Train vs Car

Okay_2-2

Sorry if this is in the wrong forum.. couldn't find something more suitable.

I've recently landed a new job, however it's about 56.0 mi away from me in London and i'm trying to figure out the best way of getting there and back.

I done some quick research and found that it'd cost around £10-£16 a day at the current petrol prices, however this would mean i'd need to buy a car and get the insurance on top of that (as i don't drive yet, i'm 19)

Then i looked into train prices and to start with i looked at the calculator national rail provides on their site...

ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/en/s/seasonticket/calculator

This comes out with quite a big figure.. around £4,800.00 - this would be from Cambridge to Farringdon.

I don't really need to to be 7 days a week, as it's only going to be used 5 days a week.


I'm pretty new to traveling to a job in London could anyone provide me with some advice?


Thanks!

d3mon4ngel

£4800 sounds a lot, but I assume it is for a whole year. If you work that out over 5 working days a week, it comes to about £18.39 a day.

For a car, at the minimum you will need to take account of:
- Buying the car
- Insurance
- Tax
- MOT
- Petrol
- Parking in London
- Maintenance

Plus you will have the hassle of actually finding a parking space, traffic jams, the M25, etc etc...

If you have to commute into London, I'd stick with the train personally.

Mark_In_Hampshire

Congratulations on your new job!

What this will mostly come down to is whether there is parking and what the parking costs. It's normally scandallous in London. My feeling is that trains are generally dearer than driving for almost every route apart from London and that's simply down to the parking cost; most of the time, trains only make sense when there's no alternative. But London is different.

A friend of mine has a bit of a deal going with one of the NCP car park attendants, so drives in to central London every day as he gets to park for a fiver, but it would cost most people £30+ for the day.

The plus point of the train is that you can do something else like read on the way there and back. On the other hand, in a car you get a seat in both directions

Simon11

I've look at FCC, to save money, you could purchase Cambridge to London Termius(Kings Cross) for only £3,764. Then use the old legs and walk to Farringdon (About a mile away). You therefore save £1,036. Just remember the walk to farrindon and back in a day will save you £4.31

Okay_2-2

wow, you've all been very helpful!! I'm going to phone around tomorrow and take into account your suggestions.. a 1 mile walk a day might be quite refreshing and could keep me fit.. so sounds like a good idea!

atcdist

Bring your iPod with you, it makes the distance "seems" shorter.

tower

And don't forget the £40 p/w congestion charge.

thorsoak

Your employer will probably have a season ticket loan scheme - whereby they will give you a cheque for an annual season ticket, payable to whatever rail company you choose to use. Deducted (interest free) from your monthly salary, it always shows a saving over a monthly ticket - and an even greater saving over weekly tickets. Unless of course, you can work off-peak hours.

Okay_2-2

Okay I've taken a look at the costs and was wondering if someone could double check I'm selecting the right options!!


If i visit nationalrail.co.uk and put in Cambridge to Farringdon that'll show you the journey i need to make (i'd prefer just 1 changeover, which takes 1 hour 40)

Now if i wanted to get a season ticket I'd visit ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/en/s/seasonticket/calculator and select the same journey and for duration i'd select week, could someone tell me what if the first season ticket actually covers the underground changeover? because it says some underground travel isn't covered.

Thanks!!


Thanks

Kieran

hippey

Cambridge to London is £3764 if you don't get the Travel card element. Therefore that means you get travel on any permitted route from Cambridge to Kings X and get off and walk to Farringdon.

The more expensive option will give you Zones 1-6 travel as well, which if you are wanting to save money then you don't really need. However it may be worth trying a couple of ways of getting to work before you decide as you might well find walking to work a right pain!

Okay_2-2

Cheers for your help! I'm starting my new job tomorrow so for the first week i'll probabaly end up buying tickets at the station, then i'll venture into getting weekly/monthly season tickets. So just to confirm, the first season ticket / set of prices when you enter Cambridge to Farringdon on the season ticket calculator does not include the underground changeover? but the second one does?

Sorry i'm new to all of this and well, i'm a bit worried i'll get it wrong!!