Has anyone got any real life experience of doing this?
Currently live in Surrey and cost of living here has been grinding for a while. Took the family down to the coast for the day and the wife seems to be warming to the idea. I work in camber well/denmArk hill and will shortly be doing my full bike licence. Thought that mixing train with motorbike might be a good way to do it especially in the bad weather.

Got 2 kids under 3 so moving before they start school might be sensible and my feeling is that it will be a nicer place for them to grow up.

Any ideas, comments, suggestions?

I guess you’re thinking West sussex maybe east sussex rather than Hampshire?

Few of my friends do Worthing to London. Key seems to be somewhere easyish to get to at the London end, either from Clapham or Victoria.

It’s going to be 2hrs each way minimum can you handle that? I couldn’t. Will they let you do a couple of days at home?

Also, check house prices down here, it isn’t as cheap as you might imagine.

Personally I’d aim for the North Downs area, fantastic riding and a much easier commute.

Leftfield suggestion – one of the villages within easy reach of Ifield/Three Bridges stations in Crawley? I used to live near Ifield station. Yes, Crawley isn’t great, but midway between the North and South Downs/coast made it a pretty good compromise.

Admitedly, I didn’t have kids at that point in time…..

Open to ideas but Sussex had been our first thought.

Haywards heath/Burgess Hill are a bit cheaper than places like Lewes but they don’t have their own brewery 😀

Thought that mixing train with motorbike might be a good way to do it especially in the bad weather.

It’s a long, long way on a dark night – on a motorbike…

You’ll find it too much IME, I did Aylesbury into central London (and the western outskirts) for +10 years – one hour or so was enough for me, and I was riding big new comfortable bikes (and have ridden bikes since I was 16 y/o), all the gear etc.

And they aren’t cheap. My last Triumph 1050 worked out at 40ppm all in, with 22ppm running costs. And that was bought as an ex-demo and sold at a good (to me) price.

If you aren’t careful all you’ll do is replace the living cost with commuting and living costs.

Hampshires too far unless you either live in Petersfield (A3/train to Waterloo) or Southampton (M3/train to Waterloo)
Both A3 and M3 madness pre 10am and bottleneck at either Eisher or Guilford. Coming backs no party either.
Just thought I’d add that in.

I live in Hove and commuted to London Bridge for 13 months. My office was just through Borough Market so very close to the station, I would not rely on trains and another public transport method to cross London as it adds masses of time. I also used to ride to a station further back up the line to get a seat (it was only a bit further from the house), as at Hove it was a proper bunfight and then over an hour of standing if you don’t get a seat. There were about 20 odd people that got the train back up the line to get a seat, and that was still increasing when I stopped. Also consider upgrades to London Bridge. Eventually it will get better but still a few years of misery left, and that affects loads of places coming in to London

It sounds a really bad idea.
Commuting is boring and the only way to jazz it up is to go fast.
I used to do your commute in reverse on a motorbike and believe me the red mist will descend.
Not a good combination when most motorists aren’t fully awake.

My maximum tolerance level for commuting is an hour each way. Any more than that, esp if public transport is involved, and I would shoot myself or somebody else who ticked me off.

Adding stress to gain a better lifestyle – the side effects may cancel out the benefits gained.

In my opinion train is the only way to stay sain and a substantial commute at both ends is too much i.e. living close to the station means an underground at the other end is acceptable but if you have any sort of journey to the station you have to be able to walk to work at the other end. Living in Petersfield there are loads of folk here that do it. There are plenty who live nearer the coast too – longer commute but a guaranteed seat! Choose your town with a station wisely – it has to be one where the fast train stops (the one which only stops 3 or 4 times into London rather than the one that stops at every hamlet in between).

Soton to Waterloo is 1hr15 – 20 depending on train, leaving every 15mins or so. Factor in time to get to station and time to use tube other side and it is 4hrs per day minimum. So when I head up tend to leave house at 6:30 and back for 8. About once a month something goes wrong and it takes much longer. So unless your job allows for working from home (you still be paying for the train though) you will be a zombie by Friday, and you will only see you family at the weekend.

I went through the whole dilemma about 4 months ago when I was offered frankly a silly amount of money to take a job in the city, in the end I turned it down as I didn’t think i and my family would cope with the strain. I wanted to see my son and keep fit.

