Do people live further away than previously?
Discussion
Other half's a teacher. You would think it would enable her to get a job close to me, but there are only a few schools in this part of the UK that are tolerable to work in as a standard classroom teacher. Tolerable as in I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy, but for some people like her the love of teaching makes it just about work, if you are in one of those schools.
So her school is in a different city from my workplace. I made sure she gets the short commute!
So her school is in a different city from my workplace. I made sure she gets the short commute!
I’m a consultant, so I just commute to wherever I’m working, or stay over night if it’s too far and I’m doing more than a day per week there.
I try to work from home as much as possible.
My and some colleagues actually had this discussion the other day about ‘how far is too far’ and decided it simply all depended on how much each job was paying.
I try to work from home as much as possible.
My and some colleagues actually had this discussion the other day about ‘how far is too far’ and decided it simply all depended on how much each job was paying.
After five years of commuting from between Hertfordshire and Berkshire - a journey that would generally be 2+hrs each way, I vowed never to do it again. Move to HK and now live 5 mins by cab / 15 min walk from the office. I can't help but look back at how much life I wasted sitting on the M25 / M4.
keith2.2 said:
After five years of commuting from between Hertfordshire and Berkshire - a journey that would generally be 2+hrs each way, I vowed never to do it again. Move to HK and now live 5 mins by cab / 15 min walk from the office. I can't help but look back at how much life I wasted sitting on the M25 / M4.
Just like I did (Letchworth to Crowthorne), initially every day but gradually moved to doing it 2 days a week after a few years until I retired. I did buy a TrafficMaster which helped enormously with the traffic jams but my worst trip was over 4 hours one-way but usually it was 2+ hours each way.I’ve only ever worked less than 18 miles away for 2 years in a 33-year career. With lots at 28-30 miles away. Being contract for the last 7 years, I’ve worked away for half of it and hated the digs and long commute at each end of the week, but thoroughly enjoyed the much shorter working Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Now I’m commuting 1 hr. 8 minutes in the morning and 1 hr. 35 minutes in the evening, which is doing my head in so much, this is my last week. Then it’s a long Christmas break, and try and start up my small online business.
So if all goes well, my commute will be from the patio door to the workshop at the bottom of the garden! I make that about 32 metres…
So if all goes well, my commute will be from the patio door to the workshop at the bottom of the garden! I make that about 32 metres…
keith2.2 said:
After five years of commuting from between Hertfordshire and Berkshire - a journey that would generally be 2+hrs each way, I vowed never to do it again. Move to HK and now live 5 mins by cab / 15 min walk from the office. I can't help but look back at how much life I wasted sitting on the M25 / M4.
I miss Hong Kong a lot, great public transport system and very cheap. Lived in Jardines Lookout and worked in Causeway Bay. Bus fare in those days was 10p each way, 5p to cross the harbour on the Star Ferry.Moved back to London, worked in the City and lived in Canary Wharf, 30 minutes door to door, other people were travelling for 2 hours to get to work, even when they had young children at home.
It's just circumstances really, most professional types I know will do a longer commute if it's for the right job and I they have family settled in a specific area don't want to change their kid's schools. A friend of ours recently got made redundant from a job in a large but local company, he will now be doing ~80 miles a day but accepts that's what he needs to do to be in the job he wants. His wife and kids are settled here so I very much doubt they'd move.
Somehow I've managed to extend mine over the years but still in the same job. Round trip mileages...
2 miles - Got the job, rented a place in the same town, walked to work, lived there a few years.
20 miles - Decided I wanted to live somewhere with a bit more nightlife, moved to a bigger town. Could cycle but drove mostly.
80 miles - Met my now wife, decided to move in with her. Lot of miles on the car for a year or so!
40 miles - Bought a place together mid point between both our jobs. Still need to drive.
Since having kids the wife stopped working so could move closer again but both kids now at school so that's unlikely.
Somehow I've managed to extend mine over the years but still in the same job. Round trip mileages...
2 miles - Got the job, rented a place in the same town, walked to work, lived there a few years.
20 miles - Decided I wanted to live somewhere with a bit more nightlife, moved to a bigger town. Could cycle but drove mostly.
80 miles - Met my now wife, decided to move in with her. Lot of miles on the car for a year or so!
40 miles - Bought a place together mid point between both our jobs. Still need to drive.
Since having kids the wife stopped working so could move closer again but both kids now at school so that's unlikely.
I work from home a couple of days per week and spend a week away in Europe most months but the office is 10 minutes away. I've been very lucky that my commute in the last 15 years has been a few miles. Life's too short to spend too much time at work or travelling to and from. I work 37 hours per week (unless travelling) and still struggle to fit "life" in between work. I don't know how people can spend 2 or 3 hours per day commuting.
