Monthly ticket £250+ more than the cost of five returns per week ?!

I thought season tickets were basically the same as 3 returns per week? Or is that just London Midland?

Even ignoring the cost, the time you’d be wasting stuck in a car stressed out in rush hour, what sort of life is that?

I liked it. Driving was when I relaxed after the stress of the day.

My personal limit is 30mins by car or 45mins on the bike. Currently have 7mins in the car or 11mins on the bike which is perfect as I can now go home for lunch every day. We (as a society) spend enough time working as it is, why increase that by another 40% commuting?

I don’t mind the drive right now to be honest but I miss the rush hour most of the time. But I think it’s clear that driving this new commute is a bit of a non starter, gonna have more of a look at trains and the associated costs!

When I rode to work it was always an hour each way, five days a week.

Then I moved too far away and while the distance only increased by 50% the commute time in a car on a motorway (M6) was never less than the riding time.

Now, I work in London three days a week, in a North West one day and at home one day. Total commute time is now 10-12 hours a week, with two journeys accounting for around 7 hours.

The reality of the UK is that it’s not unusual to find yourself with an industry/skillset/experience level that means the South East becomes the main option.

I did 100 mile each way for around 8 months, it pretty much killed me, almost literally one night. On a train maybe, as you can do something else. In a car you are screwed, it’s just a waste of time.

Spending 3 hours a day in a car is nearly two working days – just on driving, I would only do it if I had to

Look into staying away if the job or money is that good.

gonna have more of a look at trains and the associated costs!

Having to commute by train would drive me nuts. Nope. Nope. Nope.

I used to commute 90 miles each way into london in the car – mainly because it was faster door to door than the massively unreliable, expensive and cramped trains. Its misery, regardless of what anyone says. I wouldn’t get home until 8’ish at night, it destroyed my car and it also destroyed my back from all the sitting in one position for upwards of 2.5 hrs each way, each day.

You spend your weekends recovering from the whole ordeal, only to start again come monday. In my opinion trains are no better – until recently I was commuting into London by train which was 1.5 hrs door to door each way. The trains are really expensive, ALWAYS late (took me four hours the other night due to a lack of train drivers (!)) and you pick up every single cold, cough and illness going. They harbour disease. You also become massively grumpy, the crunch for me was someone eating a bag of crisps near me as I sat plotting how to push them under the train when they got off at Cannon St.

I’ve changed my commute now, driving 25 miles then cycling the 16 into Londres. I’m knackered (using the Fixed which is a bit over geared) but I’m home about the same time and saving myself £30 a day.

Seriously – don’t do it. I’d rather be unemployed than have to face that sort of drive ever again

Having to commute by train would drive me nuts. Nope. Nope. Nope.

I remember looking at a sign in a station proudly announcing that only 10% of services were significantly delayed and thinking, yup, that’s about right, at least one of my journeys every week is a disaster…

(Wasn’t a problem in London when I was single because I’d just head to a pub and drink. 🙂 )

Having to commute by train would drive me nuts. Nope. Nope. Nope.

Having done an hour each way by car and by train, I’d take train over car every time. Although now I just have a 12min bike ride…

Since 2006, I’ve been able to commute by bike for at least 3 days of the week. I’ve had to travel nationally since 2012, but a typical maximum of 2 days per week – and balanced off with 1-2 days per week at home.

Given that cycling to work is so important to my base fitness and how well WFH works for the family, there’s no way I’d now commute somewhere by car or train 5 days per week… let alone 75 miles every day!

i did a cycle to the train – train – walk at the other end …..

too many times i found my self stuck in aberdeen due to missing trains/canceled/missed/broken down trains.

i had to travel that way for just over a year while my mrs taught at the local school . at least once a week the train was significantly late – twice a month the train i was waiting on wouldnt show(more so in winter) and there were at least 2 occasions where all trains were canceled with no replacement bus service expected any time soon….. and i had to then call the mrs to come get me – and then go collect my bike….

Now – that wouldnt be so bad except that i only worked in the uk for half the year…and we wonder why people push back on it…

I thought season tickets were basically the same as 3 returns per week? Or is that just London Midland?

Nope, varies by route/operator. That Basingstoke/Woking one is really really odd. Even if you travelled every single day (as opposed to weekdays) if the month had 30 days it wouldn’t be worthwhile!

Mine is less than 2.5 days a week to be “worthwhile”: £41 a day, £392 a month. Like I say, it’s a bit shit, but I earn more than I would locally. Also means I never use my car, IMO most people vastly underestimate the cost of using a car by only looking at fuel expenses.

I do 10-11 miles ATM. 20 might be OK, 15 I could cope with particularly if it avoided going g into the city centre. Even on the bike it slows me down a fair bit with lights and stationary traffic.

