Commuting - An expensive nightmare

artpepper

Dear moneysavers,

I just thought I would throw this post out into the wider world to see if anyone has any tips.

I am currently commuting from Fareham in Hampshire to London Waterloo every day by rail and the price is extortionate.

I have looked all over the car lift share websites for alternatives but obviously nobody is foolish enough to drive this journey five days a week.

I have realised that in order to save money I will have to job hunt closer to home but this is going to be a long process and isn't bearing any fruit at the moment.

If anybody can offer any advice or help I would be incredibly grateful. It's frustrating enough having to sit on endlessly late trains but knowing that you are paying through the roof to do so is even more annoying.

Thanks!

DawnCBUk

HI,

I have commuted for many years going from Car to train to car again. I've been lucky enough to look for a job closer to home and am in the home stretch of interviewing for a job 5 minutes from home (walk there in 40 minutes and benefit from the excercise ).

I think the best suggestion is to look at your job. I had to change careers a few years ago cause I did want a better work life balance. Is commuting really worth it? I was getting an additional 25% on my salary but I was spending 20% on travel and losing an additonal 2.5 hours of my life sitting in my car everyday.

I suggest having a look on the job websites, having a look at all companies in the fareham area and finally looking at companies within a 20 mile radius. Being in Hampshire you are close to the M3 M4 corridor and there are lots of BIG companies out there.


I think it's great that you are on public transport and although it's a nightmare you are doing your part for the environment.

Good Luck!

Dawn

rdwarr

I find that too. I pay about £120 a week to rent a managed office in Stevenage rather than commuting into London. The latter would cost about £90 per week and take 3-4 hours per day. I even go home for lunch!

balsingh

Unfortunately, your options are to either move closer to work or find a new job. Bearing in mind that a substantial chunk of salary is going towards travel, it may be worth taking a job more local that might pay a bit less. You woudl see more money in your pocket each month as you're saving on the travel even though you are actually earning less. Not to mention the time saving!!

If thats not a feasible option in the short term, have you considered asking your employer if its possible to work from home form time to time (maybe twice a week) to reduce the cost an travel time?

The final option is to move to London but thats another story completely!!

vansboy

Or you could do what they often get Kirsty & Phil on LocationLocationLocation to do - find a nice home in the country & a 'bolt hole in the town one of them works in.

Which I think is the worst thing to do, except financially if you get a property boom & make money, I guess.

Much better is to be as near to home & work as you can be!!

We did it even better - bought the house & a yard, where we could run the business from!! Talk about living over shop - DON'T do this!!

& even then, I drove 2-300 miles each day, going auction to auction, to source stock!! Happy days they were!!

VB

poe.tuesday

I travel from stonehendge area to west London 3 days one week and 4 the next, it's round journey each day of about 145 miles, luckily for me I don't have to go into central london, I also cna start work at whatever time and I find that I either start at 7am or 10am as I can get there for this time. It cost me about £15 per day to drive

I am not in the position to change my jobs as I work in a specialist field, I also can not afford (nor do I wish) to move closer to my work place, this I feel is the sacrifice I have to make, I love my job, I love where I live, the travelling is OK though, I have been doing it for 7 years now but I don't know how I would feel in a few more years time

so, you have to wiegh up how much you love your job and/or where you live, if you love both (as I do) and you can not change or are willing to change either then I feel that you just have to smile through the journey, it's the price you have to pay.

If you can't change your job or find one nearer have you though if you can change your hours slightly, that way you could drive to west london (somewhere like Syon lane which is very easy to get to when driving) and then hop on the train to waterloo from there, you don't need to pay for parking around there, you don't have the congestion charge nor do you have to be stuck on a train for hours, you might be stuck in your car but at least you are in your own space, the other option is to look at the lift sharing again but for people who are only going to west london or somewhere where you can get a tube of overland train from

Keith

Have you considered a motorbike? I do a similar length journey into london by bike, and it costs a lot less than by train, and also saves 2-3 hours per day.

MORPH3US

poe.tuesday wrote: »

It cost me about £15 per day to drive

Is that £15 a day JUST FOR PETROL :eek: :eek:

I try to keep my weekly petrol costs to that!!! And even then I am gutted as I want to be able to walk / cycle to work = free!

M

poe.tuesday

MORPH3US wrote: »

Is that £15 a day JUST FOR PETROL :eek: :eek:

I try to keep my weekly petrol costs to that!!! And even then I am gutted as I want to be able to walk / cycle to work = free!

M

yep, I do 145 miles each day I go to work, luckily it's only 15 days a month (or there abouts), my total petrol bill is £225 per month, then on top of that I have service charges etc, but if I was to go on the train it would cost me £35 per day there and back, naturally a monthly card is cheaper but still not as cheap as driving, I also do 12 hour days so if I start at 10am getting home is a nightmare as I have to get a train from wet london into london just to come back out again

I also have a very frugal car that gives me 50mpg motorway driving

the real issue here is that our train services are crap and expensive, we should all be encoraged to use the trains but when you weigh up the costs no-one in my sistution would take the train, it just costs too much

artpepper

Thank you to everyone for responding.

Although I already knew that I would probably have to switch jobs, hearing it from other people helps put things in perspective.

I'm off to job hunt...and maybe join a pressure group campaigning for better public transport.

Cheers!