Gloucester Road Station

[ACL]

Greetings from the US. Next spring I will be taking a small group (4 of us in total) to London (to begin with). We have reserved rooms near the Gloucester Road tube station. We will take the underground from Heathrow 1,2,&3 (or is is just 2&3 now). My main question is, at the Gloucester Road Station does the Piccadilly line trains run on the same tracks as the District and Circle lines, or do they run on a lower level track? I have looked at the Wikipedia page and it isn't clear about this. The reason that I ask is because our ages range from mid 60's to 80, and I am the only male. I am wondering if we would have to carry our luggage up an escalator (which is doable) or is there an elevator available?

While I'm here, I have one more question. Are Oyster Cards still used and if so, are there any plans to phase them out in the future. My wife and I have Oyster Cards and I plan to use them, but I'm thinking about telling the other ladies to use either their phone or a contactless card. Does that sound like the best options? (The reason that I still want to use our Oyster Cards is because as I get older, I seem to have more problems losing or misplacing things.)

I'll probably have number of questions over the next few months. I've been to London several times before and have some experience riding the underground, but it will be nice to be able to ask questions here to fine tune my plans to reduce the amount of walking and inconvenience for the ladies.

Thank you.

 

[rebmcr]

The District and Circle platforms have a fair amount of stairs, with no lift nor escalator.

The Piccadilly platforms are in tunnel, with some short stairs to a lift.

Oyster is a perfectly good plan; as is contactless/ApplePay/GooglePay.

 

[ACL]

The District and Circle platforms have a fair amount of stairs, with no lift nor escalator.

The Piccadilly platforms are in tunnel, with some short stairs to a lift.

Oyster is a perfectly good plan; as is contactless/ApplePay/GooglePay.

Thank you. I'll be prepared.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

The station prior to Gloucester Road as you travel from the airport, Earl's Court, has step free access from all platforms to street level doesn't it?

Is it feasible to exit there and get a taxi the short distance to the hotel?

 

[ACL]

The station prior to Gloucester Road as you travel from the airport, Earl's Court, has step free access from all platforms to street level doesn't it?

Is it feasible to exit there and get a taxi the short distance to the hotel?

That's an idea.

 

[The exile]

That's an idea.

Not to mention that, depending on location, accommodation “near” Gloucester Road may not be appreciably further from Earls Court!

 

[jumble]

The station prior to Gloucester Road as you travel from the airport, Earl's Court, has step free access from all platforms to street level doesn't it?

Is it feasible to exit there and get a taxi the short distance to the hotel?

That's an idea.

It does have step free access everywhere
Just make sure you leave the station by Earls Court Road End and not Warwick Rd End
Second coach from front is where you want to be for lifts

 

[ANDREW_D_WEBB]

Hammersmith and Barons Court both offer cross platform interchange between Piccadilly and District lines. No steps to change between trains

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Hammersmith and Barons Court both offer cross platform interchange between Piccadilly and District lines. No steps to change between trains

...but the platforms aren't level with the train floors are they? Quite a step for elderly age ranges with air travel volumes of luggage?

 

[bluegoblin7]

...but the platforms aren't level with the train floors are they? Quite a step for elderly age ranges with air travel volumes of luggage?

Correct. There is a slight step up to both lines - it shouldn't be insurmountable, particularly towards the east end, but is worth being aware of. From Piccadilly to District is probably the easier direction, with the Picc having the larger step down.

Thank you. I'll be prepared.

Gloucester Road has 27 steps from the Piccadilly line to the lifts in a single flight, and is then step-free.

Personally, I would agree with the Earl's Court suggestions - fully step-free from all lines and a steady 15 minute walk (being very conservative!) from Gloucester Road. If you're staying west of Gloucester Road obviously it's shorter still, and if you're to the east/north then a ride-share service (Uber, Bolt etc) isn't likely to be more than about £10 - a black cab should be around the same sort of price.

There's also the 74 and C1 buses, which stop right outside Earl's Court and could be of use depending on your destination.

And yes, you're absolutely fine using Oyster cards if you've got them - I would check to see if they have a white 'D' in a blue box on the back, though. Cards without this are the older generation and do have some weirdness nowadays, but should still work fine. I would agree that Contactless/Apple Pay/etc would be better for those without them, especially if you've got an account with no foreign currency fees. You can still buy new Oyster cards, but the fee for the card is no longer refundable and is generally not worth it.

 

[Dstock7080]

...but the platforms aren't level with the train floors are they? Quite a step for elderly age ranges with air travel volumes of luggage?

Correct. There is a slight step up to both lines - it shouldn't be insurmountable, particularly towards the east end, but is worth being aware of. From Piccadilly to District is probably the easier direction, with the Picc having the larger step down.

Hammersmith (Piccadilly) was made level on both platforms last year.

 

[bluegoblin7]

Hammersmith (Piccadilly) was made level on both platforms last year.

Good point well made, I was only thinking of Barons Court!

 

[sh24]

Beware of using contactless if your card carried FX fees - especially if they charge a per transaction fee on top of a crappy exchange rate. Something like Revolut where you can hold money in a chosen currency is a nice workaround.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Hammersmith (Piccadilly) was made level on both platforms last year.

That's good to hear.

 

[Hadders]

Beware of using contactless if your card carried FX fees - especially if they charge a per transaction fee on top of a crappy exchange rate. Something like Revolut where you can hold money in a chosen currency is a nice workaround.

Contactless charges are consolidated and charged as one daily transaction.

 

[sh24]

Contactless charges are consolidated and charged as one daily transaction.

Yes but if on a multi day trip you will be dinged daily. No such issues with Revolut.

 

[Snow1964]

Depending on where your hotel is, South Kensington station might also be an option (it is station afterwards coming from Heathrow), the station before Gloucester Road, Earls Court, has previously been suggested for similar reasons.

The Piccadilly line platforms are at different levels at South Kensington (it was originally designed to have a junction and a flyover at one end, although extra platform tunnels were only partly built). Few years since I have been there, but was a plan to add lifts, although I don't know if they ever got added.

I would check foreign currency fees on your bank and credit cards, if you are going to be hit with a flat charge each transaction (or every day as grouped to one daily charge), then buying additional Oyster cards could be cheaper, as only get one transaction fee

 

[bluegoblin7]

South Kensington has no step-free access, and imo would be the worse possible station to use for the OP’s requirements.

 

[Hadders]

Recently I've been using South Kensington station frequently. It's not really fir for purpose - ticket hall and steps to the station are horribly cramped with people heading to the museums and Royal Albert Hall.

A few weeks ago on a Sunday morning the crowding on the patforms and steps was so bad it was dangerous and I called the issue in to TfL's customer relations logging it as an immediate safety issue.

 

[thomalex]

Recently I've been using South Kensington station frequently. It's not really fir for purpose - ticket hall and steps to the station are horribly cramped with people heading to the museums and Royal Albert Hall.

A few weeks ago on a Sunday morning the crowding on the patforms and steps was so bad it was dangerous and I called the issue in to TfL's customer relations logging it as an immediate safety issue.

The station is a compete embarrassment, especially being the gateway to some of the main London museums. There is a plan in place to improve the station bringing back into use one of the old platforms which is being funded by building housing on disused parts of the site along with a new entrance building however it got stuck in a planning quagmire for years. It's finally now approved however I understand there's now issues what contributions TfL are wanting from the developer so it's stuck again.