The most expensive way by rail to get between Heathrow and Paddington is about to get more expensive with the announcement that Heathrow Express are to bump up the costs of Peak Time rail travel.
Heathrow Express departing Heathrow Central Station – Image, Economy Class and Beyond.
In the PR, Heathrow Express calls this “Heathrow Express to incentivise off peak travel”
Heathrow Express will be changing the price of their walk-up fares (or Turn up and Pay tickets) from the 6th June 2016.
The price rises from £22 to £24 for a single journey in Standard Class at peak times. Heathrow Express defines their Peak time as 07:00 to 10:00.
Those of you who like spend even more money should head to the business cabin, where prices will rise £30 to £32 throughout the day
So why the change? Heathrow Express is trying to get people to travel on off-peak services as opposed to filling up the trains at peak time in the morning.
Heathrow Express state:
The changes will reduce congestion during the morning peak and for business passengers throughout the day, while attracting more customers to use the Heathrow Express service during off peak times. Charging different prices for peak and off peak journeys is a standard industry practice.
For those who don’t like to empty their wallet, Heathrow Express does offer discounted ticketing if you can plan far enough ahead, with options 90 days in advance, 30 days in advance and 14 days. Regular travellers might benefit from the carnets that are offered by the company.
However lets not dress this up: Heathrow Express is getting way too expensive. For a 15 minute ride between Heathrow and London – covering a distance of 15 miles or so £24 is becoming hard to justify.
Heathrow connect still comes in at £10.20, taking 25 minutes, and for those with more time, London Underground will set you back £3.20 on a contactless payment card.
And there maybe price changes in the next few years – as Crossrail (Or the Elizabeth Line) will commence operations in 2018, with direct services through the Crossrail core in 2019 (servicing Paddington, Bond Street, Tottenham, Court Road, Farringdon and Liverpool Street), not just West London.
Is this a good move by Heathrow Express to put the fares? In the short term… maybe as they’ll get precious capacity with premium passengers. For passengers… it’s another cost to travel one of the UK most expensive train lines to get somewhere near London.
But competition is going to rearing its ugly head soon – and I’m hoping it bites. Hard.
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Got back from England about a month ago and took Heathrow Connect both ways. There’s little reason to pay more than twice the price just to save ten minutes.
I’m with you on that one. I’ve only taken it as I might miss my last train… But the rest of the time -Heathrow Connect is better value.
Let’s hope crossrail will bring real competition…
I’ve only used Heathrow Express a couple of times when I’ve booked meetings up to the last second in London and I’ve used Heathrow Connect a few times. But I find Paddington Station totally inconvenient as I still need to take a taxi or the underground to either get to the station or my destination in London. Usually I take the underground to and from Heathrow and use the time to get caught up on reading.