[Closed] 20 miles of A roads too far for driving commute?

Southampton to Swindon on B road C roads and unclassifieds in a Honda Intregra type R - Bliss

or do you mean on a bike?

Well i might do bike (used to ride the old work commute too but it ddnt go through scottish mountains!) but its more likely to be the old diesel estate. 'd use the celica but at 18 to the gallon i think that may have to remain the weekend toy!

20 miles isn't a hassle. go for it..

depends on where to where really. I'd say it's more about time. 20 miles through a city centre at rush hour will take most of the day. If you're going against the general flow of traffic or out in the country, it will only be about 30 minutes. I spend that long on the bus each way!

yeah, as mentioned depends whether those roads are through towns or through countryside... if it's through more rural areas, I'd love that as a commute (if I was driving to work!). I used to drive 13miles in urbanish areas - cutting across main artery routes as that's where i had to commute from-to. It took 45 mins at least most of the time and was one of the most frustrating drives ever. Was often quicker to ride...

18 miles each way on semi rural A and B roads takes me 45 mins to an hour, it's mainly the queues at the traffic lights that hold me up.

I hate it, especially in winter.

i have never lived within an hours drive of where I work. One of my cars does about 7.8mpg around town and the Integra Typre R is only slightly more economical when really pushing on. 20 miles is nothing

coffeeking won't use LBS's but needs STW to advise him on where to live.

I guess that is the duality of man.

well i went from doing 45 min each way for 5 years to 10 mins in the car or twenty by bike. i did a couple of years of that in a v8 open-topped sports car and i know which i prefer.

If it's 20 miles from the city and over some hills (the Campsies?) I'd reckon it's probably quite a nice wee place, possibly with some good local biking. So worth it!

I do 30 miles each way every day. If if gives you a better lifestyle go for it.

coffeeking won't use LBS's but needs STW to advise him on where to live.

I guess that is the duality of man.

Just canvassing opinion from people who've a more wide-ranging commute experience. Really has nothing to do with bikes or LBS use, nor technical knowledge of any sort. I mean I'm smart enough to know where my experience/knowledge ends and it's better to get thoughts from others. Not exactly sure what your point is, but I'm sure you feel happy after your 2ps worth!

Cheers for the thoughts everyone, certainly reminds me of other perspectives of the commute. Maybe it is time to bring the beast back to life and enjoy being stuck in traffic again!

I used to commute 52 miles each way and it was soul-destroying.....I was doing 520 miles/week and it took anywhere between an hour (if I left work very late) to my longest of 3.5hrs.
Then my job moved 20 miles up the road so it went to 30 miles each way and missed out most of the gridlocked A14. Much better.

I wouldn't have thought 18 miles each way would be a problem, unless as already said the roads are dog-slow.

It's not distance, but how long it takes that is important. I'm about to start a 15 mile bike commute - to drive it would take well over the hour it takes to bike because the traffic is a bit busy. Personally I think you'd be crazy if it's going to take that sort of time.

When I worked with people who commuted silly distances by car, they all hated their commutes, but had done it so that they could live in a slightly bigger house (which they never spent any time in), or near a better school (to send their kids who they never saw) etc. That was in Nottingham and London, both had terrible traffic. Personally I'd rather live in a slightly less nice area than waste loads of time driving cars. If you enjoy driving cars, and the traffic isn't too bad it might be a different calculation - same as I live away from work cos I enjoy riding bikes.

Joe

I'd agree on the time element. I'd say a reasonable commute shouldn't be more than an hour. I travel about by motorbike and currently considering a commute of 50 miles verses my current 17. however the new commute is on motorways and the old commute is through central London, so the only real difference is fuel cost and some tyres.

solamanda - don't forget the extra 18000 miles/pa worth of depreciation and servicing costs.

i also agree, its all about time not distance. i used to drive 13miles around the oxford bypass and it would take anywhere between 20mins and 1 hour due to traffic. this was then increased again in bad weather, during roadworks or because of accidents. i could actually cycle it in 45 minutes so some days this was the quickest way!

i went from one extreme to another and now i live next to the office, and it saves me so much time. i used to leave for work around 8 and get back around 6.30 but now its more like 8.55 to 5.35. if you add it up, thats alot of time spent sitting in traffic that i can now spend doing my own thing.

Smee, Fortunately for my decision the motorbike in question has done most of it's depreciation and it's not worth selling. It's going to cost me about £10 more a day in travel.

For about 6 months I drove 52 miles each way along A roads to work. It was surprisingly not that bad. Lovely countryside, good driving roads, reasonable car - not so bad at all. Having said that I was staying with my parents so they did all the required housework etc, and all I had to do was veg out in the evenings. And I wasn't training then either. The real problem there tho was the way people drove. No traffic jams, but dozens of scumbag reps in flashy cars driving like utter dicks. And about one major accident a week too. The police took to leaving the smashed up burned out cars by the roadside for a while to remind everyone. It worked too, people were much calmer for a while after the accidents.

