- This topic has 16 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 4 months, 3 weeks ago by
.
-
Posts
-
Hi, I maybe travelling from Kew Gardens to Wembley Park next weekend and one of the routes was to get the overground to West Hampstead and then change onto the Jubilee line. The journey indicates that I have change stations – is this the case ? I’m guessing its not like, say, Willesden Junction where everything is in one station and you touch in/out of the pink/yellow card readers depending on what line you’re using ?
Thanks
SteveWest Hampstead is three (LU, LO, & Thameslink) separate stations, up to 200m apart, joined by a busy road. There are OSIs between all of them so you’ll only pay for one journey providing you touch in/out at the gateline at each station.
I should add that the quickest way between Kew Gardens and Wembley Park is probably LO to Brondesbury, walk 200m to Kilburn for the Jubilee to Wembley. Yes, there’s an OSI between Brondesbury and Kilburn (20 mins).
Thanks for the input, Alan. Curious as to why you think Kilburn-Brondesbury is quicker than West Hampstead? I’d only normally suggest it if turning away from London.
Hi,
Thanks for letting me know, funnily enough I’d previously looked at travelling in the opposite direction on the TfL journey planner on the Monday morning and the route given was via Kilburn/Brondesbury
Hi, Mike. Because one saves the time the two trains take to get to/from West Hampstead.
Kew Gardens – Brondesbury = 22mins
Walk Brondesbury – Kilburn – 2mins
Kilburn – Wembley Park = 8mins
Total 32mins plus waiting timeKew Gardens – West Hampstead = 23mins
Walk West Hampstead LO – West Hampstead LU = 1min
West Hampstead LU – Wembley Park = 10mins
Total 34mins plus waiting timeSo one’s likely to be one Jubilee line train ahead. Of course, it may make no difference at all which is probably why journey planners suggest both routes roughly equally.
If I were doing that journey I’d almost certainly go via Kilburn/Brondesbury.
Thanks, Mike. Not to labour the point but today I found myself in west London with a travelcard and some time to spare so I took the journey myself to see how reality matched up to the theory.
I only had time to take the journey once in each direction: Wembley Park to Kew Gardens via Kilburn and Brondesbury took 34m45s; Kew Gardens to Wembley Park via West Hampstead took 38m13s.
Approaching Wembley Park we did have to wait for a terminating train to clear the platform so I think the northbound trip was about a minute longer than it should be. Apart from that I had good journeys both ways.
I’m sure that Stephen now has more information that he wanted or needed but hopefully some of it is useful 🙂
Well, thanks very much for your dedication, which I know you will have enjoyed. The whole misunderstanding stems from my mistaken belief that Wembley Park was further east from West Hampstead. No idea what caused that, but it explains my sentence “I’d only normally suggest it if turning away from London.”
Thanks for your help. I’ll see how I get on. The only thing I’m slightly wary is the journey on foot although both journeys changing at Brondesbury and West Hampstead sound as though they are quick and easy to do.
Yes, they are both easy. According to Google maps the Brondesbury one takes about 3 minutes while the West Hampstead one is probably only a minute (but you do have to cross the road). Obviously there is the walking time within the stations to add in.
If you click on “Information Pages” at the top, then “Interchanging Trains” and finally “OSI List” you’ll get a list of all the interchanges. In the Outer London OSIs section, click on the distance alongside the OSI you’re interested in and it will display a map showing how to get between the stations. Note that the West Hampstead map shows the route between the two furthest apart, the Overground station is in the middle.
And if you decide to change at West Hampstead, as you exit the Overground station there’s a pedestrian crossing just to the left. Cross the road there as the Jubilee line station is on the other side of the road and there’s nowhere safe to cross further down. You can actually see each station from the other, whereas Brondesbury/Kilburn are a bit further to walk.
Seems a good as place as any to ask. I visited Kew Gardens at the weekend. I was intending using the rail 2 for 1 offer for a free Kew ticket. My journey was ELS to KWG, so a change at West Hampstead from Thameslink to the overground. Single off peak price was £6.10 single, £11.90 return. Someone joining me was going WHD to KWG only and their fare was quoted as £6.70 single, £13.40 return. Why does it cost more to travel only half the journey?
Similarly ELS to WHD is also £6.10 single, £11.90 return; ELS to KWG is also £6.10 single, £11.90 return. So the journey from WHD to KWG is effectively free, but starting at the half way point costs more.
Of course, if it hadn’t been the need for a rail ticket, contactless or debit card ELS to KWG is only £3.70 with WHD to KWG being £1.90, which at least seems logical.
Elstree & Borehamwood – Kew Gardens via West Hampstead is charged as a Zone 2-6 journey on the “Mixed Mode” scale so would be £5.30 Peak / £3.70 Off-Peak on Contactless/Oyster and £6.10 Single / £11.90 Return for Cash.
West Hampstead – Kew Gardens, meanwhile, is charged as a Zone 2-3 journey at the TfL rate, thus £1.90 Off-Peak / £2.10 Peak on Contactless/Oyster but attracting the non-PAYG premium charge of £6.70 Single for Cash.
Thanks Barry, it still makes no sense to me that half the journey costs more than the whole if you need to buy a ticket ahead. In fact buying a ticket from Cricklewood would be only £4 vs from West Hampstead at £6.70.
Hi Tracy,
Unfortunately very little is logical about UK rail fares since privatisation 30 years ago. The specific issue here is between who sets the fares. On the Cricklewood line it is GTR. They charge by zones within London, and there are no off-peak fares to encourage use of PAYG. London Overground is part of TfL and their stick to promote use of PAYG is to charge very high cash prices.
This is all well and good until you need to use a paper ticket for a days out offer.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.