London commuters - talk to me

[SteelerSE]

I'm considering a job in central London (Monument) and am interested in realistic journey times as well as typical times when you need to be in and out before the journey times become unrealistic.

I'd be coming from J3 of the M3 and in from there, either M4 or M3, I don't know what would be easiest/quickest.

I was hoping that it would be about an hour and ten in from there but would appreciate real world experience and whether it's worth doing it vs the train drudgery.

[SteelerSE]

Thanks guys. Yes parking is another story but I wanted to try and understand what the likely times and issues were.

Also agreed re-risks. I have enough issues with a 20 mile journey to Slough every day!

So if an hour to and hour and ten is do-able and I can find parking in the area then I have a shot at it.

[SteelerSE]

Thanks guys, the real world time estimates are very helpful.

What time do the bike bays usually fill up by? There's one in Great Tower Street that would be really convenient.

[SteelerSE]

Thanks again - I'll try it out going to the interview on Tuesday and see how it goes.

[SteelerSE]

Ballon said:

I commute from Wimbledon to Monument. If I leave home at 06.45 I'm in the office by 07.30, I'd estimate the average journey time excluding locking the bike up and walking to the office is 35 - 40 mins.

There is a Corporation of London car park under the Marsh building (very near the Tower of London) which is on Lower Thames Street and a short walk from Monument, it's free has cctv and is patrolled.

Going home can be a mixed bag, usually OK though but it is worth working out some alternative routes through town for the days when it all goes t*** up.

That's very helpful - thank you!

[SteelerSE]

A quick update.

I ended up on the train into London simply because I didn't want to turn up with a load of sopping wet kit before transforming into a suit wearing person, and I don't have the luggage space on the VFR to stash it all. The test ride into London will have to wait pending an actual job offer. We'll see what happens.

[SteelerSE]

Thanks again to all for the comments.

I had my first ride in yesterday afternoon to pick up the new laptop etc and the first ride back out again.

All I can say is that it was a pretty horrible experience.

The traffic is mental and there are numerous places where the lanes are so narrow that even the cycling lunatics can't get through the gaps. On a positive the drivers generally made way where possible and it took 75 minutes door to door.

I just followed the sat nav which was probably the wrong thing to do but as I don't have a clue re-London it was the safest option. I live near Camberley and was starting out near monument on lower thames street. The sat nav took me across the river twice and then out on to the A4/M4/M25/M3.

It felt like the Long Way Round™ to me so if you had that commute to do what route would you recommend?

Looking at the map I would have thought M3/Richmond etc would be better...? Any real world experience would be great.

[SteelerSE]

Looks like it will be the train for a while until I can work out a decent route.

[SteelerSE]

aeropilot said:

For the homeward journey I'd be tempted to get over the river asap, via London Bridge, towards Elephant & Castle, and out onto the A3 all the way down to junction just before the M25 and then cut right 'across country' through West Byfleet and Cobham to Camberley?

Thanks - I was thinking similar sort of thoughts but don't know if there's a reason to avoid the A3/M3.

[SteelerSE]

An update.

After the first few weeks I've tried a number of options and realise that:

1) I hate riding in London traffic
2) I'm not very good at it and am holding others up
3) It's not saving me much time over the train
4) The only benefit is cost
5) I'm exhausted from the concentration needed at both ends of the day
6) It's bloody dangerous

So I've gone over to the dark side and bought a season ticket for a month to see how that goes. After my first week of that I'm far happier on the train and maybe 20 minutes slower each way. Having said which I'm getting about an hour or more of exercise that I wasn't getting otherwise (bicycle to station and walk at the other end).

Thank you to everyone that gave me excellent feedback and recommendations for London. My hat's off to you - I have no idea how you do it.

[SteelerSE]

I may try again during the school holidays when the traffic is (hopefully) slightly better but we'll see.

[SteelerSE]

nidieunimaitre said:

I used to park sometimes in that big car park on Lower Thames Street, there's another one at the other end towards the BT buildings that's even better.

Thanks for this - can you give me a better idea of where the other car park is just for reference?

[SteelerSE]

A quick update.

With the school holidays here I've had another go and the difference is amazing. Door to door in 65 minutes. It helped that I followed somebody through who obviously knew the best way through the traffic but nevertheless it was so much better. I even got a parking space in the bike park about 10 yards from the front of the office.

I'll keep trying this (assuming that the journey home is equally good) but I'm much more positive now. It helped that I'd worked harder at the route too. Thanks to all for the suggestions on the best options. In the end the M3-A316-A4 is absolutely the best, even with the Hogarth flyover closed.

Nice to be back on the bike.

[SteelerSE]

Harry H said:

Keep at it and it'll get even quicker. I've been riding up the A3 to the Strand for 10 years now. Eventually you learn exactly what lane to be in at exactly the right time to find the gaps. You'll be doing it on auto pilot eventually.

Every couple of years though I have a go at the train (just for a change if nothing else) and soon realise why I use a bike. At least on a motorcycle even on a really bad day you'll only be ten minutes late whereas I've been stood at Waterloo for a couple of hours looking at a blank departure board on numerous occasions.

When winter strikes it's all about the right gear as well. There's no point in freezing hands for the sake of £80 on heated gloves etc. Never mind the weather if you're warm and snug it's always better on a bike than standing on a freezing platform.

On a bike you seem to be in control of your own destiny. On Public transport you instantly become cattle to be shifted from one place to another.

Thanks Harry - that's absolutely my preference, I just need to get more confidence in terms of where I'm going, other options on the route when it's broken etc.

How do you find the wear and tear on the bike? Do you budget to replace it fairly regularly or do you have a 150,000 mile bike?

[SteelerSE]

creampuff said:

Wintertime you will definitely be a lot heathier if you take the bike. No coughs and colds.

Healthier unless you have a crash that is, that is less healthy.

Assuming that the costs do stack up then I may look at stashing some cash away to replace the viffer in a year or two. It's done nearly 40K now but it just keeps going. Another two years of that would see it at about 65K and I expect more expensive bits will start to break at that point.

And point taken re-shaft drive. I have heated grips but may also get some muffs when it comes to winter as over an hour on the bike is a whole different thing from my previous 30+ minutes.

[SteelerSE]

In case anyone is interested I've gone back and forth with train and bike and realised I hate the train. The only way to make it bearable is if you're in first class and can (almost) guarantee a seat but the cost is astronomical.

I still don't enjoy it as such but it's become much easier even though I'm not much quicker. We've also moved office and have parking under the building which is great as I was totally fed up with the scooter scummers in the parking bays. The car park under the Tower Bridge coach park was brilliant though. It's almost worth getting a nice bike for the ride now but I can't find a shaft drive bike that doesn't feel massively too wide so will probably stick with the VFR for a while.

I'll do the sums soon though and see if I'm daydreaming or not but an MT-07 looks like it could work very nicely.

[SteelerSE]

It's a solid hour and a quarter for me unless I leave ridiculously early or the kids are off. And if I leave ridiculously early it just means that I spend longer in the office as a I can't leave any earlier. I'm going to experiment with more routes though as at the moment I've stuck with what I know (M3, A316, embankment etc).

Someone earlier on in this thread suggested A3 all the way back to just before the M25 so I might give that a try on the way back tonight.