Trip report: Gatwick inter-terminal shuttle bus
Roland Perry
at Gatwick is suspended for repairs until next summer.
They are running buses instead, and they aren't too bad. At the south
end they connect with the walkway to the departure/check-in area, and at
the north end they are on the Departures (upper) level. Plenty of extra
people are available to guide lost passengers to the right place.
In theory they operate every three minutes, but it takes longer than
that to fill up a bus, given that most passengers have checked bags to
heave on and off. So what I saw was one bus at the head of the queue
filling up, and three or four empty behind waiting their turn. If they
want to keep to the schedule, they'd be better off dispatching a bus
after 3 minutes, even if it's not yet full.
Not sure what the speed limit inside the south terminal "campus" is, but
my bus stormed past one of those radar speed checkers, which displayed
34mph and a :( face.
--
Roland Perry
tim....
"Roland Perry" <rol...@perry.co.uk> wrote in message
news:Nr9jDa5ak$BLF...@perry.co.uk...
> As we all know (?) the shuttle train between north and south terminals at
> Gatwick is suspended for repairs until next summer.
>
> They are running buses instead, and they aren't too bad. At the south end
> they connect with the walkway to the departure/check-in area, and at the
> north end they are on the Departures (upper) level. Plenty of extra people
> are available to guide lost passengers to the right place.
>
> In theory they operate every three minutes, but it takes longer than that
> to fill up a bus, given that most passengers have checked bags to heave on
> and off. So what I saw was one bus at the head of the queue filling up,
> and three or four empty behind waiting their turn. If they want to keep to
> the schedule, they'd be better off dispatching a bus after 3 minutes, even
> if it's not yet full.
On the four trips (two round trips) that I have made, this is exactly what
they have done.
IME this bus adds nothing extra to the total journey time over what the
"train" used to add.
tim
Roland Perry
Nov 2009, tim.... <tims_n...@yahoo.co.uk> remarked:
>> In theory they operate every three minutes, but it takes longer than that
>> to fill up a bus, given that most passengers have checked bags to heave on
>> and off. So what I saw was one bus at the head of the queue filling up,
>> and three or four empty behind waiting their turn. If they want to keep to
>> the schedule, they'd be better off dispatching a bus after 3 minutes, even
>> if it's not yet full.
>
>On the four trips (two round trips) that I have made, this is exactly what
>they have done.
>
>IME this bus adds nothing extra to the total journey time over what the
>"train" used to add.
Except the southern dropoff/pickup end is the "wrong" end of the
elevated passageway to the terminals, and the train would depart on
schedule even if people were still trying to get on, which was less
likely because it had more doors and they were "stepless", which the
buses aren't.
However, I agree that the transit/driving time on the bus doesn't feel
much worse than the train - especially as the bus I was on triggered the
"over-speed" radar-operated roadside sign...
Reminds me of the old Flanders and Swann joke: "Flying is safer than
crossing the road, and the airport buses have instructions to keep the
statistics favourable".
And the speed the bus takes the various junctions means it throws the
luggage around quite a bit :(
--
Roland Perry