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I do 40 miles each way, M5, M42, M40 and would not want to do any more than that. It takes just under 1 hour and anything more than that would drive me insane (no pun intended).
Out of interest (stalker alert), Renton, do you drive a small green car, Peugeot perhaps, with an Orange sticker on the back window? If so, I think I do the same journey as you. I had often wondered if the driver was on STW.
Yep- I start people watching other cars on the motorway to see what they are doing. Playing with passengers hair (generally annoying people) and shifting around in my seat. On trains though you have the magic seat next/across from you...what 'if' a lovely lass sits there.
Did a 120 mile round trip each day for a about 6 months (inc. Severn Bridge), not cheap and sooo boring. Needed to be in work for 8am to and was woken up on more than one occasion by wheels on the rumble strip (not good). It's also crap if you oversleep and then still have 1 hour or so commute to worry about.
Mind you an old boss had a 140 mile commute (Reading-Bristol) he did for a few years and didn't seem to mind it, only took him about 45 minutes though and I don't think he got a speeding ticket in all that time.
I would ask you to think very carefully about this.
I took a job with a 60 mile commute and a lot of work miles four years ago. I stayed three and a half years.
It crippled me, and I mean crippled me, financially. One month I remember totting up that transport had cost me alomst 600 quid and most months it was 500. (car loan, insurance, tax and diesel).
The impact that had on my finances will take years to recover from.
I personally wouldn't do it. My commute at the moment is 1hr by bike (17.5 miles each way), a fraction under that if I do walk/train/walk and can be anything from 40mins to 2hrs if I drive.
But at least I can vary it and I have the option of working from home every once in a while. I wouldn't do a longer commute than that.
Doing the same long journey using the same method every day would be SO dull especially if it was "wasted" time in a car. At least on a train you can sleep/read the papers/work etc, car time is totally dead time other than listening to the radio.
Not wishing to me morbid, but the chances of being involved in an accident...wouldn't they increase the more time you spend on the road...?
I had some work colleagues years ago who commuted 220 miles a day from London to Lichfield. In two years they had two accidents, neither was their fault, & it was their car rolling after being shunted by a truck that led to them handing their notice in.
I've resisted moving jobs for too long now, because I enjoy taking the kids to nursery / school, with the bike trailer. I could earn a good few £k more but what price the 2-3hrs a day I don't have to spend in a car ?
I'll end up being forced into it one day but for now I'm happy. 🙂
You people are strange 😆 My commute is 32 miles each way (50minutes to 1 hours) and I like it. I hate trains with a passion, infact i hate public transport. I would find a train/bus stressfull.
I enjoy driving, so i guess that helps. Plus for me to public transport to work would take 1:30hr and cost around £15 a day. Fuel wise now £40 will last me a week.
I've been doing 160 miles a day between Dubai and Abu Dhabi, which is a bit wearing. Roads generally pretty good, and the journey can be done in an hour door to door.
What is a bit of a concern is the frequency of seeing the aftermath of horrific looking crashes - big SUV's totally unrecognisable. My Golf would certainly come of considerably worse I'm sure.
Economics are totally different here though as a full tank of petrol is about £12.
Glad to be moving to Italy next month where I'll be much closer to work.
Cheers, Rich
All the long commuters- do you get a car allowance/car and/or fuel card?
Someone offered me say a diesel Jag as a company car I think I could manage 50miles each way everyday. If it was in a Golf-box though. **** that!
alcopop - the M8 [i]car park[/i] from Mearns is a bit quicker that the East Kilbride/Raith/ M73 one at commuting times. I stay in EK and often have to drive to Edinburgh. I need to leave home at 7 to be in the office there at 9..........
I've just spent 3 days training in East Kilbride, travelling south on the M77 from Glasgow each morning. Watching the miles of crawling traffic edging northbound from the GSO to the Kingston Bridge was depressing. These people will mostly have been going to Glasgow. The thought of enduring that, particularly in winter, then continuing to W Lothian on a daily basis seems like madness. Surely you could use the GSO and EK Express Way to Raith or take the A71 from Kilmarnock to the M74 at Larkhall? Before you decide, try a dummy run along each of these options during rush hour, your current job may not seem quite so bad.
