: Aug 2016
Posts: 81
The true scandal of T5 connectivity is surely the cost of the Heathrow Express.
i usually take a minicab for ~£30 rather than the HEX, even though I live less than 5 minutes uber (10-15 mins walk) from Paddington. Unless we book a long way in advance, or are travelling at the peak of the rush hour, it seems ludicrous for public transport for 2 people to be £20-£30 more than a taxi.
i usually take a minicab for ~£30 rather than the HEX, even though I live less than 5 minutes uber (10-15 mins walk) from Paddington. Unless we book a long way in advance, or are travelling at the peak of the rush hour, it seems ludicrous for public transport for 2 people to be £20-£30 more than a taxi.
Jan 7, 2019, 1:28 am
#72
Join Date: Jan 2015
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How many cities are aa spread out as greater London and how many have their airport terminals so far apart they warrant their own public transport station? I'm sure others better travel can offer comparisons.
Jan 7, 2019, 1:37 am
#73
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I like to have a shower over in the T2 Plaza Premium Arrivals Lounge, as there are no shower arrival shower facilities in T5 that I am eligible to use. It always surprises me the length of time that it appears to take to get from the T5 EU passport holder border control, over to T2 via the free Heathrow express and the walk.
T5 certainly doesn't feel well connected when the act of moving from T5 to T2 seems to take so long.
As an aside, T2/3 always feels better connected because all Piccadilly and I think all HEX trains too, stop there whereas T5 and T4 alternate.
T5 certainly doesn't feel well connected when the act of moving from T5 to T2 seems to take so long.
As an aside, T2/3 always feels better connected because all Piccadilly and I think all HEX trains too, stop there whereas T5 and T4 alternate.
Jan 7, 2019, 1:43 am
#74
Join Date: Oct 2018
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The true scandal of T5 connectivity is surely the cost of the Heathrow Express.
i usually take a minicab for ~£30 rather than the HEX, even though I live less than 5 minutes uber (10-15 mins walk) from Paddington. Unless we book a long way in advance, or are travelling at the peak of the rush hour, it seems ludicrous for public transport for 2 people to be £20-£30 more than a taxi.
i usually take a minicab for ~£30 rather than the HEX, even though I live less than 5 minutes uber (10-15 mins walk) from Paddington. Unless we book a long way in advance, or are travelling at the peak of the rush hour, it seems ludicrous for public transport for 2 people to be £20-£30 more than a taxi.
Jan 7, 2019, 1:52 am
#75
Join Date: Aug 2016
Posts: 81
The reason the HEX gets away with their pricing - including the peak hour surcharge - is that they're competing against London traffic. 9 times out of 10 the HEX is faster than a minicab, especially during peak times. They're not aiming to undercut minicabs on price, but rather on convenience and door-to-door journey time.