Heathrow 1, 2,3 to Hereford - can I avoid Paddington?

[Blindtraveler]

looking for best route on a weekday
afternoon, prefferably without going into and out of PAD. busses are cool if its needed

 

[Eagle]

First thing I'd suggest is the RailAir coach to Reading; these are fairly frequent and a rail ticket Heathrow–Hereford would be valid on it.

 

[bb21]

You can change at Hayes & Harlington if you don't like coaches.

Curiously the cheapest Off-Peak Return is routed +London Midland Only. I'm not sure how it can be done. Do they allow you to take Heathrow Connect, as it is clearly not operated by London Midland, or expect you to take the Piccadilly Line, for which Heathrow Terminal 123 is not an official interchange for the Maltese Cross?

The second option would, of course, avoid Paddington.

 

[Eagle]

I'd expect †LM only to mean taking the tube to Euston. The dagger means one tube journey and the only TOC you'd use would be LM.

I guess the lack of official interchange is that the Heathrow 123 tube station is completely separate from Heathrow Central rail station. Also, why would you ever need to interchange between those two stations anyway? Unless you were doing something like Osterley to Hanwell, which isn't possible as a through ticket anyway...

 

[A60K]

The dagger doesn't exactly mean one tube journey, rather it means cross-London transfer appropriate to the journey being made. It shouldn't be issued for a journey that terminates at a tube station, unless that just happens to be one of the allowed transfer stations - Barking or Kentish Town for example. I'm pretty certain this doesn't apply at Heathrow because of the non-standard fares on Heathrow Express/Connect, and that National Rail tickets valid to Heathrow on the Underground are (or were) issued to ' Heathrow Und' if not a zonal ticket.

 

[LexyBoy]

looking for best route on a weekday
afternoon, prefferably without going into and out of PAD. busses are cool if its needed

Best as in cheapest, fastest, comfortablest?

As Eagle says, a rail ticket would be valid on the RailAir coach - I think there are routed as such, rather than 'Not London', but tickets may be valid via H&H as well as the coach, I'd have to check.


Another option would be the X70 to Oxford then train, you'd avoid any evening peak restrictions this way if they were a problem.

The LM ONLY ticket will be cheapest if you don't mind the journey time- though I guess you don't want to in into London.

Do you have a Railcard? A network railcard would make some routes cheaper than others.

 

[dzug2]

You could get a 140 bus to Hayes and Harlington (cheaper than Heathrow Connect) or a 75 to Slough (more trains call at Slough including some through to Hereford)

If you are buying advance tickets remember they cannot be picked up at Heathrow. H&H, Slough and Reading would all be fine.

 

[Blindtraveler]

thanks all. Liking the express bus to Oxford, thanks for that. It costs pdnnies compared to other options and theres some good advances from there to hereford in the middle of the evening which gives time for the flight to be held up!

 

[LexyBoy]

There aren't any Advance fares on the Cotswold line (Oxford-Worcester/Hereford) are there? Walk-up prices are pretty reasonable though.

If you do go via Oxford, it's a 10 minute walk (to be on the safe side) from the bus station to the rail station, pretty much a straight line.

 

[dzug2]

No advance fares Oxford to Hereford on either route

The walkon off peak single is pretty reasonable though

Cheapest route is a National Express coach (£26.70 single) straight through to Hereford from the central bus station but only at 1545

 

[Eagle]

Of course there are relatively few direct trains between Reading/Oxford and Hereford (only four or five a day) so changing at Newport might be more convenient—it barely takes longer and costs the same.

 

[SickyNicky]

Of course there are relatively few direct trains between Reading/Oxford and Hereford (only four or five a day) so changing at Newport might be more convenient—it barely takes longer and costs the same.

There are often some good advance fares to be had on Hereford-London (or Reading) via Newport - but you need to book early unless you're coming back on the 22.45 from PAD