Gatwick shuttle: the free link between North and South

Driverless cars shuttle along a 1.2km elevated track between the South Terminal and the North Terminal, taking two to three minutes per crossing. Departures run about every five minutes through the day and about every ten minutes between 23:00 and 06:00, and the service runs 24 hours a day, every day of the year. It is free, driverless and landside, which means anyone can use it: no boarding pass, no ticket, no barrier.

The practical planning number is not the ride but the ends: with the walk to the boarding point at one terminal, a short wait, and the walk onwards at the other, a realistic door-to-door budget is 10 to 15 minutes. That number decides whether a wrong-terminal mistake matters and how early a rail traveller needs to be moving; the sections below break it down.

At the South Terminal, the shuttle boards off the main concourse on the check-in level, at the railway station end of the building: from the platforms at Gatwick Airport station, come up to the concourse, cross into the terminal and the shuttle signs are straight ahead. From South's check-in zones, walk towards the station end and follow the overhead signs; it is a few minutes on foot from anywhere in the hall.

At the North Terminal, the shuttle lands one level below the main check-in hall, on the same floor as the self-service kiosks and the left-luggage desk. Escalators and lifts connect it directly up to check-in and down to arrivals, so you are one vertical move from wherever you need to be. In both directions the route is signed continuously; there is exactly one line and two stops, so you cannot board the wrong way beyond riding a loop.

South to North, starting at the railway station: allow about ten minutes from stepping off the train to standing in the North Terminal check-in hall, made up of the platform-to-concourse climb, the walk to the shuttle, a wait of up to five minutes, the ride, and the escalator up at the far end. North to South is the mirror image. Overnight, add the slacker ten-minute frequency to the budget.

When the hop actually threatens a deadline is the last hour before a flight: if bag drop closes in 40 minutes and you are at the wrong terminal with hold luggage, go now and sort everything else after. With hand baggage and a boarding pass on your phone, the crossing is a footnote. If you are not yet sure which side you need, the terminal lookup answers it in one tap; getting it right before you travel beats any recovery plan.

The shuttle is landside, and that shapes every cross-terminal connection: there is no airside link between the terminals. Changing terminals between flights means leaving the airside area, clearing border control where your route requires it, riding the shuttle, and going through security again at the second terminal, with bags collected and re-checked unless your airline has through-checked them.

Gatwick's own guidance is to allow at least 90 min between flights when changing terminals, against 60 min for a same-terminal connection, and airlines are free to demand more. Those are minimums for things going right, not comfortable targets. The full walkthrough of bags, border control and the self-connect gamble is on the connecting flights guide.

The route is step-free from end to end: lifts cover every level change at both terminals, boarding is level from platform into cabin, and luggage trolleys roll on and off freely, so a loaded trolley can travel from the South Terminal concourse to the North Terminal check-in hall without being unpacked. Cabins are mostly open standing space, sized for luggage, wheelchairs and pushchairs.

If you need help for the crossing or any other part of the journey, Gatwick's assistance service covers the shuttle as part of the kerb-to-gate support, booked through your airline at least 48 hours ahead; special assistance at Gatwick explains how the booking works and where the help points are.

You can cross between the terminals at ground level: Gatwick publishes a signed walking route between North and South, alongside a public footpath and National Cycle Network route 21, which threads past the airport. No official walking time or distance is published, and the route loops around the perimeter roads rather than tracking the shuttle's straight 1.2km line, so treat it as a curiosity or a staff commute rather than a passenger transfer. With bags, a pushchair or a deadline, the shuttle wins every time. For how the two buildings and the station fit together in the first place, start with the terminals overview.

Gatwick has run automated people movers for longer than anywhere else in Britain. The first, opened on 26 April 1983, linked the South Terminal to its satellite pier and was the UK's first automated people-mover system; walkways later replaced it. The current inter-terminal line opened in 1987 as part of the North Terminal project, and its original cars ran 2.5 million miles before retiring in September 2009. A £45 million rebuild followed, and the line reopened on 1 July 2010 with the six driverless cars it runs today.