Commuting to london

hanvyj

Hi,

My wife has been forced into a horrific commute from Portsmouth to Tottenham Court Road - for an £8 an hour retail job.

I checked the season ticket prices and it comes out with a pant wetting £6250 (1 month tickets, we can't be sure she will be working 12 months there, hopefully not!). It's cheaper with a 'southern only' ticket but we aren't sure which trains this covers, only the paltry sum of £5820 with an Oyster card.

I have to say... that sum of money is just... It will be 39% of her income! Crazy high. We could buy a car every year for that.

Problem is, she can't drive and, well, it's London.


Question: Is there any cheaper ways to get frequent train travel? Anything at all?

wealdroam

The Southern only ticket means travelling along the south coast via Chichester, Barnham, Arundel, Gatwick etc... for example.

A much longer route than the more direct route via Haslemere and Guildford.

hanvyj

wealdroam wrote: »

The Southern only ticket means travelling along the south coast via Chichester, Barnham, Arundel, Gatwick etc... for example.

A much longer route than the more direct route via Haslemere and Guildford.

Thanks for that, it wasn't very clear on the website. It's definitely worth getting the slightly more expensive ticket for a direct route.

cynicalgit_2

Are there not jobs nearer home that pay that kind of money? That sounds very non cost effective to me.

The_ICT_Engineer

wealdroam wrote: »

The Southern only ticket means travelling along the south coast via Chichester, Barnham, Arundel, Gatwick etc... for example.

A much longer route than the more direct route via Haslemere and Guildford.

The journey time by the Southern route is only 20 to 25 minutes longer than the faster South-West service. Also the Southern trains on that route are far more comfortable than the South-West Trains.

http://www.no450.co.uk

agrinnall

This has got to be a troll, nobody with any sense would travel from Portsmouth to London (at least 3 hours a day on the train, plus the time spent getting to TCR) for an £8 an hour job.

yorkie2

The_ICT_Engineer wrote: »

The journey time by the Southern route is only 20 to 25 minutes longer than the faster South-West service.

But not to the same destination, and the frequency of Southern is only once per hour.

0650 from Portsmouth & Southsea gets you to Victoria 0901.

But if you take SWT, leaving just 3 minutes earlier at 0647, you arrive 29 minutes earlier into Waterloo - which is nearer Tottenham Court Road.

Furthermore, a 2 minute walk over the footbridge from Waterloo to Waterloo East, and for no extra cost, a London Terminals ticket can be used to get to Charing Cross - which is then approx 15 minutes walking distance of Tottenham Court Road. In fact, you'd be at Tottenham Court Road before the Southern train got to Victoria.

It's cheaper and quicker, to get the 'Any Permitted' ticket which is valid to Charing Cross, than it is to get the 'Southern Only' ticket which includes travel on London Underground.

The_ICT_Engineer

agrinnall wrote: »

This has got to be a troll, nobody with any sense would travel from Portsmouth to London (at least 3 hours a day on the train, plus the time spent getting to TCR) for an £8 an hour job.

In the world according to Ian Dimwit Smith, Jobseekers must travel for up to 90 minutes each way for the Min Wage jobs.

hanvyj

cynicalgit wrote: »

Are there not jobs nearer home that pay that kind of money? That sounds very non cost effective to me.

There would be, and possibly better ones... but we are just closing/signing/exchaning on buying a house and a change of employer would really mess that up.

It might be okay, but we'd rather take the annoyance and expense of the commute over risking loosing the house.

Hopefully after a few months she can find a new position. Maybe I shouldn't be so concerned with the price that being the case... But still, if there are some tricks to save a few hundred quid I'd be silly not to try find them.

hanvyj

The_ICT_Engineer wrote: »

In the world according to Ian Dimwit Smith, Jobseekers must travel for up to 90 minutes each way for the Min Wage jobs.

I do feel sorry for anyone that has to take a job because of jobseekers - this just outlines how stupid it would be for minimum wage. With a 19 year old it would be 60% of your 40 hour a week minimum wage!

hanvyj

agrinnall wrote: »

This has got to be a troll, nobody with any sense would travel from Portsmouth to London (at least 3 hours a day on the train, plus the time spent getting to TCR) for an £8 an hour job.

Not been accused of being a troll before!

It sounds rediculous - but the job means we have no change in financial situation acording to our mortgage application as it's the same job, same company - different stores.

We don't have to get 're-evaluated' a month before exchange + she will not have been made redundant (which would happen if she didn't take it, as her current shop is closing down). Meaning she's not going to be unemployed and we wont have to wait god knows how long for a new job (could be a month, but that's a month that could destroy our house purchase) and wait for pay slips/get contracts that outline pay etc.

It is pretty ridiculous, and not a permanent thing - hopefully a new position will appear closer, and if not she will want to leave eventually I expect.


It is also a good opportunity though, might be £8 an hour but its a flagship floor with a lot more responsibility than current - easy stepping stone to assistant manager. So there is a little more to it than the pay.