Long distance commuters - Talk to me
Discussion
I'm currently weighing up options of work in London, it seems for me the only option will be the train which kills me as I hate the whole rigmarole of a drive to the train station, paying for parking , getting a train and then a tube etc.
Some opportunities are central so would be a drive from Poole to Richmond and 2x tubes. Parking is circa 15 per day I think too.
Other options are south London where the drive is slightly longer and includes the M25 but I can park near the office and avoid train costs. Possibly parking too if I'm crafty and or walk a bit.
The main issue is fuel and servicing costs. I have what I think is one of the most economical motorway cars (6 speed manual f30 320d) and can easily get 55mpg, 65mpg if I stick below 75. This I have worked out will equate to 5k of fuel , 3 services per annum and a fair whack of depreciation on the car , which is worth 10k easily on 52000 miles. (100k after one year of commuting)
How does this compare to train costs (Poole to central London and Poole to Croydon) for anyone doing something similar? How do you find the commute on train in terms of comfort and reliability Vs the car equivalent of accidents.
Yes the pay will be better (double) but with massive costs it becomes less of an incentive.
Interested to hear people's approaches.
Some opportunities are central so would be a drive from Poole to Richmond and 2x tubes. Parking is circa 15 per day I think too.
Other options are south London where the drive is slightly longer and includes the M25 but I can park near the office and avoid train costs. Possibly parking too if I'm crafty and or walk a bit.
The main issue is fuel and servicing costs. I have what I think is one of the most economical motorway cars (6 speed manual f30 320d) and can easily get 55mpg, 65mpg if I stick below 75. This I have worked out will equate to 5k of fuel , 3 services per annum and a fair whack of depreciation on the car , which is worth 10k easily on 52000 miles. (100k after one year of commuting)
How does this compare to train costs (Poole to central London and Poole to Croydon) for anyone doing something similar? How do you find the commute on train in terms of comfort and reliability Vs the car equivalent of accidents.
Yes the pay will be better (double) but with massive costs it becomes less of an incentive.
Interested to hear people's approaches.
Poole to London daily? f
k that, train or car if you ask me
More constructively, if you’re planning on using the M3 it’s not exactly a paragon of congestion free motoring for much of the working day either. I’d expect it to take at least 3 hours just to Richmond. Bearing in mind it usually takes my old man 2 hours from Reigate to Clerkenwell
k that, train or car if you ask meMore constructively, if you’re planning on using the M3 it’s not exactly a paragon of congestion free motoring for much of the working day either. I’d expect it to take at least 3 hours just to Richmond. Bearing in mind it usually takes my old man 2 hours from Reigate to Clerkenwell
Poole to London....Wow are you sure?
I have driven from Huddersfield to Manchester every day for the past 3 years, which is around 40miles each way, and anything between 1 and 2 hours each way (my record is 4 hours on one trip!) using the delightful M62 and M60. I can tell you even now, I am not used to the journey in the fact it still pisses me off most days, or even the fact you need to set off at 5:45 every morning to guarantee a good run
I have driven from Huddersfield to Manchester every day for the past 3 years, which is around 40miles each way, and anything between 1 and 2 hours each way (my record is 4 hours on one trip!) using the delightful M62 and M60. I can tell you even now, I am not used to the journey in the fact it still pisses me off most days, or even the fact you need to set off at 5:45 every morning to guarantee a good run
Phil Dicky said:
I would seriously question work / life balance on this one.
Same here. Having done a long commute myself (2 hours each way) some years ago for 10 months, it drains you. You spend 8 hours a day at work, 4 in the car. You still need 8 hours sleep to right there thats 20 hours of your day. You have 4 hours to spend with your loved ones and do anyting recreational. On the weekends I found myself shattered. Anyway, enough of my opinons - having commuted heading out of london during that time (heading down the A316 / M3) all the traffic was on the other side heading into london. This is true which ever route you take, so dont think it'll be an easy commute to get to richmond. You could get to Sunbury-upon-Thames and catch a train to Vauxhall or waterloo from there (sunbury or kempton park). Also facotr in that anything happening on the roads (broken down vehicle to multiple car incident) will add lots of time to your journey. Once, the M25 was shut following a very serious incident and it took me more than 5 hours to get home.