I'm working closer to home than I have in my whole career to date.
Fairly recently I took a job that's officially home based but the office is only 19 miles up the road and I tend to find good value from being in more than everyone else in my function as I get more air time with the cross-functional contacts based in the office.
Commute is usually 30-35 minutes each way which is half of what I was doing in my last job. And That one also necessitated a fair bit of time in the office near Heathrow after the company was taken over by a group based there. No thanks.
My first job was based out of Andover then moved office to Swindon both of which were ~8 hours' round trip and I vowed after leaving there that I'd never do the "on the road at 4am Monday" thing again so I've got gradually closer to home over the years.
As others have said, I'm not sure I'd want work to be right on my doorstep. There'd always be the expectation that I'd be first in, last out. A day or two at home, customer meetings all over the country but always scheduled at a sensible time to allow for travel and the rest of the time in the office suits me perfectly.
Fairly recently I took a job that's officially home based but the office is only 19 miles up the road and I tend to find good value from being in more than everyone else in my function as I get more air time with the cross-functional contacts based in the office.
Commute is usually 30-35 minutes each way which is half of what I was doing in my last job. And That one also necessitated a fair bit of time in the office near Heathrow after the company was taken over by a group based there. No thanks.
My first job was based out of Andover then moved office to Swindon both of which were ~8 hours' round trip and I vowed after leaving there that I'd never do the "on the road at 4am Monday" thing again so I've got gradually closer to home over the years.
As others have said, I'm not sure I'd want work to be right on my doorstep. There'd always be the expectation that I'd be first in, last out. A day or two at home, customer meetings all over the country but always scheduled at a sensible time to allow for travel and the rest of the time in the office suits me perfectly.
talksthetorque said:
Having to travel on the M62 every so often I can only assume that everyone who lives in Manchester works in Leeds or Liverpool - and vice versa.
I work from home half the time and travel to customer's sites the other half - travel time is paid but anything over an hour and a half home and I'm in a hotel for the evening.
I live 20 minutes from a station that is 90 minutes to Kings Cross.
Some folk in my village do it two or three times a week - in their own time.
I've got no idea how people do that s
t every day.
10k for the season ticket. That's £800 a month in Mortgage payments - £200k on the house price. Plus if you live 1 hour from work instead of two that's 10 hours a week of your life back.
Within 20 mins of Retford? I'm guessing Gamston?I work from home half the time and travel to customer's sites the other half - travel time is paid but anything over an hour and a half home and I'm in a hotel for the evening.
I live 20 minutes from a station that is 90 minutes to Kings Cross.
Some folk in my village do it two or three times a week - in their own time.
I've got no idea how people do that s
t every day.10k for the season ticket. That's £800 a month in Mortgage payments - £200k on the house price. Plus if you live 1 hour from work instead of two that's 10 hours a week of your life back.
Stats say people don't live further away.
Average distance is about 10 miles. Been pretty steady since the late 80's.
Average time is about half an hour and has been pretty steady.
I'm bang average on both and wouldn't enjoy losing more time unless I could work on the train on as part of my working day but I don't live near a station.
Average distance is about 10 miles. Been pretty steady since the late 80's.
Average time is about half an hour and has been pretty steady.
I'm bang average on both and wouldn't enjoy losing more time unless I could work on the train on as part of my working day but I don't live near a station.
Depends where my latest project is.
It's currently west London, and 210 miles on a Monday, and then another 210 miles on Thur/Fri.
Shortest ever (other than when working from home, duh) was a daily 1 mile each way when I was 19.
There were a few years of daily commutes to Manchester.
Longest 'weekly' commute was to Munich - but others over the last 30 years have been to Warrington, Leeds, Birmingham, Leicester, Corby, Basingstoke, Bexleyheath, Exeter, Bristol.
Longer period commutes (i.e. travelling every 2-4 weeks) have been to Moscow (state building company), Philadelphia (large pharma company), Dubai (JV with local building company), and Abu Dhabi (part of the team that built Yas Marina circuit + residences)
It's currently west London, and 210 miles on a Monday, and then another 210 miles on Thur/Fri.
Shortest ever (other than when working from home, duh) was a daily 1 mile each way when I was 19.
There were a few years of daily commutes to Manchester.
Longest 'weekly' commute was to Munich - but others over the last 30 years have been to Warrington, Leeds, Birmingham, Leicester, Corby, Basingstoke, Bexleyheath, Exeter, Bristol.
Longer period commutes (i.e. travelling every 2-4 weeks) have been to Moscow (state building company), Philadelphia (large pharma company), Dubai (JV with local building company), and Abu Dhabi (part of the team that built Yas Marina circuit + residences)
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