Are you sure you are not taking your last experience of the airport and assuming it is typical? Congestion at passport control can occur for all sorts of reasons and at unpredictable times. I use Gatwick 6 or 7 times a year and my experiences have been quite different with generally minimal waiting for security outbound and acceptable waiting for passport control inbound. I have had some truly awful experiences in USA and yes,in Canada(Toronto). My general impression of Gatwick is that the new management are trying hard and putting the investment in where it is needed.
Re. your last paragraph I suppose it all depends where you are coming from and how near you live to a station. I live near Guildford and have driven all the different routes and used different car parks and valet parking but depending on the time of day I still prefer the train. So to take your points in turn:
1/ Quicker - I doubt it,the train takes 51 mins,you can drive it on the A23/M25 in the same time but because of the fear of congestion need to allow much longer.
2/More efficient-well that depends how easy it is to get to a station from your home. Plus of course if your flight arrives very late then you have to drive because the trains have stopped running.
3/More reliable-not in my book,when driving I constantly worry about getting stuck in some "incident" on the M25 and leave far to early to compensate. The alternative is to drive the non-motorway route which is often congested,stressful and can take up to 1hr 20 min.
4/Cheaper -most unlikely. Valet parking for a week in May will cost you £55 (considerably more for 2 weeks)minimum plus say £20 for petrol. By rail if 2 people travel in peak times I buy a Flyaway ticket for £20 each return(note particularly that 4 people can buy this ticket for only £10 each). If I am travelling after 1000 or anytime weekends then my return ticket with my Network card is only £14.05 each. So my fares are at worst £40 or at best £28 compared with £75 minimum for driving with valet parking.
I guess everybody's circumstances are different but certainly the statements and assumptions you make are, in my case, simply not true .
I agree the new Airport owners are making worthwhile improvements in Security for example but they have no control over the Border Agency. Having commuted to Ebbsfleet by car and then Brussels by Eurostar last year they are just as incompetent on the Eurostar check desks as they are at Gatwick.
Well for me the car/train comparison facts are
1/ Quicker by car is a yes - By Taxi/Rail - time to get to station 10 mins by taxi, allow 10mins leeway on station, time to Gatwick before 9am average 1.15mins, after 9am its c1hour. So time by train is at best 1 hr 20mins and early in the morning 1hr 30mins. ( thats if trains run to time and you do not have to get to Gatwick check in before the first train gets there.)
By my Car - poodling along at 60 mph we do the trip consistently peak or off peak in 1 hour. Up the tempo a bit and it takes 45mins.
2/ Ditto for efficency in use of my time. No hanging about waiting for taxi or on platforms. Our car is far more friendly and comfortable to ride in than an hour cramped up in 377 seats, we arrive at the airport or back home less stressed and in a far better frame of mind.
3/ Car is by far the more reliable transport. I have been going to Gatwick from Mid Sussex first as a kid when my dad used to take me at weekends to look over the Britannias, 1-11s and VC10s he worked on for BUA then train as a season ticket holder and then car as the trains got more uncomfortable and slower and slower after the 377s and GoSlovia took over. In all those years car travel times by the A roads have stayed more or less the same at around an hour and there is more than one way onto the airport in times of congestion, you do not have to use the M23. You will have heard not much joy if going to Gatwick this morning by train - as I drove past Arundel lots of ****ed off looking commuters leaving the station by road and the radio said expect lots of cancellations and delays of over an hour on all TOCs using Gatwick.
4/ As you say valet parking costs ( last week) were around £55 and my fuel is about 7 litres round trip at 134p so say rounded up a tenner.
Made costs £65 for us last week.
I do not have any discounts so the standard anytime return ticket is £31 each making pubic transport £62 rail plus £20 taxi ie £82 - trains loose again.
This is just our example and as you say everyone is different and can choose what is best and appropriate for them.
What would it take to get us back on the rails?
I accept that the Buffets and even the trolley refreshments have gone for good, but the key things that has driven us off the trains are:
the uncomfortable seating,
getting to Horsham to find the front portion has left and we are now on the all stations to Victoria service (you only find this out when you find yourself stopping at Littlehaven and the auto PA drones on and on about all the stops the train is now making)
longer journey times than road due to splitting and joining up at Horsham.
It costs more by train than car park and car fuel costs.
Brian