All the long commuters- do you get a car allowance/car and/or fuel card?
Yes. It is expensive.
Some friends of a friend here (no really, they do exist) work 4 days a week but commute DAILY from Barcelona to London ❗
[i]take the A71 from Kilmarnock[/i]
I'd rather endure the horrors of queuing on the m77 or trawl through the million roundabouts of Stewartfield that drive the a71 in winter.
From my experience iainc I always found the gso quicker than going over the kingston bridge.
Hi,
I worked for 4 months on a contract in glasgow a couple of years ago and stayed there during the week. So driving monday morning (v v bad) and fri night (v bad unless later on.) The traffic on the M8 is hellish during the week at peak times. It must take for ever to get across the kingston bridge. Just go and try it one morning!! Before you decide.
Distance driving is mostly about how busy it is and how good the roads are. I used to commute from Amersham to Staines (junction 13 I think m25.) If I left at 6am it took me 25-30mins. Approx 25miles. If I left after 6.15am it took 1 hr 15-25mins. And is that horrible 35mph to standstill traffic which is very tiring & fustrating. Fri night forget it.
For two years I did a 110 mile round trip daily driving on quiet motorways in Scotland. Which took 50mins one way. It was an easy drive with few holdups but it really drains you after a while doing it every day. Especially when it is dark or wet. It ruins your car and costs a lot in fuel.
I have now moved house and although I still commute 100 odd miles daily it is now 5 mile on bike to train station, mostly on tracks. Or drive and 5 min walk. 45 mins on train + less than 10 min walk to office.
Although the wasted time is annoying I now read a book a week on the train and feel normal when I get to work and home.
downshep - shoulda said you were along the road and come in for a cuppa 😆
alcopop - as i said before, Raith at that time of day is just about as bad as the M77/M8 gary - I agree, it's the lesser of 2 evils though !
Hi,
I forgot to say in the 2 years motorway commute I must have seen 20 cars on their roofs in fields on straight bits of roads. And that's not the bad ones!!
Although the wasted time is annoying I now read a book a week on the train and feel normal when I get to work and home.
Interesting. I find the train far more stressful. I'd rather have a longer car journey than a shorter train journey.
I use a motorbike rather than endure the train if I have to spend more than a few days in London (where a car isn't practical). The bike is quicker (2 hours door-to-door, compared with 3 on the train), but the main thing is you're not at the mercy of the train service in all its crapness.
I forgot to say in the 2 years motorway commute I must have seen 20 cars on their roofs in fields on straight bits of roads. And that's not the bad ones!!
On my short curry commute over Saddleworth/M62 in the rain I ALWAYS see cars on every trip involved in such mishaps. Due to idiots racing on 4 lanes into 3. Last week there was a Jag estate parked in the middle of the field next to the famous M62 farmhouse. Rear looked crumpled - gawd knows how he/she got it down there without major carnage.
I must have done a couple of hundred thousand miles on the M4 and can't remember seeing a single car crash.
I remember the motorway being closed once, a sheep in the the middle lane (and watching an idiot in my rear view mirror stop - that probably didn't end well), and a plane crash. Which was odd. But no car crashes.
5thElefant you may well be right too.
The train I get is a long haul train from Glasgow to Aberdeen and is rairly late. I get off and opn mid way. You always get a seat. Only busy on a Fri night.
Granted commuting into London or across London is a different matter all together. Hot and very crowded, often late or delayed from what I remember.
Iain
Probably only about 25 miles, but about 75 mins each way on the train (in theory). A lot less than my previous 2 and a half hours each way (wooo! that was about 35 miles!).
Not sure how some on here manage to find trains that are rarely late....mine are always all over the place and TfL don't give a ****.
All the long commuters- do you get a car allowance/car and/or fuel card?
