Commute into London?

Reds-on-Sea

Hiya,

I was just wondering how many of you commute into London, and how far you come. I Live in the commuter belt, but have a potential job just further than I was willing to go.

The money would be great (50% more than I'm on now) but I'd be commuting over 1.5hrs each way. Always fancied the train as I'd love more time to read/sleep/Nintendo DS it up!

I've never done the commute into London before, but all my friends do (admittedly on the nearer side of town). I've always had jobs I've had to drive to.

I'd like to know how far you all come & how long it takes you - just to see if it's worth it for me.

Thanks

snowmaid

Reds-on-Sea wrote: »

Hiya,

I was just wondering how many of you commute into London, and how far you come. I Live in the commuter belt, but have a potential job just further than I was willing to go.

The money would be great (50% more than I'm on now) but I'd be commuting over 1.5hrs each way. Always fancied the train as I'd love more time to read/sleep/Nintendo DS it up!

I've never done the commute into London before, but all my friends do (admittedly on the nearer side of town). I've always had jobs I've had to drive to.

I'd like to know how far you all come & how long it takes you - just to see if it's worth it for me.

Thanks

Which line would you be using? I think that makes a difference. I used to use Nat Express. There would be a train every 6-7 minutes. Depending on where you are, you could wait for half an hour and then everyone is waiting with you and never get a seat.

Savvy_Sue

I used to commute, initially from SE London over to The Angel Islington, and then from Guildford to Charing Cross.

If you can vary your hours to avoid the worst of the overcrowding, it's not so bad. But I couldn't do it now: last time I was in London on a Friday night in the rush hour, I wondered how I'd EVER done it.

If I'd got to travel for that length of time I would rather train it than drive though.

lynzpower

i know a girl who did the Brighton to Holland Park and that always took an hour & half door to door. Lots of people do it from Brighton, quite a lot of people who work in Victoria live in Brighton for example.

But it depends what train line and if you need tube etc as well.

Hermia

I used to have a 1.5-2 hr commute into London. I wouldn't want to do it again. I did it for a year and found that I was burnt out by the end. Plus I had no life outside work because by the time I got home it was too late to go anywhere or join any classes or social groups etc. I just found I was constantly tired from getting up so early and seemed to come down with every cold and bug that was going around. On the plus side I used to get through 1-2 books a day.

The questions you need to ask yourself are:

1) What is the route like? Are there going to have a lot of changes? If you do it will make the whole journey longer and more stressful.

2) What train will you be getting? Is it reliable? Will you be able to get a seat? I often had to spend the entire journey standing.

3) Are you up for it? How will you feel about getting home late every night?

amcluesent

I come down from Peterborough. Yep, loads of things to consider

+ Will you have to use a Tube from the London mainline station. This is a killer!
+ Will your company give your the tools to work on the train (laptop/3G card). If so, you can reasonably offset the travelling as work time.
+ What is the standard of rail service. I come in an NXEC 1st class, which is OK for getting a seat, plus you can use the lounge a KX etc. But it's eye-wateringly expensive...
+ What looks OK now when it's light from 5am to 9pm isn't so clever when you spend winter months getting up in the dark and arriving home in the dark.
+ Can your employer give you a 9 day/fortnight option so every other Friday is work from home? This helps.
+ Can you find a cheap hotel in London, sometimes you are so knackered you have to stay down, in readiness for an early meeting.
+ Forget about working on the way home, everyone reads the Standard
+ Having the season ticket does mean you can get some cheap family trips to London at the weekend with some operators.

The other option is weekly commuting, staying in town Mon-Fri. The web-site is designed to link up weekday lodgers with Londoners who have a spare room but don't want people mooning about at weekends.

lynzpower

I used to have a 1.5-2 hr commute into London. I wouldn't want to do it again. I did it for a year and found that I was burnt out by the end. Plus I had no life outside work because by the time I got home it was too late to go anywhere or join any classes or social groups etc. I just found I was constantly tired from getting up so early and seemed to come down with every cold and bug that was going around. On the plus side I used to get through 1-2 books a day.

My OH used to have a job that was 1.5hours each way on a good day!! AND WE LIVE IN LONDON lol!!

15 mins walk to leytonstone station. get on central line
then change onto jubilee
go to kilburn
get a bus.
walk for 10 mins.

It killed him. He worked 10- 7 - so he got home about 9. Left the house at 8.30...

Quality of life - NIL. That job was really badly paid as well :rotfl:

Reds-on-Sea

snowmaid wrote: »

Which line would you be using? I think that makes a difference. I used to use Nat Express. There would be a train every 6-7 minutes. Depending on where you are, you could wait for half an hour and then everyone is waiting with you and never get a seat.

C2C I'd be going from one end to the other so would always get a seat in the morning, the trains are very regular - every 15 mins in the morning & more on the way back. I wouldn't enjoy having to stand on the way back, but by 1/2 way, there'd be seats.

It's a hard one to call, hour to Tower Hill, then all they way over to Putney. But the ££s is great and I could do all the things I can't now (being poor and all)

DKLS

On average I commute to London up to 3 times a week, from Wakefield, it makes for a 12 hour day, but I can get ahead with working the 4 hours on the train.

Good job work pays for my travel.

Reds-on-Sea

Hermia wrote: »

The questions you need to ask yourself are:

1) What is the route like? Are there going to have a lot of changes? If you do it will make the whole journey longer and more stressful.

Depending on the trains, there's potentially only 1 change to the district line, I'm with you on that one, I don't like the changes.

2) What train will you be getting? Is it reliable? Will you be able to get a seat? I often had to spend the entire journey standing.

Seat out guaranteed, & at least 1/2 the journey on the way home, and I won't miss my stop if I fall asleep as it's the end of the line

3) Are you up for it? How will you feel about getting home late every night?

I think I'm up for it, won't hurt to go for interview I guess. OH gets home about 7 (he rides his motorbike into town every day) and we both have evening things we do, I'm in a band, but it rehearsal isn't til 8:15 & he does various kung fu things, we don't see oodles of eachother on weeknights anyway, so not worried about that.

Also, my current company are going through some hard times, I feel like I should jump ship if I get the chance.

Angel89_2

Yea, but 1.5hours honestly isnt that much at all to travel to work,
im sure lots of people do 2.5+ hours.


For me its 1 3mins train, change and get a 45mins train, change to underground and 5mins on that, then leave underground station and walk 10mins or get bus.

Then same journey back in evening.


The travel cost (peak hours) is equal to just over 2hours salary for me. :(