Edited by thatdude on Wednesday 4th July 11:36
Personally I'd not contemplate driving that sort of distance... I do do a long distance commute but on the train.
I live in Yeovil but my office is in reading
I was doing Yeovil to Reading on the train 5 days a week by the thursday of each week I was done and so tired I was struggling to keep awake on top of my work.
I know do 3 days a week in the office and two days WFH, so if you can go for something like that sort of working pattern I think that would be preferable if the company allow home work ?
I dont find the train to bad, but I think you have to have a certain mentality to put up with it, GWR service the last few weeks hasnt been great, but in the nearly 3 years I've been doing it, I have only had 3 occasions where I have been seriously screwed trying to get home. When we had the snow at the start of this year I never tried to go in the office I just worked from home.
I would read this thread about train passenger behavior... like I said it takes a certain mentality, noise cancelling headphones, a good book or just developing a technique that allows you to grab some sleep...
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
I had a quick look at your season ticket cost, for 12 month season from Poole to Waterloo your looking at circa £6,860.00
Although you may be able to reduce that by split ticketing or splitting your season ticket sometimes a combination of tickets works out cheaper..
thatdude said:
Same here. Having done a long commute myself (2 hours each way) some years ago for 10 months, it drains you. You spend 8 hours a day at work, 4 in the car. You still need 8 hours sleep to right there thats 20 hours of your day. You have 4 hours to spend with your loved ones and do anyting recreational. On the weekends I found myself shattered.
Same here, averaging 3 hours a day on the M20-M26-M25-M23 and then back again. I have very little time in the evenings Monday to Friday to spend with loved ones, enjoy hobbies etc and seriously wonder if the money is worth it and what else I could do for a living closer to home. I've done long commutes by car, including M25. You can plan your routes & use realtime traffic updates to mitigate congestion etc easily enough but I wouldn't entertain Poole to London unless there was possibility of working from home 3 days+/week & flexi working on top. Too far, too many potential crunch points that will kill you.
Timewise, the commute is only doable if you have no friends, no family, and no hobbies. Even then, you will grow to loathe it within a month.
Modewise, you'd be crackers to even consider driving that. All those motorways are regularly jammed up and you can easily double your journey time with no warning on any given day. Train is the only moderately sane way to do it and even then you'll be delayed in some way probably more often than not. Your direct trains from Poole take two hours, so allowing time to get the station and then to the office you're talking three hours door to door minimum. That's six hours a day. 25% of your life spent getting to and from work. Just think about that.
The only vaguely sensible way to do this would be to stay in town during the week, and ideally get a couple of days working from home as well.
Modewise, you'd be crackers to even consider driving that. All those motorways are regularly jammed up and you can easily double your journey time with no warning on any given day. Train is the only moderately sane way to do it and even then you'll be delayed in some way probably more often than not. Your direct trains from Poole take two hours, so allowing time to get the station and then to the office you're talking three hours door to door minimum. That's six hours a day. 25% of your life spent getting to and from work. Just think about that.
The only vaguely sensible way to do this would be to stay in town during the week, and ideally get a couple of days working from home as well.
I actually had to check again that you said you'll be doing it from Poole, that sounds like it will be soul destroying however you choose to do it!
Is there a possibility of staying in digs for 3/4 nights and then working from home on a Friday?
I've been doing Canterbury to Essex (60 miles each way) daily for the last 10 months, really don't think I could manage 100+ miles each way using the M3 to be honest.
Is there a possibility of staying in digs for 3/4 nights and then working from home on a Friday?
I've been doing Canterbury to Essex (60 miles each way) daily for the last 10 months, really don't think I could manage 100+ miles each way using the M3 to be honest.
I commute into central London daily albeit from Surrey and where I am is only 20 miles from where I work. It still takes me 90 minutes and I would not even entertain driving in. I'm still in two minds about getting my motorbike licence but I've commuted by train here since 2005.
If you can get a train that's fast enough up to East Croydon then you have plenty of options for getting into Victoria or London Bridge.
Just factor in the cost, I pay £240 a month for a travel card, if you're that far out expect that to easily be double per month.
If you can get a train that's fast enough up to East Croydon then you have plenty of options for getting into Victoria or London Bridge.
