London City Airport Express

[43068]

A new London City Express service has been proposed, this will run non-stop from Bank to London City Airport.

The service will run from a dedicated platform at Bank station, and will run without calling at any stations, arriving at London City Airport 20 minutes later, although at peak times this will increase to 23 minutes.

Special Oyster readers will be installed at Bank, which will charge a premium fare of 10 pounds.

First class fares are also available, priced at 20 pounds, this will offer the same seating as standard class, with the additional benefit of an antimacassar.

The trains will be the same as on other DLR routes, but will be painted bright yellow. The service will be operated by the DLR.

When launched, the website will have the following information:

London City Express is the fastest and only non-stop train service between London Bank station and London City Airport. Departing every 15 minutes, with no traffic jams, taxi queues or stops to worry about, you can be in the centre of London (Bank), or right inside London City airport in just 20 minutes.

The roads between London City Airport and Central London are not motorway/freeway standard but wind through the suburbs with traffic lights making for a tedious stop, start journey.

A taxi or coach transfer from London City Airport to Central London is not very popular with passengers. The roads as such that the fastest transfer takes half an hour, often much, much more.

London City Airport Express train is much faster and cheaper.

The TfL website will also be updated, to include the following information:

Premium fares are charged at all times- there is no difference between peak and off-peak travel.

You will be charged a discounted fare if you use:

• a 5-10, 11-15 or 16+ Zip Oyster photocard (children with a 5-10 Zip Oyster photocard do not travel free)
• have a Jobcentre Plus, National Railcard, Disabled Railcard, Gold Card or Young Visitor discount set on your Oyster card

Journeys on these services do not count towards capping.

Freedom Passes, 60+ London and Veterans Oyster photocards are not valid for travel on London City Airport Express services.

Using pay as you go is the easiest way to pay for travel to and from London City Airport, but some tickets will be cheaper - in particular returns, season tickets and group tickets.
Journeys on London City Airport Express do not count towards caps, but those on other DLR services do count towards cap

The aviation industry welcomed the news, the airlines have argued against mixing commuters with airline passengers.

Intermediate stops on an Airport Express are damaging. It is important not to stop London City Airport Expresses intermediately as the passenger impact is negative.

Commuters and air passengers do not mix well – they get in each others’ way, and if it is possible to separate them (as is done now by Gatwick Express), this should be done. Air passengers are a distinct market: the potential for putting off potential London City Airport Express passengers needs to be clearly understood.

 

[Blindtraveler]

 

[Bletchleyite]

17 minutes later and you'd be the fool

 

[Bungle965]

Wow we have already seen how successful the idea is on Gatwick Express, i think it is a fantastic idea.
Sam

 

[rebmcr]

Where are they going to get the stock from? They already can't run the service at the frequency they want to on existing lines...

I notice the TfL information doesn't mention Travelcard validity or non-validity.

 

[Statto]

What day is it again?

 

[Clip]

Where are they going to get the stock from? They already can't run the service at the frequency they want to on existing lines...

I notice the TfL information doesn't mention Travelcard validity or non-validity.

I take it you didnt notice the date of today either

 

[HMS Ark Royal]

I remind people of the date

 

[Busaholic]

Where is the space at Bank station to create an extra platform, let alone space for (presumably) two new running lines? Or is the name 'Bank' going to be applied to a platform somewhere between Monument and Tower Hill, with a nice trek to Bank proper? Alternatively, of course, this could just be a rather weak April 1st spoof!

 

[edwin_m]

[sigh] What's the date?

 

[Kite159]

"We are sorry for the delay with your City Express, we are caught behind a stopping service from Shadwell"

 

[Clip]

Ahh the joys of not getting an april fools joke

 

[WestCoast]

Crossrail to Custom House and then walk, that'll be the express!

 

[Busaholic]

Ahh the joys of not getting an april fools joke

I spotted at least 4 obvious April Fool jokes in the papers this week. Trouble was, none of them appeared on 1st April! Truth being stranger than fiction and all that - don't forget we are talking the rail industry here, so nothing outlandish is beyond the pale. As I said in my previous post, a rather weak spoof in fact.

 

[317 forever]

It's a pity this couldn't have been a flying DLR unit from LCY to Bank!!!

 

[edwin_m]

It's a pity this couldn't have been a flying DLR unit from LCY to Bank!!!

Using the Dangleway as a giant slingshot?

 

[Busaholic]

Plenty of scope in the Barbican area for a monorail - the way Boris is going about messing up London's streets for everybody except cyclists, including pedestrians and all bus passengers in East and SouthEast London, that could represent the only non-underground way to get round swathes of London in future.

 

[HMS Ark Royal]

Spacehoppers are the way to go...

In London last year, there was no deaths reported as a result of Spacehopper collisions

 

[me123]

^Although there has been at least one police call out to a space hopper related incident in Dundee.

 

[Chester1]

If the DLR is ever extended to Euston and or St Pancras it wouldn't be a bad idea, especially considering that LCY is planned to grow to 8 million passengers by 2030. I used the DLR to get to work when I briefly lived in London and was impressed. I used LCY for the first time last month because it was only £15 more than Heathrow and it was much better. Flights are normally more expensive though and most of its passengers are for business within London.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

Can't they just extend that cable car thingy to London City Airport instead? After all, it's already called an 'air line' so you'd think it really ought to terminate at an air port. Plus, the prices on it are already fairly extortionate (if you regard it as part of the Oyster fare scheme), so they could have the extortionate airport prices that the business people flying into LCY would expect, without having to actually change any fares!

I realize it'll be very expensive, but on the upside, if it runs to the airport, maybe it'll occasionally get a couple of passengers...

 

[Wolfie]

Can't they just extend that cable car thingy to London City Airport instead? After all, it's already called an 'air line' so you'd think it really ought to terminate at an air port. Plus, the prices on it are already fairly extortionate (if you regard it as part of the Oyster fare scheme), so they could have the extortionate airport prices that the business people flying into LCY would expect, without having to actually change any fares!

I realize it'll be very expensive, but on the upside, if it runs to the airport, maybe it'll occasionally get a couple of passengers...

Hmmm... I can't see even the slightest possibility of complications arising from running a cablecar - ie cars suspended from cables in the air - near to an airport... MUCH!