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#1
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Hotel Hoppa at Heathrow
Has anyone had the misfortune to use this appalling service lately?
Yesterday morning, it took 25 minutes to get off the airport and to anywhere vaguely resembling a hotel, having picked up at Terminal Two, then going to 3, then pulling into a bay somewhere odd, changing drivers, going through vast swathes of airport roadworks, into uncharted bowels and tunnels, stopping at dozens of traffic-lights...and eventually to the exit, through the main tunnel and onto the A4 Bath Road! And they (National Express) charge three quid for it, on a 20 year-old, freezing cold bus with rock-hard seats! I remember the days when airport hotels used to provide a free courtesy bus service. Not sure if there's any alternative, though - would a black cab take you to a local hotel? Perhaps utl's Mike Hughes could enlighten me? Ian |
#2
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"Ian F." wrote in message ... Has anyone had the misfortune to use this appalling service lately? Never had the need, but personally can't understand why people do. The normal bus from the central bus terminal passes many of the hotels and is free. Yesterday morning, it took 25 minutes to get off the airport and to anywhere vaguely resembling a hotel, having picked up at Terminal Two, then going to 3, then pulling into a bay somewhere odd, changing drivers, going through vast swathes of airport roadworks, into uncharted bowels and tunnels, stopping at dozens of traffic-lights...and eventually to the exit, through the main tunnel and onto the A4 Bath Road! This is not the fault of the bus. You'd have to do this whatever form of transport you used. And they (National Express) charge three quid for it, on a 20 year-old, freezing cold bus with rock-hard seats! I remember the days when airport hotels used to provide a free courtesy bus service. so do I. Not sure if there's any alternative, though - would a black cab take you to a local hotel? They woud. They wouldn't be happy. tim |
#3
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"Ian F." wrote in message ... Has anyone had the misfortune to use this appalling service lately? Never had the need, but personally can't understand why people do. The normal bus from the central bus terminal passes many of the hotels and is free. Yesterday morning, it took 25 minutes to get off the airport and to anywhere vaguely resembling a hotel, having picked up at Terminal Two, then going to 3, then pulling into a bay somewhere odd, changing drivers, going through vast swathes of airport roadworks, into uncharted bowels and tunnels, stopping at dozens of traffic-lights...and eventually to the exit, through the main tunnel and onto the A4 Bath Road! This is not the fault of the bus. You'd have to do this whatever form of transport you used. And they (National Express) charge three quid for it, on a 20 year-old, freezing cold bus with rock-hard seats! I remember the days when airport hotels used to provide a free courtesy bus service. so do I. Not sure if there's any alternative, though - would a black cab take you to a local hotel? They woud. They wouldn't be happy. tim |
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Ian F. wrote to uk.transport.london on Sat, 5 Mar 2005:
Not sure if there's any alternative, though - would a black cab take you to a local hotel? Perhaps utl's Mike Hughes could enlighten me? I'm not Mike Hughes, but I was looking up the Hotel Hoppa on the Internet the other day for reasons that now escape me and on http://www.londontoolkit.com/lhr/hotel_hoppa_bus.htm it suggests you use free local buses instead, and there is a link to a page with details of these. -- "Mrs Redboots" http://www.amsmyth.demon.co.uk/ Website updated 20 February 2005 |
#5
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In message , Ian F.
writes I remember the days when airport hotels used to provide a free courtesy bus service. Most of them still do. -- Paul Terry |
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"Paul Terry" wrote in message
... Most of them still do. Not the Marriott. Ian |
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"Mrs Redboots" wrote in message
... I'm not Mike Hughes, I guessed that! ;-) but I was looking up the Hotel Hoppa on the Internet the other day for reasons that now escape me and on http://www.londontoolkit.com/lhr/hotel_hoppa_bus.htm it suggests you use free local buses instead, and there is a link to a page with details of these. Never knew about it - as it says on that site, it's not very well publicised, for obvious reasons. I'll remember that for next time. I wasn't actually flying, just going to a meeting at the Marriott, having got the Heathrow Express from Paddington. Thanks Annabel. Ian |
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In message , Ian F.
writes "Paul Terry" wrote in message ... Most of them still do. Not the Marriott. Not at Heathrow, no. What I meant is that hotel courtesy buses are still the norm at most UK airports - even the Marriott chain offers them outside of Heathrow. -- Paul Terry |
#9
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On Sat, 5 Mar 2005 13:21:16 +0100, "tim" wrote:
"Ian F." wrote in message ... Has anyone had the misfortune to use this appalling service lately? Never had the need, but personally can't understand why people do. The normal bus from the central bus terminal passes many of the hotels and is free. Hey Tim... The normal bus to where? Which buses are free from the central bus terminal? Ta! HVB. |
#10
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HVB wrote:
"tim" wrote: "Ian F." wrote Has anyone had the misfortune to use this appalling service lately? Never had the need, but personally can't understand why people do. The normal bus from the central bus terminal passes many of the hotels and is free. Hey Tim... The normal bus to where? Which buses are free from the central bus terminal? Ta! HVB. The following pdf file shows all the London Transport buses from Heathrow:- www.tfl.gov.uk/buses/spiders/pdf/heathrow.pdf This is a big sheet, actually it looks like a copy of the poster you see in the bus shelters. I have a copy on my wall printed out on 9 sheets of paper as my printer supports poster printing. I suggest you print out just the middle of it, to show the Central Bus Station and Bath Road. If you get on the bus and say you are going to one of the Bath Road hotels you are not charged. The free buses do not serve all hotels. When I was booked into the Holiday Inn at Junction 4 (Originally Post House, then Crest, on Sipson Road) a late night Taxi cost GBP 11 and the Hoppa was six pounds for two of us the next morning. What is more - it does no harm to ask the taxi driver particularly nicely - as by taking a local fare he loses the lucrative ride into town, then has to rejoin the back of the queue of taxis at the airport. More generally there are similar large pdf bus map files for most places in London, very useful if you want to see London on the surface and not just get around quickly by tube. The list is at: www.tfl.gov.uk/buses/spiders/borough.shtml My tip is to go straight to the bottom of the page where you can find the areas listed alphabetically. HTH |
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