New Tube map includes Paddington via Hayes to Heathrow

[whole diary]

[trainer]

I saw this before I read the thread on here and it may be of interest on the subject.  It's from Geoff Marshall of All the Stations fame.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RH-ghrfZHTQ&t=108s

[stuving]

Confusion is being caused by Terminal 5 not appearing on the TfL^» (Transport for London - about) Rail maps, because they imply that transfer between T2/3 and T5 is via the Piccadilly Line.

Indeed. For all the great complication of even the "Tube" map, both of them are missing something - a representation of the Heathrow Free Travel Zone (once called Heathrow Freeflow). There is an official map, though that includes all the buses; only the rail services would go on either map. (Note that the map labels both rail links "Heathrow Express"; if that was true at times it isn't now.)

But even then there are extra complications. The introduction of barriers means that the old "hop on - hop off" basis that still works for the buses won't for the trains; hence the free Terminal Tansfer tickets. And even the Piccadilly doesn't actually match the words Heathrow provide in each of the sections quoted by grahame above, e.g.:

Terminal 2 to ...
Terminal 4 [and Terminal 5]
...
Frequent London Underground trains also run between the terminals. The transfer is only free if you use a Transport for London Oyster^▸ (Smartcard system used by passengers on Transport for London services) card or a contactless payment card.

Average journey time: 16 minutes

Nothing there about going to Hatton Cross and changing, nor that the Heathrow Free Travel Zone includes the platform there but not passing through the barriers. The one-way section of line is on the maps, of course, though it would be easy to miss the significance of a couple of little chevrons.

[grahame]

Quite apart from the payment issues / mess, this whole thread raises the question "what to you put on a public transport map or general promotion?".   And whilst we criticise, no-one has come up with anything that suits everyone.  The presence of a dozen official tube maps - https://tfl.gov.uk/maps/track/tube - shows the scale of the problem; I'm sure TfL^» (Transport for London - about) would prefer a single map!

Logic suggests to me a complete public transport map of all turn up and ride systems.  But that's going to get overcomplex when you pile on the longer and shorter distance stuff, buses and trains. And does all include the tube to Olympia, the train from Paddington to High Wycombe, or the bus that diverts past St Winifred's on school days?  And what about that demand responsive bus, and night buses?      Such a map - but interactive (zoomable, and with time of day / week elements that grey out services not available near a chosen time) ....  [as I write, I'm remembering all the massive issues ....]

Putting myself in the traveller's / visitor's shoes, I do like the TfL area specific bus maps (Paddington example below).   And that's against my own initial view.   They're simple, a quick read, show you where to get on in an immediate area and where direct services go. The addition of underground / Rail services would be useful, and I wonder about an indication of very common connections onwards (the map for Bromley North showing train connections at Grove Park for Charing Cross, for example).

For Heathrow ... perhaps it exists ... such a map as "your onward transport options" ... one for the central area, and one each for terminals 4 and 5.

Map referred to in text - click on image to link to original map as a .pdf

[W5tRailfinder]

I work at Heathrow in a passenger assistance role.

I have always directed passengers etc who need to transfer between T2/3 and T4 or T5 to use the free inter-terminal transfer from the HEx station. Although aware of the Piccadilly Line option, due to the barriers/gates it is never given. If I personally was making the transfer, I could take it as I have a Freedom Pass.

Of course passengers may no longer have an Oyster^▸ (Smartcard system used by passengers on Transport for London services) card, having gone to the Travel Centre at T2/3 Underground station to get a refund, if they are leaving and no longer need it.

Now you cannot refer to the Heathrow Express station as all previous direction signage pointing to Heathrow Express have been replaced by blue signs saying 'Trains'. 

[stuving]

Putting myself in the traveller's / visitor's shoes, I do like the TfL^» (Transport for London - about) area specific bus maps (Paddington example below).   And that's against my own initial view.   They're simple, a quick read, show you where to get on in an immediate area and where direct services go. The addition of underground / Rail services would be useful, and I wonder about an indication of very common connections onwards (the map for Bromley North showing train connections at Grove Park for Charing Cross, for example).

For Heathrow ... perhaps it exists ... such a map as "your onward transport options" ... one for the central area, and one each for terminals 4 and 5.

If it's maps you want, try putting something like "Heathrow travel map" into a Google image search - but make sure you've got your shaking stick ready first. However, few of those do what you're asking for.

I do have some that come a bit closer, printed off in 2008. One was called "Local Transport to and from Heathrow", and showed all the buses that run within the free travel zone and where they go to next outside it. There's another that restricts itself to buses that serve T5, but also shows where they all stop along that dismal bus lane (it has a name - Wallis Road). Both are rather busy, and neither seems to be available on line any more. While the first does show the railways, it doesn't follow them far, for obvious reasons.

[W5tRailfinder]

Latest Heathrow Free Travel zone Map can be found here:

https://www.heathrow.com/file_source/Heathrow/Static/PDF/Transport_and_directions/travel_around_Heathrow.pdf

[stuving]

Latest Heathrow Free Travel zone Map can be found here:

https://www.heathrow.com/file_source/Heathrow/Static/PDF/Transport_and_directions/travel_around_Heathrow.pdf

That is the same map as I linked to earlier - though not the same PDF. This one has the slogan "making every journey better" at the bottom, but otherwise is identical.

Having loads of maps has been typical of Heathrow, though they don't seem to have as many accessible by obvious links as they used to. Now, not only do they not have the local (i.e. non-TfL^» (Transport for London - about)) bus map any more, but the "local buses" information page doesn't mention anyone other than TfL as providing them. However, their journey planner does know about them, even if it doesn't offer them if a train is quicker (and it picks just one option based on your starting time, so flips between them).

They do have a "Heathrow Airport Maps" page, but that just has one each of a road map, Free travel around Heathrow, and a Rail and underground map. That last one is odd, in that it is dated 2008 (last edit 2009) but has an uncorrected glaring mistake on it. Bus 490 is shown linking Feltham to T1,2,&3, along with bus 285, when in real life it goes to T4 & T5. Obviously (apart from us here) no-one ever looks at these maps ...