Melksham to Kensington Olympia - day trip next Saturday

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Scenario ...

There's likely to be three (or five) of us ... Lisa and Linda going to take in an exhibition at Olympia, and me (Graham), perhaps with Billy (woof!) and Gypsy (woof!) who will accompany the ladies on the train, but frankly would get very bored with the show, so will go off and see some of the sights of London

The FGW^▸ (First Great Western) timetable page gives some very interesting (and very long journey time) options, yet being a Saturday I thought that there would be tubes to Olympia.   I'm also noting the No. 27 bus from Paddington.   I suspect that Lisa, Billy, Gypsy and me would be happy with odd routings - can't speak for Linda though.

Please, then,
a) Recommendations as to routes and fares
b) Am I allowed to lend Lisa my Oyster^▸ (Smartcard system used by passengers on Transport for London services) card for the bus?
c) If we get travel card + groupsave does the group need to go on TfL^» (Transport for London - about) / London services together?
d) Is there a map of escalator free stations as I cannot carry a lurcher and a greyhound on escalators.
e) Pubs / restaurants that welcome dogs near Paddington?

[ChrisB]

I'll leave others to answer a)

b) People do, but if you meet a ticket inspector, strictly they're not transferable, so I'm not sure of their reaction.
c) Yes, I believe so.
d) If you use the TfL^» (Transport for London - about) journey checker, you can see if your journey has escalatrors in the key to each leg of the journey (there is an escalator logo)
e) Google 'Dog Friendly pubs' - several websites created to give you answers!

[Ian01]

(d) TfL^» (Transport for London - about) publishes a "step free access" tube map.

Olympia tubes run only at the weekend these days.

[Tim]

This guide answers your escalator question partly and suggests that platform to street is "level access at Olympia.

https://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/avoiding-stairs-tube-guide.pdf
But as it is about step free access it won't be as useful as it might have been for you, but it does show you the stations with level access, those with lifts and those with "a small number of steps" which would be a start. 

On the transferability of an oyster card - is your card registered.  Mine isn't so I can't see how anyone would ever know it was being used by Someone other than the person who first purchased it.   

[Southern Stag]

b) People do, but if you meet a ticket inspector, strictly they're not transferable, so I'm not sure of their reaction.

Oyster^▸ (Smartcard system used by passengers on Transport for London services) Cars are transferable provided they are only pay as you go and not loaded with a Season ticket and provided they do not have a Railcard discount loaded on them.

[ChrisB]

The reason I suggested what I did re escalators above is that Grahame is only interested in escalators, not step free access. It's just that his dogs can't manage the escalators - I'm sure they can walk as many stairs as necessary....woof!

[grahame]

Many thanks for the "escalator free" advise - the hounds are indeed fully stair capable (we sleep on 2nd floor in a building without lifts);  I think we can probably work out suitable places to go up and down from the links / references supplied, though we might err on the cautious side and end up avoiding a station which has escalators with a parallel staircase.

Thanks for clarification on when Oyster^▸ (Smartcard system used by passengers on Transport for London services) is / isn't transferrable too.

c) If we get travel card + groupsave does the group need to go on TfL^» (Transport for London - about) / London services together?

c) Yes, I believe so.

I took a further look at the Groupsave conditions just to be sure what they said.

All members of the group must travel together for outward and return journeys

and I'm interested in why in says "outward and return" journeys rather than "all journeys".  When we arrive in Paddington, my plan is to make a circular tour taking in several places, and that's neither the outward nor the return journey in my mind ... I'm just wondering - probably wouldn't argue the case and would meekly pay for my own tube journeys (or it may be better for us to get a group save to London Stations) but it's really not clear.

[ChrisB]

The  vast majority are making a journey from A to B and back. I suspect your reading too much into that, and unless you can find clarification that definitely states once on the tube, you can go separate ways, I'd be erring on the definite side of caution.

[Brucey]

a) Recommendations as to routes and fares

I haven't checked out the fares, but South West Trains to Clapham Junction then London Overground/Southern to Olympia may be an easier, albeit more time consuming, journey.

[JayMac]

Are we talking this Saturday 22nd February?

