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

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• Peter says:

  20 Aug20 August 07:43

  It looks as if there is some co-ordinated effort to improve bus services to Heathrow. From tomorrow there is a new Newbury & District bus service 730, running approx hourly, from Frimley, via Camberley and Bagshot, to Heathrow (T5 only). There is a connecting service 731 from Basingstoke to Frimley. The first bus from Frimley is at 03.15 and the last bus from Heathrow T5 is at 00.20. The new service might prove to be a helpful way of reaching Heathrow without the need to change onto the RA2 bus at Woking.

  • Doug says:

    20 Aug20 August 18:00

    Yeah they sent letters to us with their timetable and done some spam in facebook, I think 20 for the return is not bad, but when you check their timetable, it means you could be waiting 2h for a bus at the airport

• Ben says:

  20 Aug20 August 07:48

  I’ve used from Woking and Guildford for about half a dozen trips. The additional service from Woking will be helpful as I suspect with ULEZ, it will become popular with locals who would have driven and parked, or been given a lift. It will also reduce the risk if a service is cancelled.

  My biggest frustration with it is in my experience, the times are approximate and there is no service status or live tracking of the coach location. Occasionally there are posts to social media, but only during slightly extended office hours. Telephone is office hours only. The station staff have no information and the departure board in the station just show the scheduled times, not reality.

  I can recall anxious waits at Woking with the family early in the morning wondering whether to bail on the bus and jump in a cab at the rank next door.

  Also had late night wait at T5 with the bus 45 mins late with no one to call. The Reading bus came in but was unable to offer any help as they operate out of different depots.

  The tech is there now – I can reserve a seat on an LNER train upto 5 mins before departure, I can see how busy a train is (sometimes!) and can track local buses in Woking in real time in the Stagecoach app. It would be nice to see some of that come to the Railair service and take some of the stress out of using the service.

  • Gary says:

    20 Aug20 August 19:19

    The FirstBus app shows real-time departures for Woking rail station – lots on the tracker

• AJA says:

  20 Aug20 August 08:03

  I thought the Elizabeth Line went to Reading via LHR? That would suggest you can go in the other direction too.

  I never knew T5 had built railway platforms in addition to the ones for the Piccadilly line and HEX. That does seem a waste.

  As for buses I have discovered there’s a bus from Bracknell to T5 called the 703 Flightline . It does seem to go around the houses as it goes via Ascot, Legoland Windsor, Windsor and Slough. It’s not going to win any awards for speediness. No idea how much it costs either.

  • qrfan says:

    20 Aug20 August 08:09

    The elizabeth line branches to go to heathrow. You have to go back east and change to get to Reading.

  • Andrew. says:

    20 Aug20 August 08:13

    No, at Hayes & Harlington there is a junction where some services continue onto Reading and others diverge from the mainine to Heathrow.

    You can get from Reading to Heathrow by changing at Hayes & Harlington. Or for a faster journey GWR to Slough, Elizabeth to Hayes & Harlington and then Elizabeth to Heathrow.

  • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:

    20 Aug20 August 09:07

    The shell platform space and tunnels won’t be a waste when they do eventually get used. Much cheaper (and easier) to build the station as part of the T5 construction than try and add it in later.

    There are a couple of building project near Euston that have (or will have) shell space designated in their basements ready for when HS2 eventually arrives. Done knowing full well it could be dacades before it gets used but again cheaper to do it now than later.

    • Bagoly says:

      20 Aug20 August 09:51

      Agree that the contingent platforms are very sensible forethought – even if only 30% of such works end up getting used, I expect that is cheaper than retrofitting.

  • John says:

    20 Aug20 August 09:12

    The 703 is currently £2 because of the bus fare cap. It is quite slow taking over an hour. The original fare is £6.10.

  • Rich says:

    20 Aug20 August 09:24

    Forethought, seeing growth potential and future proofing are not a waste, in fact they are wonderful attributes of positive and big thinkers and as a country we could do with more of them and less people who see such things as a waste.

    • AJA says:

      20 Aug20 August 10:42

      I meant a waste as in not to use them since they are there.