There are jobs on the south coast, just expect a significant pay cut….

To counter, I do 90 mins each way on the train 2 or 3 days per week, doing a 2.5 hour bike ride the other 2 days. I actually find it fine, I can read, work or sleep on the train and the bike ride is good for my fitness. However, I would not want to do the same driving or on a motorbike. The joy of the train is that you can zone out, you can’t do that on the roads.

So, I would say do it, but only do it if you have a fast train link as an option close by. Brighton to central London is a very similar distance to what I do so it’s certainly doable.

Petersfield – about 1hr on the train in to Waterloo (always get a seat). Loads of riding from the doorstep (South Downs, QECP and surrounding, lots more to find just to the North) without needing to get in to the car, <30 mins to south coast beaches (witterings etc).
It is a pain sometimes, depends on working hours when you’re in London and the ability to do a day or so a week from home helps.

The cost of living anywhere that’s reasonably commutable to London will be barely any different to the cost of living in Surrey. I did the Brighton-London commute daily for 18 months and it’s a bloody nightmare. Now I have small children the last thing I’d be doing is increasing my time spent commuting.

Also, I live on the South Coast in West Sussex, it’s a pain in the ‘arris tbh. I’ve ended up here by accident but knowing what I know I definitely wouldn’t choose to be here.

You can’t go anywhere by car on a Friday in daylight, I’m not exaggerating, you learn to accept it, this is limiting. very limiting. Seriously, getting anywhere is a nightmare and its getting worse year on year, it’s pretty debilitating.

The beaches aren’t beaches, they’re sea defences. I grew up in East Anglia, miles and miles of sandy beaches, I don’t think I’ve set foot on the beach where I live more than once this year.

50% of your horizon is useless for riding bikes. 👿

If you want a coastal life, forget about London, move away from ‘commutable’ areas and downsize properly.

all IMHO etc etc

What are you looking for? Better lifestyle, cheaper rent? I know someone who lives in Broadstairs as he loves it there and accepts he has to commute a lot wherever he works – often London but could be anywhere in the UK really as does client-site projects. I do same work but choose the Surrey Hills, tempted to move out to somewhere more rural around the Chilterns though.

1st thing is the old chestnut: “there are no bargains in housing”, the ease of commuting to central london will be factored into the price of where you buy. You’ll be paying not far off Surrey prices for a good commute – ie walking distance from Brighton, Haywards Heath. Pay less for more ballache – additional journey, bike, car, parking, bike on train hassle.

And I don’t think mixing train and bike would end up working: Cheapest tickets per day are by annual season ticket, if you’ve got one of those, why would you take the bike except for an occasional journey for the fun of it? And if you’re taking the bike more of the time, you’re not likely to do the train unless you have to because the price of daily return is ridiculous.

I commute in from Haslemere. Good journey to London, close-ish to the station always get a seat, can take the bike on the train. We could get a lot more for our money somewhere else, but it’s the right compromise for us. Great riding from the door. 55 mins on the train (stops twice, comfy seats) for sleeping, reading, learning a foreign language (ahem. theoretically!).

I’ve thought about commuting by mo’bike and I may give it a go but I’ve ended up at the conclusion above. Do it every day and it would be very tiring. It’s not a journey that’s particularly appealing (A3 then 10 miles of traffic jams) Any half and half and you’ll end up paying more.

Go for it if you want to live there and you’re happy with the commute, but don’t think it’s the magic solution for a cheap place to live with an easy journey!

I’ll echo everything above. Anywhere with a “nice” (hey, it’s all relative) commute to London will be expensive to live. You are not the first person to think of this !

Motorbike / train combo doesn’t sound like it’ll work. Are you going to sit on the train in all your bike clobber ?? Bikes aren’t that cheap to run either. I used to have a short commute from one side of Reading to the other and used my 600 Bandit. It reliably did 50mpg but then so does my diesel hatchback which has a roof and a heater. The bike also got through tyres at quite a shocking rate, <5000 miles from a rear, and they seem to cost more than car tyres. They’re good for cutting through traffic though. Which is not the issue for your home-station journey, it’s the other end that you’d need it more.

As far as journey times go, up until February I had a 1-1.5 hour drive each way and coupled with a 9hr working day it meant I saw my daughter for about half an hour per day. And felt knackered. Everyone is different in terms of what they can cope with and you won’t know until you try it – just think about it really carefully. Maybe do an experiment for a month, get up an hour earlier every day and sit in the car, stationary, for an hour before setting off. Do the same when you get home. See whether you enjoy it…

would have to be fully oriental to consider it long term.

i tried the commute thing when i was younger – the maths did not add up.

the money spent on commuting was in effect lost money.

the cost of commuting is only going one way – up

The cost of my mortgage although was more(to live where i didnt need to commute) when i started than the cost of commuting – is only going the opposite way.

I see absolutely no logic in giving up your free time and throwing away your own money to commute.

Fair play if your company were paying both costs and time in leui for traveling(although i admit you would have to be pretty special for that to happen) or letting you work from home with the occasional office visit.

+1 on the anywhere which is nice to live and with a workable commute will be priced accordingly. This is why people talk about a housing crisis, esp London and SE – there’s pretty much no option for a decent work/life balance and reasonable accomodation/area which is affordable on median salaries (unless you bought years ago and have a load of equity in your property) – one of these aspect has to be massively compromised on.

The only way moving out may work for you is whether you can work from home 2-3 days a week regularly – it’ll reduce the stress, give you more time and reduce the cost of commuting.

People have been working in central London and commuting from Sussex/Brighton for years now so it is workable… but looking at Brighton house prices recently it wasn’t an awful lot cheaper than SE London…

Friend does this from Hastings but there is a big but 🙂 which is he gets to work from home twice a week. He said he couldn’t do it five days in a row.

yeah good luck with that the 7.29 Brighton to London train was late EVERY DAY for a year.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/road-and-rail-transport/11339623/Britains-worst-train-service-Southerns-7.29-Brighton-to-London-train-was-late-every-day-for-a-year.html

The beaches aren’t beaches, they’re sea defences.

erm.. what about west wittering in west sussex ?

It’s a tiny beach, seriously it’s tiny and in the summer there is a regular 2 hour+ queue to get to it. For that reason, its discounted.

Ive seen the traffic standstill from the car park to the A27 before.

What’s your budget and what would you like?
Phil and kirsty track world awaits.

I drove Eastbourne to Catford SE6 for four years. Nearly killed me.

On a ‘bike it WILL kill you, don’t do it.

I chucked the job in and started on my own to stay living on the coast here, bliss.

I echo the sentiments about not motorcycling that sort of distance.

I combined bike and motorcycle for my 21 mile each way commute. have now sacked off the motorbike element in favour of the train. it is just too much hassle – loads of gear required, weather affects you way more than on a push bike, no relaxation even for a moment, increased risk of injury/death, the London bit is slow and tense, the out of London bit is fast and tense. Motorcycling is fun, motorcycle commuting not so much.

Having said all that I might know somewhere that you can pick up all the gear you would need for motorcycling commuting second hand at a very good price!

As others have said, the train is the only way to survive. You can sleep in the morning and survive the day..
Many hours on the bike and you will end up in some kind of accident on a Friday night in the winter when you and the other road users are tired.

Having done the commute by train (90-120 min door to door depending on delay) you will be out of the house for 12-13 hours each day. I found by the time I had washed and eaten there was time for maybe 1 hour to relax then off to bed.

You may end up with less money due to the ticket costs but you might be able to justify this with better schools etc for the kids. You will have weekends to do things but initially they will be for sleeping…

Plenty of food for thought.

Couple of things, the only way I would consider it is if I am able to get some kind of flexible working. Perhaps 1 day at home in the middle of the week and early starts/early finishes the other days I have only just got a senior job in a specialised field so there is no option of working any further south than london. Also my wife has quite a specialised job so she is limited to where she can work.

I have been riding a 125CC in and out of london for 6 years now so while I would be new to a big bike, I am not new to riding in traffic in awful weather conditions for over an hour each way which I appreciate is not the most fun. I am under no illusions that it will be a day at the beach (see what I did there) commuting but wondered if it would be worth it in the long run. From what I can see the 7.22 from worthing gets into east croydon at 8.30 which gives me half an hour to get to loughborough junction/denmark hill. I regularly leave home at 715/720 now anyway to get work done so if I could get a seat no reason a lot of admin couldnt get done en route.

