December 25th
As part of the season of goodwill, turkey and mince pies,
we'll RIP YOU OFF for your bus travel from the airport!
HAPPY CHRISTMAS DAY!
Oxford Tube : Heathrow
Oxford to London via Heathrow Airport (Central Bus Station) 0600, then every 60 minutes until 1700, coaches will depart from Heathrow approximately 60 minutes after leaving Oxford
London to Oxford via Heathrow Airport 0810 then every 60 minutes until 1910, coaches will arrive at Heathrow approximately 45 minutes after leaving London.
£10 - Heathrow to London
Normal, non festive single, Hillingdon to London : £4
Oxford Tube does not serve Heathrow at other times.
National Express : Heathrow timetable extract
£11 - Heathrow to London
Normal, non festive single, Heathrow to London : £6.60
National Express : Gatwick looks good at first ...
National Express : Gatwick looks good at first ...
... with guaranteed low fares ...
... but on closer examination:-
£17.50 - Gatwick to London
Coaches Excetera : Gatwick
This is the first time this particular service has run; the company runs nothing equivalent at any other time so, here are the festive fares!
It makes National Express look cheap!
£25 - Gatwick to London
London Central : Gatwick TO Heathrow
fbb has found it difficult to find this route (Service 847) but eventually found a link on a Rail Forum site! There appeared to be nothing on the Heathrow or Gatwick airport sites.
Now look at the fares.
Probably the only consolation is that it may well be cheaper than a taxi!
WELCOME TO (RIP-OFF) BRITAIN!
To complete the picture, fbb finds that coaches to Stansted will deliver you very early on Christmas Day but nothing then until very early on Boxing Day.
Standard fares (whatever that may mean) are charged.
Similarly for Luton.
For those overseas folk who read his blog; there are no trains of any kind (even London's Undergound) on Christmas Day.
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fbb's Christmas Calendar for 2013
Wednesday 25th December
No fatuous comments, no silly poems, just a powerful picture of that first Christmas Day. Play and consider!
Happy CHRIST-mas
to all our blog readers
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Next bus blog : Thursday 26th December
Stansted is, as of 1100, showing only 7 arrivals and 6 departures for the rest of the day (till 2025), so that offers rather limited pickings for public transport at any fare.
ReplyDeleteWhether the others are justified is for the operators to prove, but the Oxford Tube fare will also need to cover departure charges levied by the airport, and no doubt costs associsted with a variation to its TfL-issued London Service Permit.
You have also got to consider drivers wages. When I worked for an operator who ran Boxing Day drivers were on triple time (most in reality chose to have double time and an extra days holiday as an alternative), and whilst there was no shortage of drivers to do it at those rates it needed them to get the volunteers. What you have to pay to get volunteers to drive Christmas Day is another question - plus you then need to take a view on what your expected passengers actually will be travelling on Christmas Day to work out how much each needs to pay to cover the costs of running a decent service. You are never going to get close to standard fares on longer distance coaches on Christmas Day just to pay for the cost of running the service.
ReplyDelete