I wouldn't do it now though, I have more of a life. But if I were faced with 20 miles on open country roads , I'd do it without too much worry.

Living right next to work is brilliant tho 🙂

Smee, Fortunately for my decision the motorbike in question has done most of it's depreciation and it's not worth selling. It's going to cost me about £10 more a day in travel.

Which means your salary needs to increase by aapprox £5,0000 just to break even....

Hmm living right near work isnt an option for me, I'm really not a city kinda guy and although I like a good night out and that would become massively difficult in this location, I think I prefer having a drive, a garage, a garden to have a BBQ in and not to walk out and feel like there's a city around me. The place in question is Fintry, I'd be commuting to Glasgows west end each morning (much like half of fintrys population i think!).

Think I'll have to tally up the extra fuel costs and see how much longer it takes to drive in reality. It only takes me 20-25 mins currently and thats the major bulk of the commuting area, outside where I am now becomes vastly more sparsely populated.

ah this is a bit different as my work is strangly based in a village so my house does have a garage, a patio for bbqs and even a pond! its only 5 miles to the city so going out isnt really a problem either. i worked out that i was spending £30 a week on fuel and even though i have 182bhp under my right foot, i rarely got to 50mph so couldnt even enjoy my drive in.

[i](much like half of fintrys population i think!).[/i]

Car share with a neighbour. Problem solved. Sort of.

Sounds Ok Coffeeking go for it- I know the area well as I'm from Stirling. Just think of the feeling you'll get leaving work on a nice summers evening and pointing the car towards the Campsies.

My commute is 21 miles on lanes and A and B-roads over the North Wessex Downs to the other side of Wantage which takes about 30-35 mins with traffic only an issue for the last third from Wantage onwards. Beats the hell out of living in the Thames Valley which would be the alternative.

25 miles across dartmoor every morning is great fun. takes me about 45 mins.

even if the roads are busy I just sit back and enjoy the views.

As others have said time is really the key. Even a 45min each way drive is effectively a whole work day of time every week wasted sitting in a car.

Could you try the drive at commuting time and see how long it takes?

I decided wasting a whole day of work time commuting was a better option than riding for ten minutes each way and wasting a whole lifetime in the civil service...

I'll have to try driving it. While I can get stuck in traffic at my current spot and end up taking 45 mins to do 8-9 miles, if I dont set off at rush hour it takes sod all time and I enjoy the blasting through the 60 limits.

Will have to get up VERY early one day this week and try it!

Takes me about 25mins on a 18 mile commute on A, B and minor roads.

If I was having to travel the other way at that time of the morning though it would be nearer 50 mins.

You need to find out how busy it gets on the route both ways at what time you'll be doing it.

I'm fortunate in working flexi-hours to some degree - I can often head in very early and go home very early, the problem is my body clock tends to work the other way!

38 miles each way a day on mixed A roads. About 1 hr. Its OK.

Conks

I wish I was only 20 miles from work 😉

seriously though, my commute is 28 miles of town A roads & motorways. Getting to the motorway in the morning (and back from it in the evening) is over 50% of the travelling time, but only about 30% of the distance. It's the shortest commute I've had since 1997.

By bike it's 23 miles with 3 or 4 biggish hills. Best time is 2 hours exactly - only half an hour more than the worst time by car. It's half term at the moment so the car commute is 50mins.

When the morning/evening daylight comes back, I'll be cycling again, once a week at first...

4.5 miles on a flat cycle track - its tough.

Thinking about making it longer just for fun really.

27 miles each way by car for me. Takes 30 mins at weekends when I can use motorways which is fine but up to 90 mins each way on weekdays which isn't really much fun.

Riding is just under 30 miles each way, takes anywhere between 1hr20 and 2hrs depending on the bike I use/conditions. This is much more fun than driving (even in the depths of winter) and there are options to make it longer with some offroad thrown into the mix 🙂

got to beat my old 30 miles most of which were on M62 or M60 1-1.5 hrs normally 🙁

30 miles in an hour on the M62 is quite good going really.

I use it between J27 & J29 eastbound in the morning - usually quite good - and westbound in the evening - usually not very good at all (and that goes for the morning too).

But it's the bit between home & J27 & back home again that's the real problem. It's called "Bradford" 🙁

26 miles each way across the Peak district - Dark and white, takes about 45 minutes by car and anything from 1hr10 to 2hrs by bike depending on weather, fitness, and amount of cake. Used to be 11 miles each way into sheffield - bike was faster most days and much more fun! costs me 25 quid a week in fuel so bike usually wins - even on the grimmest days. . . and nothing beats that first coffee sat at your desk while all the other drivers come in cursing their journey in!

Think I'll get up early and drive it tomorrow at rush hour, see what it's like in the real world. I could try riding it but I'm not fit enough for the 700m climb right out of the box, first thing in the morning 🙂