Stansted, however, claims on its website to be "the number one major airport in the UK for the highest proportion of passengers using public transport".
Sounds like some carefully worded statistics to me!
Maybe something to do with LHR/LGW being in more densely populated areas, more people arrive or are dropped off by car? Whereas STN being in a less dense area means that a higher majority of the pax are travelling to/from London, particularly Europeans looking for a cheap London gateway? I don't know the answer, but that's my guess.
Anyway, this morning I was on the Stansted Express at 07:37 from Tottenham Hale. Somewhere in the countryside near Harlow we had a complete power failure, where we sat for 90 minutes with no heat/no light/no working toilets, before finally arriving at the airport 2 hours 15 minutes late. I heard countless arguments between couples, or businessmen/women and their bosses, all cursing about how they'd never use Stansted again. The people I really feel sorry for are those on a tight budget, who are now going to have to spend a month's disposable income to book themselves on the next available Ryanair flight after they've missed it. I've said it before and I'll say it again (this happens approx every fortnight for me, although today was the worst this year), that poor excuse for a railway line is by far Stansted's biggest pit fall. Forget the bad management, forget the cr@ppy Ryanair experience....at least Ryanair tend to get you to your destination on time! That would of course count on you making it to the airport in the first place, and I seriously imagine that almost anyone on that train today would not choose STN for them or their families again.