If so then you can get Day Returns from Salisbury to Clapham Junction for ^10 each.

http://www.southwesttrains.co.uk/wintersmiles.aspx

Add to those, Off Peak Day Returns from Melksham to Warminster (^4.20), Warminster to Salisbury (^7.00) and Oyster^▸ (Smartcard system used by passengers on Transport for London services) singles for Clapham Junction to Kenny O and back (2x ^1.50) and you have a day return for under ^25 each.

Plus, Weekend First is valid with the ^10 SWT^▸ (South West Trains) Winter Smiles fares, so you can upgrade for ^5 each way.

0902 from Melksham for an 1156 arrival, or,
0753 from Trowbridge for a 1041 arrival,
0853 from Trowbridge for an 1141 arrival.

Time enough to tap in your Oyster at Clapham Junction when changing trains.

[Cynthia]

Scenario ...

There's likely to be three (or five) of us ... Lisa and Linda going to take in an exhibition at Olympia, and me (Graham), perhaps with Billy (woof!) and Gypsy (woof!) who will accompany the ladies on the train, but frankly would get very bored with the show, so will go off and see some of the sights of London

The FGW^▸ (First Great Western) timetable page gives some very interesting (and very long journey time) options, yet being a Saturday I thought that there would be tubes to Olympia.   I'm also noting the No. 27 bus from Paddington.   I suspect that Lisa, Billy, Gypsy and me would be happy with odd routings - can't speak for Linda though.

Please, then,
a) Recommendations as to routes and fares
b) Am I allowed to lend Lisa my Oyster^▸ (Smartcard system used by passengers on Transport for London services) card for the bus?
c) If we get travel card + groupsave does the group need to go on TfL^» (Transport for London - about) / London services together?
d) Is there a map of escalator free stations as I cannot carry a lurcher and a greyhound on escalators.
e) Pubs / restaurants that welcome dogs near Paddington?

I'll be very interested to hear how you got on taking your dogs on a sightseeing tour of London!

Once I've had my knee replacement, (mid-March, all being well) because I shan't be able to drive for 8 weeks, I thought I'd avoid almost dying of boredom as I did after surgery last year, and take to the trains with Echo during my recovery period.  However I will have to find destinations that are all at ground level, as I won't be able to tackle stairs or escalators.  (Can't envisage carrying very wriggly Bearded Collie!)  That's going to limit me somewhat!?

[grahame]

Are we talking this Saturday 22nd February?

If so then you can get Day Returns from Salisbury to Clapham Junction for ^10 each.

That sounds like real fun if we were going for the journey rather than the destination, but I think one of the "L"s will be keen to get to and from destination quite quickly.   

Scouting around, we'll probably go for the 07:48 MKM^» (Melksham (Station code) - next trains) -> SWI^» (Swindon - next trains) and the -> PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) at 09:38, return on the 16:15 or 18:15 changing at SWI and getting to MKM at 18:02 or 20:02.    Looks like the group may be up to 4 (Adults) + 2 (dogs) and I make that 100.00 on a woofsave (plus the bus fare for L&L on the 27), or 77.60 with a split at Dick Dot.   Return fare 19.40 each!

Cynthia - yes - we'll report on how we get on on the underground.   Billy (knowing his character) will want to take the Hammersmith and City line right to the far end.

[Chris from Nailsea]

Billy (knowing his character) will want to take the Hammersmith and City line right to the far end.

Having met Billy, I'd suggest that he will indeed just want to express his enjoyment of the transport treat being offered, probably quite vocally. 

[bobm]

with a split at Dick Dot. 

Hard to know if that was deliberate or predictive text getting in the way.... 

[grahame]

d) If you use the TfL^» (Transport for London - about) journey checker, you can see if your journey has escalatrors in the key to each leg of the journey (there is an escalator logo)

Just been following up on this, Chris ... and indeed the journey PLANNER lets you specify "I can use stairs but not escalators" ... via http://journeyplanner.tfl.gov.uk/user/XSLT_TRIP_REQUEST2?language=en

See attachment for example, Paddington to Tottenham Court Road.   We will let dad who will be with us use the escalator while the rest of us use the stairs!