      Not a waste to have built them.

      • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:

        20 Aug20 August 11:18

        They aren’t connected to any track though.

        • AJA says:

          20 Aug20 August 13:56

          Yes. I understand that. I wonder how far into the future it will take for them to lay track and connect to existing network. As Rob said , not in his lifetime, nor mine I’m guessing.

        • Mike says:

          20 Aug20 August 20:58

          That’s why he said forethought.

• Katie says:

  20 Aug20 August 08:05

  We regularly use the Airline bus from High Wycombe (from Oxford via Lewknor on the M40) to T5 – it also goes to the Compass Centre and the Bus Station at Heathrow and roughly every third one goes on to Gatwick N&S. Very reliable and comfortable, and also very reasonable…

  • tony says:

    20 Aug20 August 09:44

    The only downside being it runs from the edge of town, some 2 miles away from the station. As someone who has lived up the M40 corridor for 20 yrs, getting to LHR quickly, cheaply and on a schedule that suits me is still a conundrum I’m still trying to crack!

    • SamG says:

      20 Aug20 August 09:51

      There is a 102 service from High Wycombe itself and the tickets are interchangeable

      Agree it is a conundrum! I’ve ended up just getting a minicab there and an Uber back when travelling for work, it’s a lot less hassle and doesn’t end uo costing a lot more once I’ve factored in a taxi to the station.

      One “trick” is to get to Beaconsfield on the train and then get an Uber. Or from Bicester Village I sometimes go via Oxford and Reading and then either Hayes or Paddington . 2 changes sounds like a faff but actually it runs very smoothly.

      In theory I could change at Reading to the coach but it’s certainly no quicker and adds traffic into the mix!

      • tony says:

        20 Aug20 August 10:22

        Yep, sounds like we have both tried all the same tricks. I’ve had a taxi meet me at Denham, HW, Beaconsfield, GX or Ruislip, gone via Slough with a cab, taken the service bus from West Drayton. Northolt still to be tried. And there used to be a national express bus from Banbury but covid saw that off.

        I’m looking at next month. Am on an evening flight from LHR but if I can do a same day change will go at midday. Public transport means leaving 4.5 hrs before departure and paying £70. Can shave a bit off that if I trust railair – On a Monday morning just as the schools go back. Or pay about £100 for a 1hr minicab ride.

        • RussellH says:

          20 Aug20 August 11:15

          Fairly recently moved to the area. A friend has regaled me with horror stories of the bus from Banbury to LHR
          One occasion they were at the bus station ~0200, bus failed to turn up. They managed to make contact with the bus co., apparently it had been stuck on the M40 following an accident and the driver had decided to just miss out the Banbury stop.
          I forget the follow on details – but I seem to remember something about finding a taxi and put in a claim to the bus co.

• SamG says:

  20 Aug20 August 08:13

  The X26 has also been renumbered to SL7 and runs every 15 mins

• mkcol says:

  20 Aug20 August 08:14

  I remember the Virgin Trains branded (Stagecoach?) buses from Milton Keynes Central to Luton airport. There may have been other routes.

  I’m also sure there used to be a Rail-Air (Air Rail link?) service from Watford Junction to Heathrow many moons ago.

  • John says:

    20 Aug20 August 09:13

    The green line 724 still exists.

• rotundo says:

  20 Aug20 August 08:20

  I live near Watford and never heard of this service until today. I would like to try it but it would be much more appealing if the RA3 line went to T5 too, not looking forward to connecting between T2/3 & T5 with luggage.

  • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:

    20 Aug20 August 09:11

    Why? It’s all step free so easy with luggage.

• Man of Kent says:

  20 Aug20 August 08:20

  Presumably the increase in bus services is in response to the forthcoming introduction of the ULEZ charge.

  The Oxford Airline mentioned above also includes a stop at High Wycombe and they also run a service to Gatwick.

  • Andrew. says:

    20 Aug20 August 08:33

    It’s the same service that continues from Heathrow to Gatwick, so it also provides an hourly coach service between the two airports.

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