[Closed] Commuting by car in SW London

Don't do it. Seriously. You'll be a ball of stress.

My personal choice for commuting in London would be

Bike
Overland
Tube
Bus.

I'd factor my location based on which of those I was most likey to be commuting by,

[i]My personal choice for commuting in London would be

Bike
Overland
Tube
Bus.

[/i]

Motorbike or scooter if all urban - and pretty easy to park.

Have you Parking at the hospital?

Its pretty crap around those junction for getting off/on the M25.

If you're driving in London you want to be at your destination by 07:30 latest during the week IME. Driving home will always be rubbish until about 19:30-20:00.

7am? Maybe. 8am forget it.
And as for shift work the traffic in tooting on Sunday afternoons is worse than rush hour, all the local family's visit their rello's and drive, its a mare.

I did 10 miles into london by bike no probs

if you can move a bit nearer in its your best bet and will save you thousands of pounds a year vs car or public transport

also is the hospital within c-charge?either way its driving in london is just grim

For goodness sake dont!

I spent a month driving to and around around central/south london area at rush hour. I drive a lot for work but it it was unbelievable. Over an hour to do 2miles from hotel to customer at 7am some days.

I worked in central london for a couple of years and echo the priority list posted above.

I used to live near there. It's the worst traffic I've ever encountered anywhere, don't do it! It's even worse when Thorpe park opens.

The Chertsey/Egham/Staines/Heathrow stretch of the M25 is the busiest bit of motorway in the UK IIRC.
There's good reasons why so many people in London take the Tube or ride!

tooting to St Peters? Well provided you can get out to New Malden to the A3 before the Wimbledon traffic is bad it's a quick skoot down the A3 (usually not to problematic) and then off the A3 via Weybridge to Ottershaw.

Driving down the A3 I'd be looking to arrive at St Peters for 7am. Going home 5-6pm. Problematic. Even at 7am the M25 J10-12 is a car park and you could get seriously stuck.

I'd cycle.

Used to live in Putney and commute straight down the A3 then via Weybridge to Addlestone to arrive by 8:30. Was generally fine, although it was easy to tell school term from holidays. Buses were far too downmarket for Tarquin and Tabitha (in the Weybridge area).

Used to go by train before that, Wimbledon-Weybridge, then change 1 stop to Addlestone (Chertsey is the next stop I think). That was fine too, apart from the train being chokka with kids going to school in Walton on Thames, and Jimmy Knapp causing all those train strikes (not an issue now, but that's why I bought a car to do the commute above).

Somewhere like Putney, Kingston, possibly Wimbledon, New Malden etc., when commuting out of town, is barely London tbh.

Aside from last post then seems clear the car should be avoided

Don't forget south London is pretty flat, a 10 mile bike ride isn't really that much of a distance. Would you have access to showers at the hospital?

I'd avoid it.
Your best bet will be to go by bike or get a scooter/motorbike for commuting.

As said above, the M25 round there is hellish from about 7-10 every morning and then 16-19 every night. If there's any problems with the M25, the surrounding roads end up jammed up and you can't get anywhere fast!

[i]Aside from last post then seems clear the car should be avoided [/i]

Yes, but they weren't getting across the M25 to the hospital.

If it was me I would look to live around Richmond area - good train links or a decent cycle ride out to Chertsey as well as good links into London. You could take the A316 out to Chertsey from Richmond but you will need to be on the road early.

Agree with being there by 7:30.
Forget about evenings though.
Surbiton-Weybridge-Woking line all on fast train into London depending on budget.

there's any problems with the M25, the surrounding roads end up jammed up

I remember it being worse, any problems with the M3, M4 OR the M25 and the whole area is gridlocked. When i first moved there it took 3 hours to drive from Swinley to Chertsey after getting stuck on the M3 (later learnt to use the backroads!).

Take a look at this around the time you would be commuting http://www.tomtom.com/livetraffic/

Commuting by bicycle round there is pretty good though, you might even be able to work in some Thames path and Richmond park routes which are very pleasant. I used to do 8 miles each way without showers no problem.

A3 out of town in the mornings is fine as long as you are past tolworth by 7.15 (dont know about the Tooting to Tolworth bit)
Strangely it was fine past there at 9am last week.

But if you are looking to get onto the M25 then the A3 M25 junction starts to clog up much past 7.00.

Bikes are allowed on trains heading out of town during rush hour

N

Used to live in SW London for about ten years. Been meaning to add a bit of advice , so here's my 2p.

Those commute priority lists above make perfect sense.
But if I was in your position, I'd look at living in Chertsey and walking to work.
You'll save a shed-load of money on rent.
You'll save a shed-load of money on commuting.
You won't be wasting two soul-destroying hours of your life everyday getting to and from work.
Working shifts combined with commuting is a killer. You won't have the energy or time to enjoy any of the benefits of "London Living". And to be honest, Tooting ain't much better than chertsey anyway. Just Twice the price 'cos people who need to live there to cut down their commute the other way into C London will pay that premium.
You don't need to do that.
And for the weekend/ days off/ big night out in C London - you'd have to get transport in and out anyway so it's just the difference between a 30 minute journey and a 50 min journey. It's better to do that once a week than every day.
Two other options along the same lines would be a little North of the hospital in Staines. Or a little south in somewhere like Weybridge. Either would be a gentle roll to work on the bike, or an easy bus ride if it's raining (which is a lot cheaper than all the other public transport). You may even walk it. But both towns would supply all you need for day-to-day, with a mainline station if you still think quick access into C London is crucial. Staines is a bit bigger/livelier and isn't anywhere near as bad as it's AliG rep. Nice riverside area - have a look before you discount it. Weybridge is fine too, bit better transport links with a fast mainlin train service, and would be better for easy access to the Hills if that's priority.

But personally, I'd still be looking at close to the Hospital first. Get down there and look on the staff notice boards for house share or the like, there'll be a close local community of like minded people from the hospital, all ready to join. Drinking buddies and riding buddies on your door step. If you go to far away, you'll cut yourself off from that.
You'll could probably end up in a house share with a load of student nurses.

Thanks all, bike or train looks like the way forward. I'll need to find out if secure bike place and showers