Tube Strike Oct 4 and 6

Oh No

Well, I am flying from Austin to London on the 6th arriving the 7th so I guess that I will be ok. I am taking the Elizabeth Line from Heathrow to Paddington.

Question: Assume that I come in on the 6th. How does one get to their hotel from Heathrow?

Last year when the trains were on strike last Oct, we had to take an Uber round trip and it was over $100 each way

What is RMT?

When the tube goes on strike, do the buses still run? Can you take a bus from Heathrow to Central London?

Assume that I come in on the 6th. How does one get to their hotel from Heathrow?

If your plane arrives on the 7th, it's not magically going to go back in time. (LOL)

Your flight leaves Austin at either 6:10 or 6:50 PM Austin Time. It's six hours earlier than London. So, technically, when you leave Austin, it will already be the 7th in the UK.

If you arrive in to LHR on 4 or 6 October then take the Elizabeth Line. At the time of writing, because that is National Rail that will be working. Also HeX will be working (a reduced timetable on 4 October), and National Express run a frequent bus service to London Victoria Coach Station, from whence red London buses go to all parts of Zone 1, from the Rail Station (some routes from the bus station at the Rail Station, others from surrounding streets). Some of the London bus services also stop outside the Coach Station.

If travelling by London Bus on strike days expect long lines at major railway termini.

Both Elizabeth and HeX will be far busier than normal.

If things were really dire with zero trains running on any route and someone didn't want to pay for taxi/uber/private car it is always possible to take a succession of three London buses into central London (total cost £3.50), or to take the bus to Windsor, then bus Windsor to London. I don't expect any member of this forum to be so adventurous. But there is always a work round.

There are lots of possible non rail routes from Heathrow into London- yes they take a lot of time but they exist.

On both 5 and 7 October I would expect residual effects of the morning strike to last until mid-morning. So I would play it by ear, depending on how early you land. If the tube is working fine, otherwise use the above alternative routeings.
National Express is as fast as the tube, and almost always cheaper than the Elizabeth Line and always cheaper than HeX.

RMT is the transport union.

RMT is the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union- essentially the train guards/conductors and some station staff

ASLEF (the union responsible for these strikes) is the Associated Society of Locomotive, Engineers and Firemen- essentially the train drivers.

Today the BA flight from Austin made up 50 minutes of flight time-left 20 late, due in 30 minutes early. and the VS flight made up 60 minutes- departed 90 minutes late, due LHR 26 late.

So there must have been good tail winds.

To answer @ KB directly- as there is no HEX until after 0730 and no expected tube, my advice would be to stay at Heathrow on January 3.

I don't know how "early morning" the flight is, but as it is not a night tube night anyway that was probably always the best option for a flight before around 10am.

At the time of writing the Premier Inn at Terminal 4 is available on October 3 for £81, and other PI's which are served by the Hotel Hoppa Bus are available. Even without trains it is easy to transfer by buses between the various Heathrow Terminals.

There is also the N9 night bus runs from Trafalgar Square to Heathrow every 30 minutes all night from midnight to 0530, and National Express start running from Victoria Coach Station to Heathrow at 0330 then half hourly, so there are options.

But the stay at the airport is the best option.

isn31c

The Force Was With Us.

Frank II

I believe that I am on the 6:50 flight. I will be getting to the airport the night before whichever plane I am on and I will have R S London with me so will have something to do. I will also have my iPad and I am a people watcher so I will be plenty occupied.

I was just wondering what might happen if a person was to fly in to Heathrow when the tube was shut down due to strike. I am glad to hear there are options to get to the hotel.

As you know, I have been working on this trip for a year and maybe more. And here it is right around the corner. Starting to pack.

Hi!

Apologies if this question is silly -- but we will be in London during this planned strike and are planning to head to Windsor one day ... we have flexibility on date as I have not yet bought the castle tickets ... we can go either the 5th or 6th ... am I correct in assuming we should certainly plan on going the 5th?

Also - we are going to Highclere on the 8th -- does the tube strike impact that?

Thank you all :)

Williams5, the tube strike will only impact you getting to the station you need for trains to Windsor or Highclere. For Windsor, you’ll need to think how you’ll get to Paddington or Waterloo in order to catch the train to Windsor.

Similarly with Highclere, the only impact will be getting to the station where trains to Newbury commence (I think that’s Paddington too).

The mainline trains to Windsor and Newbury won’t be impacted by a tube strike.

Yes, trains to Newbury (for Highclere) depart from Paddington. On most hours one is a fast train to the West of England, and the other is a local train to the small stations between Reading and Newbury.
On the local train that often starts at Reading, so you get any train to Reading.

If for any reason there was severe service disruption on the Paddington to Reading line then there are also direct, if slow, trains to Reading from Waterloo.
There is also a good citybus service from Reading to Newbury.

The Tube Strikes for both days are now cancelled- this news is just in

Good news. I hope it prompts the operators and ASLEF to work on reaching some agreement.

https://www.rmt.org.uk/news/tube-strikes-suspended-after-rmt-win-concessions/

They are two distinct issues so ASLEF following the RMT would be unusual and would be without precedent as far as I know

Nigel, yes of course you are correct. I know that the disputes are different. My thinking was just that the news is going to be full of a high profile settlement (of sorts) tonight. I think many pundits will be looking to ASLEF, the hold-out operators and the Transport Secretary and asking what happens next. I was only trying to say something upbeat, yet fairly neutral, about the strike situation, unburdened by actual facts of course :-) I gather you are a former railwayman so you will know much more about the RMT and ASLEF than me. I support the unions, but keep my more militant opinions away from here!

you can really look at it as three distinct industrial disputes.

All revolve around pay and conditions, as with every other strike the government hasn't settled, but those conditions are very different in the RMT train strike (the role of the guard, driver only operation, station ticket window closure and staff "redeployment"), the ASLEF strike (definition of the working week, station ticket office closures, DOO), and the tube.

Solving one doesn't mean at all that the others are solved.

Tube issues affect Londoners and commuters, train issues affect the whole country.

And even if the ASLEF strikes were settled directly before a strike day, as in the tube dispute, services would not run the following day.

On the main line railway it takes the better part of a week to re-roster staff and trains, and generally restore services. Some operators can work faster than that, but none as fast as Transport for London have.

three distinct industrial disputes

Thank you for your explanation.