What would you say a reasonable commute to work would be?

xapprenticex

Answer: Its not much travel at all.



We seem to have gone from travel time to fuel cost.



IMO stay in your current job, if you dont have a job, then take the job, you'll be earning a lot more than what you're getting now.



Consider yourself lucky that you have had short commutes thus far, i remember when I had to do 4 hours per day, providing everything was on time and nothing was cancelled or missed.

[Deleted User]

I've done a 50 mile there and back trip (that was about an hour's drive each journey) before for 3 months for a job that was mainly a consistent 9-6 Monday to Friday - I loved the work and believe looking back I was probably young enough to cope/no ties/no black box with conditions. There was also a plus in that parking on site was provided and West Essex wasn't totally bad to drive around (back then). In the years since I'd even managed to get other employers to take me on who ordinally wouldn't, sometimes, because of that commute alone. Technically the job only lasted a couple of months not though choice but I cannot imagine not having that experience.

The last company had to have a lot of workers only a 15 minute or so walk away because they were quite strict on adherence, couldn't go ready to take a call until the precise hour/minute/second and required manager sign off especially end of day (in 5 years spent chasing call centre's I wish it had been explained sooner! Also shows it can be down to the type of employer) and car parking with them was unlikely to happen so it was get as close as you can - that company were just over a 40 mile round trip and that was stopping and getting a park and ride connection into town so not totally getting to work independently which I soon realised was going to be quite a pitfall. (It altogether took me longer then the above drive) anyway I'll quit going on!

If you are in control of your journey and the wages/salary + benefits works out, the world is your oyster.

tealady

My last job was 50 mins away.
The journey consisted of
10 min walk
30 min bus
10 min walk

The one before was a 2 bus journey and I coped for years.

jackieblack

Jlawson118 wrote: »

the job would be based 42 miles away :eek: Which would approximately be a 50 minute daily commute each way.

Jlawson118 wrote: »

My commute to said new job (providing all was to go well) would be myself driving. It would be from Leeds to Doncaster, so mostly M62 & A1M. Presuming the job started at 7am like most of the role's other shift patterns, I probably wouldn't hit rush hour.

Seems perfectly reasonable

It used to take me 50 minutes to get to work in my nearest big town 9 miles away due to nose-to-tail rush hour traffic crawling along at a snail's pace

My daughter lives about 35 miles away from me and it takes me 45-50 minutes to do that journey. I would happily do that journey every day for the right job, but not, as another poster above said, for minimum wage.

My daughter drives 50 minutes each way to her work (35 miles). She enjoys the drive and uses it as time to clear her head and shed herself of difficult things she's sometimes dealt with during her shift so that by the time she arrives home she's in 'home mode'.

I now work 2 minutes walk from my home and sometimes find it hard to switch from 'work mode' to 'home mode' so I can see the benefit of a longer commute, provided the journey isn't too stressful.

Tigsteroonie

I used to have a commute of 45 minutes driving one-way, that was mostly single track roads with cows occasionally holding things up ...

Now I have a commute of 40-50 minutes consisting of walk, tram, walk.

So I don't think distance is any kind of measure, it's the time taken. And most people I know, 'commute' for up to an hour.

getmore4less

Jlawson118 wrote: »

Fuel did cross my mind straight after the phone call. I get around 400 - 550 miles out of a tank on a good run, so I thought if I'm commuting 84 miles per day, I would be filling up just about every week. Now it would be a managerial job but looking at the average salary for that role within the company on Indeed, it averages around the same as what I'm on now, and I think putting £60 per week in my car would soon start to add up, especially when I am filling it up every 3 - 4 weeks at the moment. It wouldn't bother me too much to put that much in fortnightly, but every week on this salary would be disappointing.

It's not just the fuel, extra services and 2 tyres a year more for most vehicles, along with some other consumables.

martinthebandit

50 minute commute would equal.......


..... a good excuse to get another motorbike!

PasturesNew

Reasonable depends on the salary and "the point".

I know somebody who does 90 miles each way each day ..... in an almost brand new car and they're a higher rate taxpayer that can afford this; they also get generous holidays and flexitime enabling an additional 18 days' annual leave/year. A lot of their salary though is paid out buying new cars and keeping their car serviced and full of fuel.

I used to drive 100 miles round trip/day, to a job that wasn't that well paid and there was no chance of progression within the company - there'd be promotion into new/higher jobs but they'd have not ever paid much more than one started at. I always knew that the day my car broke down driving there/back I'd never be able to go back to work as I couldn't afford to get the car fixed .... so I lasted a year and then was, luckily, laid off as the company had over-stretched itself by opening a new office abroad they couldn't afford.... so that ended well

If the job is low paid, your car is "old" and there's no point in you working there for years as it's not a "career" and there's no chance of progression there.... then there's no point.

If the job is well paid, it's a "career", you can see the salary increasing and your "career" progressing, then there's every point.

Rosemary7391

As PN says it really depends on your situation. Currently I walk 25 minutes. I would probably top out at an hour regular commute and I'd prefer to do it by train; but if I had work from home options I might go further. I might have to go further because I want to stay in Glasgow - currently valuing that more than the commute time to say Edinburgh and with some of that on the train it isn't dead time so to speak. I have voluntary responsibilities so time at home is important to me, plus I live alone so need to do all my cooking etc - no coming home to dinner on the table and no one to wash up while I rush off to my evening meetings! You have to work out what is practical in your situation

warby68

Never had less than an hour each way in 30+ years of employment - currently 1.5h each way and its only 19 miles. Plus expensive as I pay for city centre parking (never had free parking either)

Distance is not really the main thing - its the cost and time of covering that distance that needs to be considered against the benefits of the job. And here OP appears to have no job at present so to get back in work presumably you will put up with more than with a later more voluntary career move.

But to OP, that's a perfectly reasonable commute but clearly out of distance, cost and time , cost will be the main factor for you and 400+ miles pw in your own car has quite an impact.

Very important as well, before committing do trial runs - don't presume ANYWHERE is quiet until you've tried it. Traffic is jammed well before 7 on parts of my route.

Husband is local - 5/10 minute journey - whilst v convenient, he def brings the job home and its not a good thing.