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| February 2002 |
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| London
Heathrow is the world's busiest airport. A vast selection of
buses and coaches serve the needs of passengers and staff
alike. This is a selection of those vehicles on a brilliant
November's day. |
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| Dedicated coach routes serving
Heathrow and other airports have been rationalised under three separate
identities by National Express.
Vehicles in Jetlink livery operate between London area airports and
nearby destinations such as Brighton and Cambridge, where Airlinks DAF/Van
Hool D309 (Y309HUA) is heading (left).
Speedlink coaches such as Airlinks owned T207AUA (middle)
provide a non-stop service between Heathrow and Gatwick.
Routes that connect regional airports are marketed under the
Flightlink banner, here represented by Excelsior 437 (S809ORU)
arriving from Bournemouth (right). |
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| Several Rail Air Link services operate
between the airport and nearby railway stations to povide connections with
main line train services. First Beeline employ Plaxton/Volvo
B12Ms such as T704JLD to Reading station, and Airlinks run routes
to Watford and Woking. |
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| Only a handful of red London
buses operate to the airport. Left:
The A2 is all that remains of the Airbus services to central London, seen
here being operated by former London United N112UHP, now of
Airlinks. Right: First
London’s TN1174 (LR02LYT) at the central bus station on the 105
to Greenford. |
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| Many local bus routes that
serve Heathrow have been branded in special liveries.
L2 (P402MLA) of First
Centrewest is operating on the high profile Heathrow Fast A10 service to
Uxbridge (left). The
vast Green Line empire is a pale shadow of its former self, and only the
724 to Harlow now serves Heathrow.
Plaxton/DAF 3445 (R205VPU) of the snappily named Arriva
serving The Shires and Essex leaves central bus station (right). |
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| Above: The only
local express service not part of the Jetlink branding is that to Oxford as
represented by Y28OXF of Oxford Bus Company. Left:
Most National Express services to and from the west country call at
Heathrow Airport such as Trathens 521 (YN51XMH) on its way to
Penzance. |
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| Some
vehicles never leave Heathrow all day. Left above: T354JWA,
a Wright/Scania of Apcoa on the Long Stay Car Park service, left below:
P234AAP, a Wright/Volvo, on the Hotel Transfer Service, right:
Hertz use these impressive Mercedes minibuses, such as Y984TOJ, to
shuttle car hire customers between the terminal and the parking lots. |
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| Heathrow is home
to some weird and wonderful buses.
Left: Purple parking operate this Ford transit minibus complete
with trailer for luggage. Right:
Even buses operated by British Airways have been adorned with flags of the
world such as N183FLR which
sports a tartan tail. |
| Heathrow
Airport |
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| All photos
taken on Sunday 10th November 2002. Click to enlarge. |
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