Underground fares

Nebulous2

Hi folks - I'm just back from a long weekend in London, where I used the tube regularly. Tapping in and out with contactless worked well and prices seemed very reasonable, but I got very little information on what costs are for. Looking for somebody to confirm my thoughts here.

Friday - arrived Heathrow in the evening, tube to central London. Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday did touristy stuff around central London then Tuesday evening tube back to Heathrow.

Charges of £3.10, 3 at £6.50 then £9.30.

I assume £3.10 was Friday night? That seems very cheap, particularly compared with the Heathrow Express.

The £6.50s must be a maximum charge for Sat, Sun , Mon. Then £9.30 - a maximum charge covering a wider zone to take me back to Heathrow?

Thanks

agrinnall

https://tfl.gov.uk/fares-and-payments/contactless/what-is-capping?intcmp=20487

mattymc13

The Heathrow Express is a notorious ripoff considering the Underground is a perfectly reliable, cost efficient and far more flexible alternative. If I wanted to travel from Heathrow to Paddington tomorrow, it would cost me £22 and I can ONLY go to Paddington, nowhere else. Whereas I could hop on the Underground for £3.10 and have far more flexibility and routes to get to reach my final destination.

Plus I will add this one final point. The £3.10 will be reinvested in the Underground and go towards improving the service for yourself and everybody. Where do you think the £22 goes?

I am hoping once Crossrail opens people will stop using Heathrow Express as Crossrail will travel along the same piece of track. Imagine paying seven times more for a service which utilises the same track and route. Pfft.

jon81uk

mattymc13 wrote: »

I am hoping once Crossrail opens people will stop using Heathrow Express as Crossrail will travel along the same piece of track. Imagine paying seven times more for a service which utilises the same track and route. Pfft.

You know that Heathrow Connect already does the same route as Crossrail will use?

ctbfc

jon81uk wrote: »

You know that Heathrow Connect already does the same route as Crossrail will use?

... and unfortunately it's an absolutely awful service. Still a rip off for travel to Heathrow and very unreliable. Liable to be cancelled at the drop of a hat. Crossrail can't come soon enough.

Be warned though; Heathrow Airport still want to charge passengers a premium for travel to the airport, even with Crossrail. To my knowledge the fares have not been agreed yet.

glider3560

jon81uk wrote: »

You know that Heathrow Connect already does the same route as Crossrail will use?

Heathrow Connect is still £10.20 vs. £3.10 for the underground.

glider3560

OP, if you register for an online account, you can actually see a full breakdown of the costs for every journey within the last 12 months,

Alternatively, you can get the last 7 days of history online without registering at https://contactless.tfl.gov.uk/UnregisteredCustomer/Captcha

mattymc13

jon81uk wrote: »

You know that Heathrow Connect already does the same route as Crossrail will use?

Of course I know that. As pointed out it is still,a rip off as we cannot use Oyster on it. And the service is sporadic at best. Atrocious.

macman

80% of HEX users will be business travellers on expenses. Given the distance, it is indeed a rip-off, but it is about 3 times quicker than using the Piccadilly line, and has much more room for luggage. If I wasn't paying, I know which I would use.

MARTYM8`

macman wrote: »

80% of HEX users will be business travellers on expenses. Given the distance, it is indeed a rip-off, but it is about 3 times quicker than using the Piccadilly line, and has much more room for luggage. If I wasn't paying, I know which I would use.

If you are organised and can book well in advance you can get much cheaper HEX fares at weekends - as low as £5.50 for a 90 day advance booking standard and £7.50 first class.

So if you are organised you can therefore get some cheaper fares.

One other issue though is that the HEX is actually twice the walking distance from say terminal 2 than the tube station - which may be a further annoyance.

barbarawright

macman wrote: »

80% of HEX users will be business travellers on expenses. Given the distance, it is indeed a rip-off, but it is about 3 times quicker than using the Piccadilly line, and has much more room for luggage. If I wasn't paying, I know which I would use.

Fine if you're going to Paddington. If you're not it you have to allow for how long it takes to change from rail to tube. I live in South London, near Brixton and no way would I ever get the Heathrow Express. Even on a couple of occasions when I've actually wanted to get from Paddington to Heathrow, the slow train does the job perfectly well