Oh yes. My contract is based from home (so whenever I leave my front door, the company pays to get me wherever I need to go), the car allowance covers something reasonable, the rate per mile is about double what the diesel costs, leaving a chunk over for insurance and maintenance. Effectively a free car.
I don't mind it so much, podcasts, audiobooks and R4 keep me sane, it's not every day, and when the weather's nice and I don't need to carry anything I ride my motorbike in instead.
I've known people do 120 miles a day (30k miles a year, before personal miles) out of their own pockets. That's about £3000 just in fuel, and even on a cheap-to-run car you can spend that again. And of course that's out of your taxed income so really you'd need at least 10k more on your salary for it to be anything like worthwhile. And you don't get those four hours a day sat in the car back.
I do a round trip of 220miles most days Hull Manchester Hull via our office (anywhere between 3 and 5hrs most days, better this week half -term however it to 8hrs to get their a few months back), however not tomorrow I'm off to London and back via our Southern office so should notch up about 460 by the end of the day.
My cars 18months old and has 87000 miles on the clock.
🙄
i f3ckin$ hate it.
i used to have a [b]huge[/b] commute to rotherham from...... sheffield. It took me 50 minutes and i hated it, despite the vast amount of music i have and the chances to race at the lights. If you don't feel that you can commute and have a decent life afterwork; move house or decline the job graciously
18months old and has 87000
What is it out of interest and what (apart from discs' tyres) has gone wrong? Thats ALOT of mileage!
I also like 'long' road trips occassionally ef'. I drove from South Germany, through Netherlands/holland, France- up over the Channel, up through England to Huddersfield then onto Manchester. I actually felt fresh/fine at the end although my car at the time had bags of torque for the job 😀
I would need a VERY good reason to go that far. It would effectively be another 2 working days of time every week.
[i]I also used to do business with a girl in Japan who commuted something like 300 miles each way on the train every day.[/i]
Isn't this about one hour each way - sounds reasonable to me 🙄
I do 110miles a day. No fun at all. I now have trapped nerves in both my arms from all the driving, and I've only been doing it for 6 months so far, and I'm lift sharing! Have ended up using B roads most of the way to avoid the A14, which is so clogged up as to be useless... Takes about 1.5 hours each way.
We're trying to move closer, but just can't sell our house in this fekked up market 🙁 I used to cycle the 3 miles to my old job, but redundancy struck. Now I'm desperate to move within about 10 miles so I can get cycling again, and get fit again...
Long commutes are rubbish!
I used to drive from Woking to east grinstead every day 80mile each day m25 used to be ok, but getting out of Woking and from the m25 to eg (a22) was the real pain - overall about an hour each way for 2 years . In the end I move offices with the same company to central london. Now Brompton to station, train to waterloo, the Brompton to work still takes 50-60mins, but now I gwtti read more books on the train and more biking as well.
Not every day but far too frequently: Drive Southampton to Gatwick, fly SleazyJet to Basel, Train to Berne, Tram from train station to near office, 20 minute walk to office, bus back to the hotel. Every other bloody Monday.
I do nr Inners to Glasgow 5 days a week. go via edinburgh, sometimes get the train. can be anything fro 1hr30 mins to 2hrs30mins. Depends how many people decide to fall off the Edinburgh Bypass.
My opinion anything over an hour a day had better be for a damn good reason and not too often or permanent.
Its such a big chunk of your life otherwise and would annoy me intensely. wasting all that time. Being able to cycle to work is important to me on many levels
WCA next time you near Basel, think of my friends lovely face (it'll help)
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goan - is it not quicker to go cross country though Carluke and up M74 from Larkhall and in London Road ?
Hora its a Passat TDI estate - its had from new 4 front tyres and 2 rear (the rears weren't worn just high mileage) no brakes yet pads or discs, one cam belt and a service every 22000 ish thousand, 2 windscreens and one rear. window. No faults, not so much as a rattle and its pretty heavily loaded.
Empty it and I can fit a bike in laid flat without removing the wheels.
at 60 easy 60+mpg, at 90 about 42 ish when serviced air con on all the time.
Great car.
Very comfortable.