Ten : Twentytwo : Thirty : Forty (1)

It Wasn't There until World War 2

Look at the little road between Elsenham Essex (top centre) and Takeley (bottom right). And look at it now!

Fpr whatever reason (security; to hide the airport?), the road between Tye Green and Button End has never been traveresed by Google Streetview's little noddy car. But there are a few dead ends which fizzle out at the airport perimeter fence.

Presumably that chunk of old aircraft is used for some training purpose.

The former Stansted Mountfitchet airfield developed during WW2 ...

... and developed furiously from the mid sixties onwards.

The infrastRucture has spawned an A1290 dual carriageway by-pass (in green) and an M11 (in blue). After much political and financial procrastination, a spur off the main line to Cambridge was opened in 1991.

Trains run every 15 minutes from London (less frequent on Sundays) ...

... with two trains every hour approaching from Cambridge.

Services are run by Dutch State Railways ...

... with the exception of the longer distance train via Cambridge which is in the capable hands of ...

... German State Railways.

Then there is coach travel.

The main contender is National Express with a vast array of departures between the airport and central London.

The A6 ventures to Paddington and Portman Square ...

... every 30 minutes, 24/7. Then the A7 will take you to the most populat destination, Victoria Coach Station.

Here coaches run every 30 minutes or better with a couple of hours overnight at only once an hour. A8 runs to Liverpool Street ...

... and on to Bethnal Green. Finally there is the A9 ...

... to Stratford, again very frequent. A newcomer is Comfort del Gro or Scottish Citylink, here branded as Stansted Citylink.

Two other operators appear to have faded having been given the heave-ho by the Airport authorities who, presumably to encourage passengers to travel, expect a substantial rake-off from coach fares. High court action is in progress to overturn these expulsions.

Meanawhile Terravision ...

... advertise themselves as in association with!

 Their web site has departures for Victoria ...

... every 30 minutes and Kings Cross similarly.

These are exactly the same times as advertised by Citylink. Mysteriously, Traveline only thinks Citylink runs to St Pancras ...

... with no mention of Kings Cross (is that the same as St Pancras) and Victoria.

The other "disparu" is EasyBus whose web site now simply links to National Express.

Less well know in Airport Bus Express ...

... based at Royston. Their two routes also serve Victoria and Liverpool Street, each only hourly.

This company also offers airport services in ...

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... Italy!

There is one other service which needs investigation, shown on the list of services c/o Traveline.

There is no timetable on the company web site, only a booking form. But Traveline offers a "proper" timetable ...

... but with a note that all journeys must be booked in advance.

So is it a bus, is it a taxi or is it a little coach?

Whether the existence of the AX1 has been a spur, fbb cannot say; but yesterday First started a new BUS service to Stansted.

We will explore the "pay the driver" bus offerings tomorrow.

 Next Stansted blog : Tuesday 26th July