London to Luton Commute

[zuby84]

Hey,

I was going to move down to London around Regents Park in August, but have just been offered an amazing opportunity based in Dunstable/Luton area. I will only want to do this for a few months/until August when my other plans kick off and for which I need to be in central London for.

Looking at places to stay in Luton - let's just say I'd rather not live in Luton and would much rather live in central London. However, my problem is I hate commuting - I'm not used to the 1hr+ commutes many of you probably have to contend with. Am I right in saying that most of the commute happens in the opposite direction? Would driving be ok?

This Dunstable/Luton contract will be M-F 9:30am to 6:30pm. It would be ideal if I have a car for it but not absolutely necessary. No no to biking any of the distance.

The St Pancras to Luton train only takes about 30mins, but it's the hassle of then needing to go to Dunstable afterwards (and of getting to St Pancras in the first place)

So my options:

1) Live in Luton/Dunstable and have my car there. Less of a commute and can go into London on some weekends and evenings. However, I'll be wanting to move to central London in August anyway. Don't know anyone at all in Luton so not ideal.

2) Live in central London (near St Pancras) and commute to Luton station, pick up my car - which I assume I would have left somewhere near the station - and drive to Dunstable. The other option is to have no car and just taxi it back/fro to Dunstable. This would mean I probably need to leave my London house at about 8:15am and not be back by about 7:30pm. Only leaves a few hours for some "downtime."

3) Live in North London and drive to/back from Dunstable everyday. However I think this will be more aggro than it's worth in terms of commuting time/hassle.

4) I've considered having a place both in Luton and London, but don't feel as if I can justify it. However, might be something I would consider.

I don't really want to take one of my cars down to London as taxis and the Tube do me fine, but this whole Luton to Dunstable thing messes things up a bit.

Basically just looking for some local knowledge to help me make my decision.

[S5V8]

I lived in Watford for a while after uni and it was the best of both worlds for me and Mrs jsm. I worked in Luton for six months and it was an easy drive up the M1 each day and we lived down the road from Watford Junction so a 15min train ride saw us in Central London with ease.

I agree Luton or central London isn't ideal so a compromise seems attractive but each to their own.

[waterwonder]

As it sounds like cost isn't a massive drama I would probably go for central, then get the train collecting my car at the other end.

If you time it right you can probably park for free fairly close to the station in Luton & you won't need your car in London.

Slightly more hassle short term but offset by not having to move twice.

[truck71]

I've commuted from West London to Dunstable for the last 9 years and have used a car. Made sense due to the fact I am close to the m4 and 25 minutes from st Pancras meaning the journey was quickest and cheapest. Traffic is bearable in the morning (I leave at 630 and it takes 50 mins) and marginal on the return (if I leave Dunstable at 4 it takes an hour, add half an hour for anything after that).

If you're going to live close to st Pancras then train is the best option as driving in and out of town will be soul destroying. There is a good bus service on a dedicated busway that connects Luton station to Dunstable, takes 11 minutes even at rush hour but is poorly promoted and signed aalthough easy when you know how.

At the risk of offending any residents of either Luton or Dunstable I wouldn't choose to live in either.

If you're feeling rebellious there's a great scam on the train that means you can use a monthly return ticket every day which costs circa 30 quid..

[zuby84]

Thanks guys, have decided to just get a place near St Pancras/Kings Cross and commute on the train and leave my car near Luton train station. I estimate my door to door commute will be just over 1 hour, but will see how accurate that is as that might be a bit optimistic.