Luton DART and Luton Airport Parkway Updates

[Bald Rick]

As someone who spent much of his childhood in Harpenden, why on earth would you do that?

Needed some walking practice for ‘proper’ walking.

 

[jon0844]

Oh, puhlese.

Pretty much all* public transport needs a subsidy to operate pre 0600 and post 2330. Transport to and form an airport is not high on my list of deserving cases for public largesse.

*I appreciate that I can rely on RailIUKforums to list all the ones which aren't.

I wonder if the DfT will seek to reduce some of the night trains on Thameslink that currently offer up such good connectivity for Gatwick and Luton with those extra early and extra late flights?

 

[Bald Rick]

I wonder if the DfT will seek to reduce some of the night trains on Thameslink that currently offer up such good connectivity for Gatwick and Luton with those extra early and extra late flights?

They are probably the only night services on the network that cover their costs.

 

[Mikey C]

As someone who spent much of his childhood in Harpenden, why on earth would you do that?

The Lea Valley Walk between Harpenden and Luton is quite nice

 

[dk1]

I suppose if you wanted motivation for a six hour walk, spending three hours walking to Luton would do it; you’d be inspired to turn around and retrace your steps!

Ha ha yes!! Either that or once I arrived at Luton I’d just keep on walking.

 

[Bald Rick]

The Lea Valley Walk between Harpenden and Luton is quite nice

Apart from the Sewage works!

Ha ha yes!! Either that or once I arrived at Luton I’d just keep on walking.

To be fair, once I arrived I had a good look round* before catching a train back.

*maybe 20 seconds.

 

[dk1]

Apart from the Sewage works!




To be fair, once I arrived I had a good look round* before catching a train back.

*maybe 20 seconds.

Cannot believe we once went on a family Christmas shopping trip to the Arndale Centre. Then again we also did Ipswich one year too.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 7 Feb 2023 ==

Will still take a spin on the DART at some point just to tick it off as others have said. There’s little to no chance of me needing the airport for a flight.

 

[Techniquest]

I have walked from my house in St Albans to Luton - took less than three hours - and I’d rather do that in cold rain than walk from the station to the airport again!

Quite a good time for that sort of distance! The walk to the airport must be grim if you'd prefer to do that in the wet!

I suppose if you wanted motivation for a six hour walk, spending three hours walking to Luton would do it; you’d be inspired to turn around and retrace your steps!

Is Luton seriously that bad? I haven't been there yet, and it may end up being the base for a future exploring mission so I will end up seeing it then, but seemingly everyone says it's rubbish.

Needed some walking practice for ‘proper’ walking.

As in hiking, or endurance walking?

The Lea Valley Walk between Harpenden and Luton is quite nice

Now this has an appeal, apart from the non-quoted sewage works mentioned. If it's anywhere near as good as London to Broxbourne, then I am absolutely putting that on my list of things to do.

In a vague attempt to bring us back to the DART, apart from the outrageous costs has it been estimated when these fixes for the significant issues raised will be completed?

 

[dk1]

I can't imagine anyone with much luggage worrying about £4.90 especially on the way home.

 

[Techniquest]

I can't imagine anyone with much luggage worrying about £4.90 especially on the way home.

True enough, I've been like that before and just glad to have a train available back to base. I think I'd still wince at the price, go and enjoy a coffee then do the walk back to the station! Or jump on one of those buses that Bletchleyite has mentioned before!

 

[PeterY]

The Lea Valley Walk between Harpenden and Luton is quite nice

I enjoy cycling the cycle path between Harpenden and Luton.

 

[Bletchleyite]

True enough, I've been like that before and just glad to have a train available back to base. I think I'd still wince at the price, go and enjoy a coffee then do the walk back to the station! Or jump on one of those buses that Bletchleyite has mentioned before!

Walking back to the station from the airport is a lot less effort as it's mostly downhill. You also get to "enjoy" the post-industrial decay vista of Luton.

 

[Bald Rick]

As in hiking, or endurance walking?

Mountains

Now this has an appeal, apart from the non-quoted sewage works mentioned.

I enjoy cycling the cycle path between Harpenden and Luton.

The (Upper) Lea Valley Walk is the cycle path, and part of the NCN. It’s along the route of the old Welwyn to Dunstable line, albeit with a couple of shortish gaps where you have to use a road. Some is asphalt, some not. I’ve walked it all from Welwyn, it’s nice enough. Hold your nose when going through East Hyde, obviously.

