Commuting to Leicester to Birmingham

[jonnyb]

Looking for some guidance on commuting times for leicester to brum, via the M6 and Aston expressway. Anyone done it? And any info on how long it takes?

[gjf764]

City centre? Where in Leicester? I had a friend who did it for a couple of years and it drove him insane doing it at 9-5ish

M6 can be an absolute nightmare

[littleredrooster]

I resigned rather than trying to commute Rugby - Brum centre. Up to 2+ hrs each way. ste. My life is worth more than that; depends on your age and outlook s'pose.

Edit: If you're near a railway station at each end it may work if you don't mind mixing it with the psychopaths and escapees from the bar of Star Wars every day. I would never again try to use M6/A38M to commute. Also bear in mind that the A38M has been closed recently - & will be again, maybe permanently!

Edited by littleredrooster on Thursday 27th March 21:42

[Haggleburyfinius]

That sounds horrific to be honest.

[williamp]

M69 fine. The closer to Brum you get the worst the traffic can be.

I cant even recommend the train as it takes 1 hr and the trains are small and uncomfortable

[GavinPearson]

I used to travel from Leicester to Birmingham. I came from close to Stoughton so I went past the airport to Oadby, past Asda towards the racecourse, onto the A563, past the toadstool roundabouts and past the Saffron Lane council houses. Went towards Fosse Park, onto the M69. Then took the M6, listened to the traffic on the radio. If things were good, I came off by J5 (Chester Rd), if bad, came off at J4 and took the A452 which ends up in the same place. It took about an hour.

Sometimes on the way back I went M6, A14, A508, A6 etc more to relieve boredom than anything.

The commute wasn't that bad, but then again I actually enjoy driving and listening to the radio so most commutes are pretty easy for me.

[jonnyb]

Thanks guys!
I'm going from Ashby to Birmingham, via the M42, M6 and A38. Or getting the train from Tamworth to New Street. Just wondering which would be quicker.

[Engineer1]

Train, everyday it won't necessarily be quicker but you will have consistent journey times I commute across brum and you can have an hour journey take 2-3 hours if something goes wrong on the motorway network. Also a good length commute like that means you are massively susceptable to fuel price fluctuations.

[williamp]

jonnyb said:

Thanks guys!
I'm going from Ashby to Birmingham, via the M42, M6 and A38. Or getting the train from Tamworth to New Street. Just wondering which would be quicker.

Train. As he said, more consistent time

[lukefreeman]

A38 m42 is fine.

Aston expressway is Frankly a joke.

I used to pick missus up from George street, Brum land, coming from Derby. Could do it in an hour if I left work at 15:30....No idea about in rush hour though.

[littleredrooster]

lukefreeman said:

A38 m42 is fine.

Aston expressway is Frankly a joke.

I used to pick missus up from George street, Brum land, coming from Derby. Could do it in an hour if I left work at 15:30....No idea about in rush hour though.

...but commuting Leicester - Brum, he wouldn't touch either the A38 or the M42, surely?

[stuartmmcfc]

Train

[jonnyb]

Thanks guys, train it is!

[Zyp]

Pffftt.... Mrs Zyp commuted from Nottingham to Birmingham (Gas Street off Broad St) for two years in a Peugeot 106 GTi.
This was back in 2001 though.