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

marlot

Jlawson118 wrote: »

After applying constantly for new jobs for months, I got a call yesterday with regards to a job interview. To which I realised the job would be based 42 miles away :eek: Which would approximately be a 50 minute daily commute each way.
I'm more than likely going to have to turn the opportunity down. Though I'm curious as to what people on this forum think a reasonable commute time would be?

I've commuted more than that for most of my career - whether its travel to London (20 mins by car plus an hour on the train) or elsewhere (mostly by car, though I have done train too).

My current commute is a 45 mile cross country trip - I've negotiated to work extended days (so 4 x 10-hour days) - so I leave at 6am for a 7am start, and leave the office around 5pm, getting home about 6:30pm. I also managed to wangle a day a week working from home. Previous to that it was about about 100 miles each way on motorways.

It all comes down to the alternatives, and being creative!

Edited to add: Google maps is brilliant - you can put in your proposed journey and ask it to predict the traffic at a particular day/time.

splishsplash

Assuming an eight hour day/five day week then your travel is adding 25% to your working week and you're paying for the privilege.

That would be too much for me.

Cost to me would be time away from home; fuel; cost of servicing and replacing tyres more often; carbon footprint; wasted resources if travelling alone; increased risk of accident; etc. Quite a high cost, but then, I've never lived more than ten minutes from work by design.

I *might* consider it if it was short term but very lucrative or definitely leading to something else OR if it yielded something I couldn't get locally (a qualification, for example).

The other option is to move closer to the job if it has good long term prospects.

TELLIT01

The longest I've had is about 40 minutes each way. That was motorway almost door to door so not too bad. I certainly wouldn't have wanted to travel much further on a daily basis. The offices were right on a motorway junction but the company was considering moving us to a city centre. If that had happened I would have been looking for another job as it would have doubled the time although only adding about 10 miles to the journey.

System

Jlawson118 wrote: »

Wow I didn't realise people's commutes would be as much as that! I've been in three different jobs, my first being 15/20 minutes away (45 - 60 in rush hour but that didn't bother me), my second being around a two minute drive, and my current being ten minutes!

For almost all of my working life I've had to travel 30 miles each way taking between 35 minutes and an hour depending on where it was and time of day.

eamon

Work is 6 miles away and I drive. In the mornings takes around 25 minutes and in the evening 35mins to 1h 5mins. For some unknown reason the evening journey on Wednesday takes over an hour. If I was to use the bus it would take 45mins and 1h 15mins and that would entail 1 change.
Just too many people & cars for the local road network. When the schools are closed everything is faster. Some years back I done a 60 mile (120 daily) commute. Wouldn't do it again due to fuel costs etc.
As for the OP, Leeds to Donny 5 days a week. You would need a significant salary uplift to make it worth while.

shortcrust

If I worked 9 to 5, five days a week I'd want my commute to be no more than 30 mins on a good day, 60 mins max with bad traffic etc. You'd have to pay me a fortune for me to do more than that.

BookmobileBadGirl

For four years I had a two hour commute (door to door), in July I moved to a new job which is 75 minute commute (door to door) and from December I shall have a 90 minute commute.

50 minutes is nothing

pmduk

Jobcentre Plus require you to consider jobs within 90 minutes journey time. NB, not that you're on benefit.

Jlawson118

xapprenticex wrote: »

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.

I meant the thread as a bit of a comparison regarding travelling times and fuel costs (I should have made it more clear to begin with). Before I was driving, it always used to take me an hour's commute to college, university etc on public transport, whereas driving for 50 minutes can work out more expensive than a 'season ticket' on public transport.

I am still in my current job, and as stressful as it is getting, I do plan to stick at it until I find something else. I've got my fingers crossed for an application I've recently put in which is actually based about 0.5 miles, if that, to where I first ever worked, and would allow me to finally put my university degree into a job, as well as the work experience I've got from this one.

But I've still got to keep my options open for if I'm to be unsuccessful

Murphybear

If you sign on and get JSA I believe the rules are that you are expected to take any job that involves a commute of 90 minutes - each way :eek: