London to Bristol - commute

[b787]

Hi Friends,

A quick question - commute (for new job - offer) london to bristol - Mon to Wed (3 days)…

Is it ok to do that ? - cost wise if you drive your own car ? i don't have a car yet, but surely will get an approved (second hand car)…

5 door hatch or 4 door sedan…

secondly - it's cheaper than train as timings are same anyway.. yes few ++ on time when driving..

any suggestions ?

Edited by b787 on Wednesday 20th February 16:46

[Cyder]

I guess it depends where you are in London, west won't be nearly as bad as east.

But even then there's no way I'd fancy doing that for very long.

[RtdRacer]

b787 said:

Hi Friends,

A quick question - commute (for new job - offer) london to bristol - Mon to Wed (3 days)…

Is it ok to do that ? - cost wise if you drive your own car ?

any suggestions ?

I commuted from Ely, north of Cambridge to Slough for 2 years. It was murder round the M25.

Best and cheapest way was an old 1.9 TiD - I had a Saab 9-3. At 70mph, it does around 65mpg, and was cheap as chips to run.

I used a Pan European for a while - great through traffic, but less economical and much colder/scarier...

[b787]

Cyder said:

I guess it depends where you are in London, west won't be nearly as bad as east.

But even then there's no way I'd fancy doing that for very long.

Yes Cyder - it's northwest london…close to M40..down m25 then go M4.

it's just fuel cost and is it worth 2hrs for 3 days travel ? that's all is worrying me.. (2hrs i can spare..like driving ) - but no idea how to cost that in car mileage and fuel - is it worth ? i'm going in circles..

[Cyder]

So for arguments sake 115 miles (Wembley to Bristol centre)
50mpg (2.3 gallons used each way)
Diesel 145p/l

Approx £30/day in fuel plus wear and tear.
Nearly £400/month on fuel to commute for 3 days/week, that would be enough to scare me off!

Plus how much is 4hrs of your time worth?

[b787]

Cyder said:

So for arguments sake 115 miles (Wembley to Bristol centre)
50mpg (2.3 gallons used each way)
Diesel 145p/l

Approx £30/day in fuel plus wear and tear.
Nearly £400/month on fuel to commute for 3 days/week, that would be enough to scare me off!

Plus how much is 4hrs of your time worth?

that's correct - thanks. I'm getting car allowance though (5K year)

[Rich1973]

If you moved to Bristol you would only need to do the reverse commute 2 days a week...

[edc]

You will be lucky to do that in 2 hours in the morning coming into London along the M4 and having to pass Slough and Reading. I used to go the opposite way joining at Bracknell to go to Avonmouth and it was over 2 hours with favourable traffic.

[davepoth]

b787 said:

Cyder said:

So for arguments sake 115 miles (Wembley to Bristol centre)
50mpg (2.3 gallons used each way)
Diesel 145p/l

Approx £30/day in fuel plus wear and tear.
Nearly £400/month on fuel to commute for 3 days/week, that would be enough to scare me off!

Plus how much is 4hrs of your time worth?

that's correct - thanks. I'm getting car allowance though (5K year)

So of your car allowance, roughly £4,800 of the £5,000 will be spent on fuel. That doesn't leave an awful lot for the car.

[MagicalTrevor]

I have a possibility of doing exactly the reverse! I personally would find accommodation for the 2 nights as the time taken to commute every day would be too much.

[Puggit]

edc said:

You will be lucky to do that in 2 hours in the morning coming into London along the M4 and having to pass Slough and Reading. I used to go the opposite way joining at Bracknell to go to Avonmouth and it was over 2 hours with favourable traffic.

This. Against the flow seems to have lots of accidents too, my theory was that the traffic moves quicker so accidents are higher impact!

[Tonsko]

Could you not go on the tues, stay until thurs and come home? 2 nights in hotel/flat/whatever and only 2 commutes.

[custardkid]

I'll rent you a room for two nights a week... If you are not a mentalist!

Custard

[b787]

hello friends,

thanks for all the comments and all of it makes sense in positive way. many many thanks for the replies..

i tried checking - monday to wednesday - stay in hotel but it's kind of costly than driving.. (if add up monthly)..

[b787]

RtdRacer said:

I commuted from Ely, north of Cambridge to Slough for 2 years. It was murder round the M25.

Best and cheapest way was an old 1.9 TiD - I had a Saab 9-3. At 70mph, it does around 65mpg, and was cheap as chips to run.

I used a Pan European for a while - great through traffic, but less economical and much colder/scarier...

Hi RtdRacer - Thanks for that… as Saab doesn't exists anymore, makes me nervous

[b787]

custardkid said:

I'll rent you a room for two nights a week... If you are not a mentalist!

Custard

lol - thanks for the offer… if i travel enough 3 days for 2 hrs each then i'll be a mentalist… )

i like your name - custard, reminds of of mr awkright from open all hours - calling granvil - custard. lol lol )

[devnull]

I do a similar commute to Guildford - takes 2:15 in good traffic and on a bad day has taken 3 hours. As much as I love driving and as much as I have a capable car, it is soul destroying after a while when you add up how much of your life you spend behind the wheel...and that's with me having a fuel card.

The key thing is this: Do you have to be in the office at a certain time, is someone watching your punctuality? With my role, noone watches me and I can turn up and leave whenever, but of course I have the overall responsibility that I have to 'get the job done'. If I had to turn up after a 2 hour commute for 830am, that would finish me

Edited by devnull on Thursday 21st February 12:14

[AndyClockwise]

Where in Bristol is the office?

I had to drive from Maidenhead to the centre of Bristol and it took longer to make my way through the traffic on the M32 than it took to drive from Maidenhead to the top of the M32.

I would seriously consider taking the train or staying a couple of nights

[AJS-]

Madness.
Seems fine on a sunny day with no traffic but think of the rainy evening after a hard day at work when you've been up since 5am for 3 days running.

Surely for £400 a month you could find a room, B&B or somewhere you could sleep 2 or 3 nights a week?

[anonymous-user]

I would try and find a nice local hotel or B&B and ask them if they'll give you a special rate based on regular stays, booked and maybe even paid for in advance. I reckon you'll get it well below their headline rate.

I used to commute 4 hours round trip to London on the train each day which was bad enough, but then switched to another job which involved a 3 hour round trip drive each day. I quickly realised quite how horrible (and expensive) it is to drive that much every day and realised that even though the train took longer and cost more it was a much more pleasant way to travel as you can relax, do some work, read a book or even have a sleep. It's worth considering. at least.