Heathrow Express has gone on the defensive in an article Business Traveller calling the Heathrow Express fare “Good Value For Money”, comparing it’s £20 fare to a value of a £70 taxi fare.
Not bad compared to a taxi, but that is a lot of money.
So what are the options?
- Heathrow Connect is another option that runs every 30 minutes taking 25 minutes to Paddington costing £9.90
- London Underground takes 47 minutes to get to Piccadilly costing £5.50 (£5 peak, £3 off peak with Oyster)
Now, there is an important thing for those using Heathrow Express or Heathrow Connect – Your train terminates at Paddington. Unless you’re staying in that vicinity, you’re going to need to pay more to your destination, which will involve a cab or a tube ride (for example, I pay £6 to go the short distance between Paddington and Marylebone on a good day in a black cab).
Now, I’m not saying grab a Tube (which isn’t pleasant at Peak times or with luggage) or Heathrow Connect – as Heathrow Express does have speed on its side. But weigh up the costs – especially if there are more than two of you travelling (in which case there are firms like Airport Executive or Addison Lee who charge less a black cab).
As for the cost: Here’s some quick centre-to-airport prices
- Birmingham Airport to Birmingham New Street – £3
- Manchester Airport to Manchester Piccadilly – £4.70
- Frankfurt Airport to Frankfurt Haptbahnhof €4.10 (around £3.50)
- Hong Kong Airport to Hong Kong-Central HK$100 (around £8.30)
- Seoul Inchon to Seoul Station on A’Rex W8000 (around £5)
- Moscow DME to Paveletsky Rail Terminal 320 Rubles (express – around £6.50)
So, in summary, it’s quick – but you pay for it. Or you could pay for a taxi… but…
I agree especially for tourists who are likely to get a day travel card which means that 5 pound tube ticket is half the cost of a day’s worth of travel.
I like to use Swiss Cottage Car Service when needing transportation in London. http://www.swisscottagecars.com/ It is usually cheaper and more customer friendly than Addision Lee
Does the tube really cost that much with Oyster? I recall that LHR to Hyde Park Corner was much less 5.50 GBP when I last visited London in 2011, primarily due to the Oyster discount.
It’s a fair bit cheaper with Oyster – the £5.50 assumes a single cash ticket. Peak with oyster is £5.00, off peak £3…
And here I was thinking the €7.80 the NMBS charges for a Brussels-BRU trip was a ripoff (which it actually still is because €4.50 of that €7.80 is the Diabolo surgcharge for the diabolo project which doesn’t help you one bit unless you live in Antwerp or Mechelen).
I thought the Diablolo surcharge was very diabolic. But you can see that Heathrow express guarantees it’s users a fast introduction to “Rip off Britain”