New RailAir route from Watford to Heathrow, and improved Woking times from today

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• Bill Templeton says:

  20 Aug20 August 06:50

  There used to be a Watford RailAir service with signage for it on the platforms but I think it ended 2008, when a lot of other services were closed.

• Michelle says:

  20 Aug20 August 06:58

  I use the RA1 regularly and find the service inconsistent and unreliable, when it runs smoothly it is great, but I’ve found it to be very unreliable and my preference is the new Lizzie line!

• Matt R says:

  20 Aug20 August 07:05

  Do the hot drinks complement the newspapers or vice versa?

  • david says:

    20 Aug20 August 07:57

    Make sure you dip the paper in as it makes chewing easier.

• polly says:

  20 Aug20 August 07:16

  Will be using Woking more now from September as ULEZ kicks in.. drop off £17.50 incl the LHR charge. Same for a pick up. Mad cash grab including LHR and LGW in ULEZ. Traffic really awful atm with the Wisley bypass works too. More frequent buses will encourage better use too. Often see very long queues there when at the station.
  Senior railcard gives £2 off, so that helps.

  • Nick says:

    20 Aug20 August 07:49

    I’m going to be caught by the expanded ULEZ as well. Does anyone know what the long term parking is like at Woking station or nearby? Are spaces very restricted?

  • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:

    20 Aug20 August 08:54

    LGW isn’t in the London ULEZ as it’s not in London!

• Chrisdf says:

  20 Aug20 August 07:19

  The Chiltern hundreds bus (101/102) runs high Wycombe to Heathrow via Beaconsfield. Great service, it does stop quite a bit but it’s £2 for now under the £2 bus scheme.

• aseftel says:

  20 Aug20 August 07:22

  There’s also the 724 bus to Heathrow that stops at Watford Junction. It’s under the fare cap so it’s currently just £2 for a ticket. You can ride all the way from Harlow to Heathrow at that price if you are so inclined.

  • BSI1978 says:

    20 Aug20 August 09:19

    Being in St Alban’s, used to really appreciate the 724 when it was a proper coach; they changed it to a bog standard bus some time ago and it just isn’t as pleasant now.

• G says:

  20 Aug20 August 07:28

  Reading based; Railair is excellent, nearly always on time, comes with baggage allowance and whilst the advertised dares are high they do discounts when booking more than a month out and can be used with national railcards (seniors, 16-25, 25-35, armed forces etc).

  • G says:

    20 Aug20 August 07:36

    My partner and I pay £18.45 a head for a return journey each.

    I’ve never been told you need to book a seat in advance – or offered seat selection.

    The lounge is nothing to write home about but some warm brown water / place to sit inside the station is nice when you have an early departure. Its just a seating area.

    And for me, given the cost of airport parking (or even asking a friend for drop off, given the fees and giving a token amount of petrol money) – railair is the cheapest / least hassle way for us to get to Heathrow vs two one way taxis (its £7 for a 5 minute drive in reading town centre), trains to paddington and taking h/ex (more expensive) or elizabeth line

    • G says:

      20 Aug20 August 07:41

      And avoiding driving on the m25 is always a win

• Peter says:

  20 Aug20 August 07:33

  Until relatively recently there has always been a half-hourly coach from Woking to Heathrow. Originally it was just branded as Woking RailAir. When the pandemic started in February 2020 it was an hourly service operated by National Express and numbered either 701 (in earlier years I think I recall it was numbered 925). Long long ago it originally served each of terminals 1, 2 and 3. In more recent years it served T5 and at some point (perhaps when T5 opened) it started to use the Central Bus Station instead of the individual terminals, which is much less convenient. The service (although very useful) is very lightly used and it was downgraded from half-hourly to hourly some years ago (around the time of the London Olympics from memory).

  First introduced the hourly RA2 service from Guildford to Heathrow (originally not calling at Woking) before the pandemic. Both services were stopped during the pandemic. After the pandemic, service 701 was withdrawn and Woking station became a stop on the RA2 service from Guildford (which must be really irritating if you are getting on the coach at Guildford). So restoring the additional once-an-hour RA2 services from Woking to Heathrow from today is merely restoring the service to what it used to be in the olden days. But a welcome development, as an hour is a long time to wait at Woking (the old Railair lounge was converted into a M&S 15 or 20 years ago, so there is literally nowhere comfortable to wait on that side of the station. There is a Costa on the other side of the station).

  It’s an oddity that if you buy your coach ticket from RailAir you have to specify a timed coach (I don’t know if the times are enforced), but if you buy the ticket as if it is a train ticket (just from Woking to Heathrow or (I believe) from anywhere else to Heathrow, via Woking) it is simply a standard ticket valid at any time. But I think it is perhaps £1 more expensive doing it that way rather than buying through RailAir.

  The RA2 service does use the M25 from J11 (Woking) to J14 (Heathrow T4/T5) which is a heavily used section so there is a risk of a delay on the motorway at peak times. On some occasions I have been on the coach when the driver has decided not to use the M25, which made for an interesting diversion through Staines and Chertsey.

  • G says:

    20 Aug20 August 07:38

    I’ve always bought the most appropriate fare given my flight’s arrival time and never been challenged for taking a service at a different time.

  • SSR BAQ says:

    20 Aug20 August 08:25

    Always thought the “Woking – 925” service was just a Dolly Parton, photoshop meme – didn’t realise that what it was actually called.

    • Save East Coast Rewards says:

      20 Aug20 August 12:47

      It was 925 when I used it pre-pandemic. It was originally 701 and the first sighting of 925 was a photoshop but National Express decided to renumber it due to the meme. Prior to the pandemic Woking (925) and Guildford (RA2) had separate services

  • Stuart says:

    20 Aug20 August 11:29

    Good summary. I remember the pre 701 half hourly service. Maybe I am getting old and jaded, but as it started at Woking and laid over there, always seemed to be on time, plus as you say, there was a waiting room in them days.

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