Commuting from Canterbury to London

[Diablos-666]

Not sure if this is the in the right sub section, apologies if it is.

I'm looking to buy my first property within the next couple of months and am fed up seeing properties for sale relatively near me, within my budget, are small studio flats.

My money can buy me something much nicer further afield.

So, I'm after opinions from people who commute from Canterbury to London.

What is the journey like?

Cost per month?

Are the trains on time more often than not?

The best station to commute from (I believe canterbury has several stations)

etc...

[NickHKent]

I used to commute from kent, not as far out as canterbury though. I would assume that the trains go from Canterbury east but it is worth checking.

The good news is that you'll get on early enough to get a seat, bad news is that it'll probably cost £350+ a month.

[Diablos-666]

Thanks for replying.

Are the trains run well? ie on time the majority of the time?

The cost doesn't really bother me much as I get travel expenses paid for me. Although at the moment I'm in zone 5 so the boss might have something to say if I do move that far out.

[rog007]

Have you looked at all the issues surrounding an extended commute? Yes, cost and time are key factors, but so is work/life balance, health, how do you mange when there are train strikes/leaves on the line, can you work from home, family commitments, do you have to do overtime and if so how will this impact on a long commute. If all things have been considered, then good luck!

[Diablos-666]

Rog,

I currently have to get a bus to the train station. So from leaving my door to setting foot in London it takes me 45mins.

The train from canterbury to london takes 58mins. I plan to move near to the station so it's only an extra 13mins which isn't too bad.

The delays however do worry me which was why i was asking how reliable that line / service is.

I live in south east london but am used to 1.5hr journeys each way everyday. I'm hoping moving to Canterbury wouldn't actually increase by that much more.

Cost might also be an issue, as i said i do get travel expenses paid for me but my boss might not be too happy paying over double than he is now.

I'm after views from people who actually make this journey everyday and to offer their opinions.

[spectra]

Canterbury West is the station that has trains which take less than an hour, from Canterbury East you're looking at an hour and a half - 2 hours.

The Canterbury West service alternates between the high speed trains that stop at Stratford and St. Pancras (1 hour), and the regular trains that stop at London Bridge and terminate at Charring Cross (again taking about 2 hours)

I was at University in Canterbury, I had a placement in London that required commuting short-term so i've had some, if a limited amount of experience. I found the high speed service very reliable, and wouldn't hesitate to living in Canterbury and commuting if in the future I find a full-time job in London. I'm pretty sure the officially published punctuality figures for the High Speed service are 90%+ and I don't remember experiencing anything that would make me dispute that (Although the standard speed service was often far from perfect).

There is also the Dover - St Pancras High Speed service, which goes through Ashford as well so if a High Speed service is delayed for any reason it might be possible to get to Ashford via the regular service and then switch to high speed (Ashford - St Pancras is less than 40 minutes).

The price though... you're going to be looking at between £400 - £500 a month for the privilege of traveling on the High Speed service depending on your ticket.

[Diablos-666]

Thank you. That's just what I was after.

I'll be going down to check the area out in a couple of weeks. Then got to try and see if the boss will pay the higher commuting fees.

[NickHKent]

I found the trains that ran on the line from Canterbury East to be ok at best. They were often late, especially queueing to get into Cannon Street which was a pain in the arse.

The service into St Pancras was more reliable but probably 30% more expensive. The layout of St Pancras is poor so it will take you circa 15 minutes to get from the South Eastern platform to the underground when busy.

I now live in the Shad Thames area so have the "luxury" of being able to walk to work but am pretty sure that I will move back out to Kent (or possibly Essex) in the future.

Best of luck.

[number2]

You may get free/subsidised travel now, but it is more than likely that your next employer won't provide this benefit. This means you'll have to stump up c. £500 a month out of your net pay should you choose to/be forced to change jobs. (£10k a year out of your gross just for travel is silly money for MOST people.)