Back on topic, is there any chance it will open when I next use the airport in March?

 

[cactustwirly]

Oh, puhlese.

Luton is very well connected both by road (bus or coach) and rail.

Away from rail it has a half-hourly bus to Hitchin and Stevenage, an hourly bus to Bedford and Milton Keynes, it has a coach roughly every 2 hours to Oxford, a coach almost hourly to Northampton and Birmingham, a coach every 2 hours to Hemel Hempstead. That's without counting the coaches which are heading to London.

So what is the huge "public transport" gap to Luton Airport from the South East you believe there is ?

When I flew into Luton the ground handlers were very slow. They weren't prepared for our landing so we were waiting for a stand for ages.
Idk how that is possible it's just a bit of tarmac with some mobile stairs. The bags took a good half an hour after going through passport control.

 

[43066]

Is Luton seriously that bad? I haven't been there yet, and it may end up being the base for a future exploring mission so I will end up seeing it then, but seemingly everyone says it's rubbish.

I’m afraid so. The area around it looks pleasant enough but the town itself is grim.

When I flew into Luton the ground handlers were very slow. They weren't prepared for our landing so we were waiting for a stand for ages.
Idk how that is possible it's just a bit of tarmac with some mobile stairs. The bags took a good half an hour after going through passport control.

Delays like that regularly happen at other airports too…

 

[jon0844]

When I flew into Luton the ground handlers were very slow. They weren't prepared for our landing so we were waiting for a stand for ages.
Idk how that is possible it's just a bit of tarmac with some mobile stairs. The bags took a good half an hour after going through passport control.

I've had to wait significantly longer than half an hour, almost always on late arriving flights (which were the cheap ones).

 

[Mikey C]

Now this has an appeal, apart from the non-quoted sewage works mentioned. If it's anywhere near as good as London to Broxbourne, then I am absolutely putting that on my list of things to do.

The Harpenden to Luton section of the walk, being a disused railway line, isn't especially near the river itself, unlike further on. Pleasant enough though.

There are also other sections of disused railways in the area converted to paths.

 

[Techniquest]

Thanks for the replies all, notes made for future reference I definitely need to get some maps out! @Bald Rick that is definitely some 'proper' walking!

As for Luton Airport, I have yet to have any significant issues there. It's been a long time since I last flew in or out of there, September 2019 I do believe when I went to Budapest, but it was one of the most efficient major airports I've ever used. It's a bit more awkward and expensive to get to from my part of the world than Heathrow, so it's not often a top choice of airport for my adventures. One day I will fly Wizz Air again though, so Luton will be chosen for that adventure. Wherever it may be to!

 

[Bald Rick]

When I flew into Luton the ground handlers were very slow. They weren't prepared for our landing so we were waiting for a stand for ages.
Idk how that is possible it's just a bit of tarmac with some mobile stairs. The bags took a good half an hour after going through passport control.

It does happen, but is fairly unusual. That sort of delay hasn’t happened to me in a decade though - often the bags are out before one gets to the carousel. I usually reckon on 30 minutes from aircraft door open to being out the front door of the airport with hold bags, and that’s on flights where almost everyone has hold bags.

 

[spag23]

It does happen, but is fairly unusual. That sort of delay hasn’t happened to me in a decade though - often the bags are out before one gets to the carousel. I usually reckon on 30 minutes from aircraft door open to being out the front door of the airport with hold bags, and that’s on flights where almost everyone has hold bags.

We had to wait nearly two hours from touchdown to carousel starting. Along with over-optmistic estimates on the screens, this cost us £25 waiting time for the taxi we'd booked after clearing passport control. Moral: next time we won't confirm the taxi (based in St Albans) till we have the bags in our hand. Four months on we're still trying to get compo from Wizz, who keep thinking I've withdrawn the claim.
Better still, we'd use DART, whose station we pass halfway to the taxi pick-up point.

 

[flitwickbeds]

Is Luton seriously that bad? I haven't been there yet, and it may end up being the base for a future exploring mission so I will end up seeing it then, but seemingly everyone says it's rubbish.

As someone who live there for 6 years, albeit now 10 years ago, and still visits regularly (still my nearest big town), no it's not.

I’m afraid so. The area around it looks pleasant enough but the town itself is grim.

Is it? What makes it so grim? Sure there are a few areas which could do with tidying up mainly "round the backs" of things like the shopping centre, but no worse visually than some of the other towns I visit - Bedford, Kettering, Northampton, Stevenage. Sure, if you compare it to Hitchin or Harpenden there is a significant difference but if Luton had the same level of investment it could easily compare. Of course, if you're only comparing the visual appearance of a town you're doing it wrong. Look beyond the aesthetics.

 

[Bald Rick]

We had to wait nearly two hours from touchdown to carousel starting. Along with over-optmistic estimates on the screens, this cost us £25 waiting time for the taxi we'd booked after clearing passport control. Moral: next time we won't confirm the taxi (based in St Albans) till we have the bags in our hand. Four months on we're still trying to get compo from Wizz, who keep thinking I've withdrawn the claim.
Better still, we'd use DART, whose station we pass halfway to the taxi pick-up point.

Moral of the story - use the on site cabs. In my experience they are cheaper than St Albans based cabs!

 

[spag23]

Moral of the story - use the on site cabs. In my experience they are cheaper than St Albans based cabs!

Interesting. How much to St Albans? My local hire firm charged £40 each way last year. But - as you know - the local taxi meter rate has just gone up ~50%.

 

[43066]

As someone who live there for 6 years, albeit now 10 years ago, and still visits regularly (still my nearest big town), no it's not.

You’re entitled to your opinion of course, but I think you’ll find relatively few agree with you here.

Is it? What makes it so grim? Sure there are a few areas which could do with tidying up mainly "round the backs" of things like the shopping centre, but no worse visually than some of the other towns I visit - Bedford, Kettering, Northampton, Stevenage. Sure, if you compare it to Hitchin or Harpenden there is a significant difference but if Luton had the same level of investment it could easily compare. Of course, if you're only comparing the visual appearance of a town you're doing it wrong. Look beyond the aesthetics.

It isn’t about the aesthetics, it’s the general ambience of the place which (in my opinion) is menacing, down at heel and just smacks of somewhere suffering from a fair bit of deprivation and other problems. I don’t doubt there are nice bits but it’s not somewhere I would ever visit again by choice. Bedford, Kettering, Northampton and Stevenage aren’t great either. Stevenage and Luton are both worse than the others.

I find you can get the measure of a place by looking at the type of people who use the station, and Luton is no exception….

 

[Bletchleyite]

You’re entitled to your opinion of course, but I think you’ll find relatively few agree with you here.

It isn’t about the aesthetics, it’s the general ambience of the place which (in my opinion) is menacing, down at heel and just smacks of somewhere suffering from a fair bit of deprivation and other problems. I don’t doubt there are nice bits but it’s not somewhere I would ever visit again by choice. Bedford, Kettering, Northampton and Stevenage aren’t great either. Stevenage and Luton are both worse than the others.

I find you can get the measure of a place by looking at the type of people who use the station, and Luton is no exception….

It's a working class town, certainly, but unlike many Northern and Midlands working class towns it doesn't have the friendly "we're all in it together" feel, it feels quite, for want of a better term, chavvy.

Rochdale, for randomly-selected instance, isn't that pretty (though the places around it are), but the people will give you the time of day. Or Wigan might be a better comparison?

I'd definitely say it's not as nice as Bedford. Northampton might be a harder one to compare, last time I went there (the one and only time I did) the centre was like an abandoned wasteland, felt like it was somewhere like Albania (not because of the ethnicity of the people, which to be honest I can't even recall so I assume the same general mix as found anywhere, but because of the number of closed businesses and market stalls selling knock-off junk).

 

[Mikey C]

I find it amusing that a direct Thameslink train links Luton with Gillingham. The sort of trip to take Northerners who think the southeast is all posh

 

[Bald Rick]

But - as you know - the local taxi meter rate has just gone up ~50%.

I didn’t know that - haven’t used a taxi here for a couple of years!

Last time I used an airport cab it was £33. That was 4 years ago.

 

[spag23]

I didn’t know that - haven’t used a taxi here for a couple of years!

Last time I used an airport cab it was £33. That was 4 years ago.

Was £6.20 on the meter for two miles. Now £9.08.
Taxi from SAC to Airport is 12 miles.

 

[Haywain]

Getting this back on track (!), the DART trials restart next Wednesday, 15th, but unfortunately I've had to turn my invite down as I'll be 'oop North'.

 

[Backroom_boy]

Luton Council have announced an enquiry into the DART project around lateness and overspends.

This seems more about political point scoring than a sensible use of time and money.