From the BAA site.
Some interesting ideas. ANPR etc.
Opening in March 2008, Terminal 5 will offer travellers over 7,000 parking spaces within three new three car parks. Incorporating the latest in car park design and technology, the new facilities aim to take the guesswork out of parking at the airport and deliver new and elevated levels of product quality and service to help passengers arrive at the terminal relaxed and stress free.
The new car parks reflect the desire by passengers to be as close to the terminal as possible, with a brand new 3,800 space Short Stay car park located within walking distance of check-in. To complement this, there will be a Valet Parking service offering the ultimate convenience of car drop-off on the terminal forecourt and pick-up from just outside the arrivals area. Further choice will be provided by Business Parking and a Long Stay car park, both a short distance from the terminal and served by frequent courtesy coaches.
Technology will play a pivotal role in the new car parks at Terminal 5, most notably within the multi-storey Short Stay car park. This technology will provide innovative, intuitive and time-saving solutions to the traveller and for the first time will combine all the latest developments in a single location.
The many advances, designed to make parking as ?stress-free? as possible, include ?Bay Monitoring? together with a new Variable Messaging System (VMS). Bay Monitoring will enable drivers to reach an empty space in the optimum time and most energy efficient way. Each space will be fitted with a sensor-led system and a green light above the bay indicates where a space is available. VMS minimises queuing and congestion by delivering electronic messages in the form of arrows to direct customers around the car park. In addition, Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) will be used to ensure a swift and efficient entry/exit to the car parks for those customers who have pre-booked.
On their return to the Short Stay car park, an additional feature has been designed to assist customers in locating their vehicles. ?Car Finder? will track cars to a specific zone using number plate recognition and closed circuit television (CCTV) within the car park. Customers will be able to use their ticket, or enter their registration number, at a specially designed Car Finder kiosk, which will identify the location of their parked car.
Hugh Fenn, Travel Services Director, says ?The new developments at Terminal 5 are a sign of the changing needs of 21st Century traveller. We hope that through increased numbers of spaces and the use of revolutionary technological advances, our airports can cater for every type of traveller providing the most simple and stress-free experience as possible.?
As part of the T5 construction programme, bus, coach, train and underground links have been improved and a new road junction will connect T5 directly with the M25. All intended to make the journey to T5 from central London as smooth and as efficient as possible.
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What a load of marketing speak clap-trap, from someone called the Travel Services Director. Is that the same job as Car Park Supervisor, I wonder.
So it recognises your reg number when you go in (as the other car parks already do), there's regular buses (they all say that), and tells you where there are empty spaces (just in case you're blind).
It's a pity that to get there you have to negotiate the M25 hellhole, or the M4 hellhole, just to get to another hellhole (the airport), be herded like cattle and abused by underpaid and below average intelligence security people. Take your shoes off, stand in line, asked stupid questions, then suffer the delights of the flight itself.
Ha, the car parks are the least of your worries.
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Don't you find this all ironic ?
Investing on a fifth terminal and third runway in an industry which is so obviously dependent on oil.
Couple that with the £6bn invested in a 186mph railway when "speed kills"...
Tax payers and the electorate really are mugs aren't they ?
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I have to say, I like the idea of the green light over an empty bay. Lets face it, when looking down a long line of cars a space is'nt that easy to spot. But having LED arrows directing people around the car park, well that will just cause caos.
But as has already been said, getting to Heathrow is the main problem, not parking when you get there.
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But as has already been said getting to Heathrow is the main problem not parking when you get there.
I find the best way is to fly ;-)
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I have the misfortune to have to use Heathrow once or twice a month, and I agree that getting to and from it is a major part of the battle. If you happen to live in Central London it's okay, but I don't, and it seems everyone else can go swing.
The newly widened M25 around T5 is already at a standstill in rush hour and the terminal isn't open yet. The airport has no railway station (Feltham does not count!), and apart from the odd coach to far flung places, you have to drive to it.
Why can't we get anything right in this country? Why is the road completed only last year already running at capacity? Who is responsible for these repeated cock-ups with transport planning?
Cheers
DP
--
04 Grand Scenic 1.9 dCi Dynamique
00 Mondeo 1.8TD LX
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And how much will it cost to park at this high tech car park?
BAA will assume that the majority of users will be business travellers passing the cost onto the business - yet again further increasing the cost to do business in this country.
Edited by Round The Bend on 03/12/2007 at 13:56
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The airport has no railway station (Feltham does not count!) and apart from the odd coach to far flung places you have to drive to it.
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Do the London Underground stations at Heathrow Central, Terminal 4 and, soon to be opened Terminal 5 not count as a railway stations? I think they do!
What about the Heathrow Express railway staions at Heathrow Central, Terminal 4 and again, the soon to be opened Terminal 5?
That is six railway stations at Heathrow if my maths is ok.
Why can't we get anything right in this country? Why is the road completed only last year already running at capacity? Who is responsible for these repeated cock-ups with transport planning?
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You are. You voted for them. It's your fault.
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Tube or train are the only reliable ways to get there now. When I was small I moved with a gang of Chelsea loafers who used to use the airport as a sort of amusing place to go for a coffee in the small hours of the morning (there being in those days hardly half a dozen such in London). You could just leave the car outside the terminal. Even in the sixties and seventies you could leave your car in the short-stay multi-storey parks for a couple of days and it wouldn't break the bank. It is a long time though since I went there by car. It is only unreliably reachable by car most of the time these days, and the parking is expensive.
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It already costs a fortune to park at the less high tech T2 car park.
I was there last week, arrived at about 9 and left at around 4 and had to pay £29.40! I could have parked for days for £30 in one of the off site long stay car parks.
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Apparently Arup is launching a plan to extend the Eurostar trains from St Pancras to Glasgow, via Heathrow, then the Chiltern line north.
I'd vote for using the hard shoulders of all motorways for new rail lines and anyone than planned a station for all settlements over 5,000 population.
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It already costs a fortune to park at the less high tech T2 car park. I .....had to pay £29.40! I could have parked for days for £30 in one of the off site long stay car parks.
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Oh dear! What would happen if the price in the terminals was halved? ;-(
I can imagine grid lock all day.
BAA really do want to limit the number of passengers driving to the airport.
Travel on the buses and the Heathrow Express are FREE within the airport.
It was originally planned ( at the same time as the tube extension to LHR) for a link from Waterloo via Feltham to Heathrow but guess what - no funds.
It is not just access via the M4 that is the problem.
The A312 from the south east ( Kingston and beyond) is a single lane all the way.
Thats once you manage to cross the Thames ( often takes 30 mins) in the rush hour.
When approaching LHR from the west on the M4 I often take the J5 exit and then use the A4 to the airport thus avoiding the M25 altogether.
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After visiting Heathrow and Stanstead during a recent trip to the Uk and having previously been to Gatwick I have vowed never to fly into London again. If I have to visit the UK I will change somewhere en route which will allow me to arrive in Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh or anywhere but London. When you look at airports like Zurich, Bangkok and Singapore there really isn't any excuse for the state of London airports. I shall vote with my feet and take my dollars elsewhere.
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