Would be looking for a bit more space than we currently have so 4 beds with garage, drive etc. Where I live now thats 650-700 k but down that way it looks affordable. Dont like to say what the budget would be as all the northerners would be up in arms showing me castles for 150k saying anymore than that is a rip off.

Going to fly the idea of flexible working with my boss now and see what his response is.

Riding a big bike is far better and more comfortable an experience than a 125.

TBH house prices in the nice areas up north aren’t too different from much of the south, places like the Lakes are pretty high, yes they are lower but not by as you’d think. Sure a terraced house in (insert name of dark satanic mill infested town here) are going to be cheap but then I suppose the poorer parts of the East End aren’t exactly pricey.

Having lived all my life in the north I really don’t envy you. Personally there’s no salary I’m ever likely to command that would compensate me for working in London or indeed the SE.

My current commute is 50 mins by push bike and slightly less by train when you include the waiting and then the walking from the station to the office. Driving takes about the same time. Previous job was ten minutes by bike. (sorry – didn’t mean to rub it in) Once it starts to get much longer than an hour I’ve found somewhere to rent and commuted weekly.

If you are in a specialised field then often managers will be accommodating as they might struggle to replace you.

absolutely no logic in giving up your free time and throwing away your own money to commute.

Trouble is that as you move central (in London) house prices rise faster than travel costs. So yes, you’re spending £400+ on a season ticket, but the equivalent house would be tens of thousands more expensive if you moved closer in.

Not coastal, but I come in from Billingshurst, it’s not too horrendous. 1:15 into London Bridge or Victoria. Always get a seat. It’s time to read the paper, browse the web, sleep etc. it’s not what I want to do with my time, but it’s where the jobs are.

As you know, I ride on occasion too (not in new role yet though), which is ok, you do come back to the point that season tickets are cheapest, and then there’s little incentive to travel any other way.

“I suppose prices in the poorer parts of the east end aren’t exactly pricey”

If only!!!!

TBH house prices in the nice areas up north aren’t too different from much of the south, places like the Lakes are pretty high, yes they are lower but not by as you’d think. Sure a terraced house in (insert name of dark satanic mill infested town here) are going to be cheap but then I suppose the poorer parts of the East End aren’t exactly pricey.

Newham is one of the most deprived London boroughs. Average house prices are £289k.

Average in the Lake District is £223k and £143k in Cumbria as a whole…

So yes, living in one of the nicest parts of the Lake District may come close. But compare shithole with

Edit: and I’d far rather commute into London every day then live in London, even one of the nice bits.

where in Surrey are you – maybe there are cheaper options, even accounting for the cost of better security and window bars ?

“Also, I live on the South Coast in West Sussex, it’s a pain in the ‘arris tbh. I’ve ended up here by accident but knowing what I know I definitely wouldn’t choose to be here.

You can’t go anywhere by car on a Friday in daylight, I’m not exaggerating, you learn to accept it, this is limiting. very limiting. Seriously, getting anywhere is a nightmare and its getting worse year on year, it’s pretty debilitating.

The beaches aren’t beaches, they’re sea defences. I grew up in East Anglia, miles and miles of sandy beaches, I don’t think I’ve set foot on the beach where I live more than once this year.

50% of your horizon is useless for riding bikes. “

Did you ever get that job on the Worthing tourist board??

DrP

I’ve nothing to add apart from saying good luck with the choice!

I love on the edge of North London. It’s a 10 mile trip into work, I can use tube, cycle or motorbike. It’s 40-50 minute trip depending on the method of transport, but it does give me options. I cycle most days now

I used to motorbike everyday and I loved it. Very much an urban commute. I used to work out of London and that was 16 miles away. I used to drive more than anything else, it was the most civilised and relaxing way to get there. I cycled once a week and motorbiked every now and then

A long motorcycle ride is tiring. Tyres aren’t cheap either.

Everyone is right about the train cost though. Season tickets are much cheaper. If you’re in london and can go cashless/oyster then you can mix it up, on a main trainline you can’t really. You need a Plan A, then some other back up options if you get bored

My personal commitment is less than 1 hour for any commute door to door

something popped up on my facebook nonsense feed yesterday about a chap who commuted to London from Barcelona and saved money against living in an equivalent house.

Ok, it’s only once a week…

Lovely beach over that way if that suits.. 8)