Why is anyone still using the HEX?
Because I suffer from mile claustrophobia and cannot tolerate the Tube. I am miserable riding it. And since we plan our trips a year in advance, it is no problem to get the cheap HEX tix—-I now buy them 5 months ahead. It makes arrival at Heathrow and the trip into London a pleasure rather than an ordeal.
My attitude was reinforced when we arrived in London last September, after a long-delayed flight from Venice that caused us to miss lunch (there was no food or water on the flight). It was a day when the HEX was out of service, along with the Elizabeth line, due to a fire somewhere. So we had to take the Piccadilly line. We boarded early enough to get seats, but by the 3d stop the car was so crowded with people standing in the aisle that it was difficult for anyone to move to the exits to get off the train.
We had been advised to change at Hammersmith to the District Line but that one does not go to Paddington. Looking at a tube map now it appears we might have caught the Circle line, but either it was not running that day ( it was the day of the Queen’s funeral and some services were limited) or there were no maps on the platforms to help us. Or maybe we were just so tired, hungry, and thirsty we made the wrong choice. But we boarded the next Piccadilly train, barely managing to squeeze into one car, and rode to Earl’s Court to change.
The journey took us an hour and a half instead of the HEX 20 minutes. But we did get a prompt refund of what we paid for the HEX tix.
So yes, we still use the HEX and will continue to do so.