I wouldn’t really consider anywhere too far to cycle, at least not long term.

Doesn’t that basically mean never changing your place of work? The options within 10 miles of one’s house, without going into a city, must be incredibly limited?

75 miles is too far.

I’m doing a long commute at the moment (waiting for house purchase to go through), should be 1hr40 door to door, but about once a week or so trains or late, or too full to get on, delaying things further. On Wednesday it was almost 3 hours.

The longer the commute, the more of a pain the unreliability is.

I could drive, but it would be 2 hours minimum of sitting in traffic and the train delays would simply be replaced by traffic delays when someone inevitably has an accident and the roads get gridlocked.

Doesn’t that basically mean never changing your place of work? The options within 10 miles of one’s house, without going into a city, must be incredibly limited?

I work in academia, and there are a lot of people trying to work from home as much as possible or coming from a different city Mon-Weds and staying over, stuff like that.
I guess this is because even in a good-size city* there are only likely to be a couple of employers, and if you have a partner or family or own a house and moving is difficult then boom, you can find yourself doing a big commute if you fancy or need a change.

*That isn’t London, and even then it’s a pretty small pool.

Where are you coming from? That’s my vague neck of the woods, and the traffic round there is horrendous at rush hour.

My worse commute was about 8 months doing London to Cambridge, it was about 65 miles each way, took me about an hour, maybe slightly more. I hated it to be honest, it was a boring drive up the M11

Now I do 45 minutes from home to Central London. Same time by bike or tube

Having to commute by train would drive me nuts.

I like it, as long as its not too busy.

10% of services delayed, but by how much? And how often do you get stuck on the motorway due to unusual congestion?

In my experience I’m delayed about as often on trains as I am in the car.

My worse commute was about 8 months doing London to Cambridge, it was about 65 miles each way, took me about an hour, maybe slightly more. I hated it to be honest, it was a boring drive up the M11

How come you didn’t go by train? Would have been against the flow, so loads of space…

10% of services delayed, but by how much?

It’s been a long time since I did it but I seem to remember that a train didn’t make the ‘delayed’ stats until it was properly late. Not just a handful of minutes. So, plenty of trains I used were late but only 10% were disastrously late. Or something like that?

I used to commute 55 miles each way for 2 years (4 times a week) but was on quick roads and only took me an hour each way.

Anything above that would have been hard.

Its fine on a good day but when traffic or accidents effect you things turn ugly (and risk is increase due to large distance).

@footflaps – I live in North London, so would have to get myself into London for a really quick train, or take a local line in the direction of Cambridge but change at least once and it would be more of a stopper. Also the office wasn’t near the station, it was a good 20 minute walk

I was technically on secondment so all my mileage was paid. Just a bit of a boring drive, and a waste of time. I was young then and didn’t have kids etc, would be a waste now

A 1 hour commute is my rough limit now

I do 25 miles on the M1 in that area (MK to Luton) each way each day. Often takes close to an hour. Your 75 miles in an hour and a half is WILDLY optimistic. Take the train, at least you can use the time productively.

One of our staff does an 1.5 hr commute each way. Everyone thinks he is bonkers. BUT:

– he leaves early and works on the train, so he has already done over an hour of admin before he arrives.
– everyone knows he has a huge commute so nobody expects him to hang on at the end of the day.
– he does more work on the way home.
– he misses out on “after work drinks” and social stuff – but I think that suits his personality!

He may be no worse off than someone working 8-6 in the office and driving 1/2 an hour each way which people would think relatively normal. He is at a level where those sort of hours would not be abnormal.

– his annual season ticket is about £4k though; but in true cost it would cost him that to drive and park anyway.

I wouldn’t do it (and he could move) but if the job is right it might not be as bad as you think. That said if I interviewed anyone who said it was there plan I would be thinking – they won’t stay too long!

Think about the planet

If I can’t cycle to work in under an hour then it’s a deal breaker.

One of our staff does an 1.5 hr commute each way. Everyone thinks he is bonkers.

Not in London then? I wish I was given concessions for a long commute!

+1 for Neilsonwheels. Did a 50 mile each way M25 commute for a year and a half and 35 miles on A roads for the 2 years before that, took anywhere from an hour to 2 hours on a bad day. Completely FAT.

Quite a few studies have found that commuting time is one of the only factors that has a long term effect on happiness. More money makes you happier briefly, but you soon return to a similar level of satisfaction as before. Same if your income drops. But if you increase your commute it is likely to have a permanent effect on life satisfaction.

I wouldn’t go above what I could cycle, so 15-20km max, because of the above, and because I don’t think it’s responsible to drive everywhere all the time.

Sleep in the office? My commute involves three flights and 4,500 miles. Not so bad when you work 45 days straight, spend some time with family afterwards and have £423,000 debt to motivate you to keep doing it!