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Old 21st Dec 2012, 08:09
  #2354 (permalink)  
WHBM
 
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: London UK
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Is Leeds one of the routes that they have to serve? I noticed that BA announced this route recently and if not mandatory why serve it? Surely most people just get the bloody train.
This is true if you are visiting offices in Kings Cross and happen to live next to Leeds train station (poor you). However, there are not many people in that category.

At our offices in the Heathrow/Thames valley area we have a periodic day visitor from Leeds, who was a regular on the old BMI service until it stopped a few years ago. Firstly he now had to drive in from the outer suburbs to central Leeds, passing close to LBA on the way, this is unreliable in journey time in the morning peak and congested, once he missed the train because of this, and he needs to allow well over an hour. Then find a car park, which few central train stations are well endowed with.

Arriving at Kings Cross (the train journey alone having taken twice as long as the flight did, of course, even taking a couple of circuits of Bovingdon into account), it is standing/squashing/watch your pockets on the Underground to Paddington, even on those occasions it is not disorganised, wait for next train from there, jog trot out towards Berkshire, taxi for final stretch. His experience is this is way less reliable that the old flight arrangements.

On returning to Leeds in the evening you are apparently quite lucky to find your car has not been broken into/damaged by the undesirables who haunt the streets between the station and the parking. He says his daughter would not go into central Leeds late in the evening.

The rail fares from Leeds to Kings Cross alone on business hour trains are considerably more expensive than flights used to be (or are going to be with BA).

So that's why people don't "get the bloody train". Rail travel in Britain, 21st century style.

Last edited by WHBM; 21st Dec 2012 at 08:14.
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