Just factor in the cost, I pay £240 a month for a travel card, if you're that far out expect that to easily be double per month.
I commuted on the M25 for just over two years from Kent to close to Heathrow, minimum 2 hours in the mornings and 1.5 hours on the way home
I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, it was pretty soul destroying, especially in winter when I'd be leaving home when it was pitch black and returning in the dark too - after 9 hours in the office, daylight became very precious
I haven't driven much of the route you would need to take, but from the radio traffic reports there were regular problems on the M3, at least a couple of times a week. I'm not sure where exactly in South London you would be looking, but getting anywhere from the M25 towards London will be hellish for traffic
I would strongly recommend looking at Google Maps live journey time at the times you think you would be travelling over a period of a couple of weeks to get a "true" estimate of the time it would take
Can't comment on the train route, but if its 1 train to Waterloo, that would be my suggestion, despite the endless fun you'd have with South West trains
I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, it was pretty soul destroying, especially in winter when I'd be leaving home when it was pitch black and returning in the dark too - after 9 hours in the office, daylight became very precious
I haven't driven much of the route you would need to take, but from the radio traffic reports there were regular problems on the M3, at least a couple of times a week. I'm not sure where exactly in South London you would be looking, but getting anywhere from the M25 towards London will be hellish for traffic
I would strongly recommend looking at Google Maps live journey time at the times you think you would be travelling over a period of a couple of weeks to get a "true" estimate of the time it would take
Can't comment on the train route, but if its 1 train to Waterloo, that would be my suggestion, despite the endless fun you'd have with South West trains
Thanks for all the replies. Seems train is realistically the best option. I'm still undecided on what to do with it, most people in my profession go for a year or 2 to progress their career then come back on better salaries.
I regularly drove Bournemouth to Croydon for a previous job but it was somewhat nicer being paid 45p a mile. I'd leave at 5:30, be there by 7:30 and had a half hour walk into the office. I was also able to leave a bit earlier to avoid some of the M25 congestion.
A work from home swaying job is really preferable perhaps with a couple of days in office . Perhaps I should focus on this as an option to get the London weighting.
I regularly drove Bournemouth to Croydon for a previous job but it was somewhat nicer being paid 45p a mile. I'd leave at 5:30, be there by 7:30 and had a half hour walk into the office. I was also able to leave a bit earlier to avoid some of the M25 congestion.
A work from home swaying job is really preferable perhaps with a couple of days in office . Perhaps I should focus on this as an option to get the London weighting.
thatdude said:
Same here. Having done a long commute myself (2 hours each way) some years ago for 10 months, it drains you. You spend 8 hours a day at work, 4 in the car. You still need 8 hours sleep to right there thats 20 hours of your day. You have 4 hours to spend with your loved ones and do anyting recreational. On the weekends I found myself shattered.
I had exactly the same experience. I kept it up for 6 months before I was exhausted from it all. I'll never entertain the idea again.Having worked in Richmond for 9 years I can say that commuting there on tube (hugely unreliable that arm of the district line), train, bus or by car is to be avoided at all costs. I've tried all modes over a 9 year period.This was 10 years ago and I can only assume it has got worse since.
Parking will be eye wateringly expensive unless you've found someone's drive to rent. I'd be surprised if you could get anything close to the station for £15 per day unless it's pre-booked well in advance or on someone's driveway.
Traffic through Richmond used to take 30 mins in the rush hour complicated by a lot of decent schools there. I used to get off the bus just before the town centre, walk through the shops and catch the bus one or two in-front the other side.
Train straight into London is the only sensible option imho. It' shame because there's some damn fine pubs in Richmond.
Parking will be eye wateringly expensive unless you've found someone's drive to rent. I'd be surprised if you could get anything close to the station for £15 per day unless it's pre-booked well in advance or on someone's driveway.
Traffic through Richmond used to take 30 mins in the rush hour complicated by a lot of decent schools there. I used to get off the bus just before the town centre, walk through the shops and catch the bus one or two in-front the other side.
Train straight into London is the only sensible option imho. It' shame because there's some damn fine pubs in Richmond.
Edited by hornmeister on Wednesday 4th July 12:41
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff