Places to live while commuting to London

wjr4

Another vote for Chelmsford!

steampowered

A 1hour 15 minute commute each way is a long time. Especially when you factor in waiting for a train, train delays and reaching your final destination. I did that for awhile and it took its toll, particularly when I started working long hours.

For £1,750 pcm you could get a 2-bed flat within London itself at a much shorter commute.

Have a look round https://www.zoopla.co.uk/travel-time/

hazyjo

FYI Chelmsford annual train ticket (no tubes, as with others I quoted) is £4092.


I find Chelmsford a little too big and busy for me, but agree it should be on the list and worth considering.

zagubov

steampowered wrote: »

A 1hour 15 minute commute each way is a long time. Especially when you factor in waiting for a train, train delays and reaching your final destination. I did that for awhile and it took its toll, particularly when I started working long hours.

For £1,750 pcm you could get a 2-bed flat within London itself at a much shorter commute.

Have a look round https://www.zoopla.co.uk/travel-time/

I'll second that- you'll find the extra length commuting adds to your working day will come to feel like a real burden.

hazyjo

steampowered wrote: »

A 1hour 15 minute commute each way is a long time. Especially when you factor in waiting for a train, train delays and reaching your final destination. I did that for awhile and it took its toll, particularly when I started working long hours.

For £1,750 pcm you could get a 2-bed flat within London itself at a much shorter commute.

Just to add, I prefer my train journey from Leigh to my old one from Chingford, even though it's 13 mins longer (generally). Fen St station is so much more civilised than Liv St. I used to get very stressed there, 18 platforms and thousands of bolshy people. Fen St is just a dream. 4 platforms - which seem to clear much quicker than the ones at Liv St too so I don't mind hanging back and getting off with the stragglers, and the trains are so much nicer. Lots of seats, aircon/heating that works (99% of the time!), and I just feel so much calmer generally.


Don't start me off on tubes. I think I'd be dead within 5 years if I had to go back to that every day! :eek:

I would only do longer journeys if it meant I could walk the other end. No way would I factor in a change or a tube at the end. Mine is just under 1.5 hours each way (always said I'd not want more than an hour), but I'm not minding it at all! 45 mins on train ish, 10 min walk from home, 20 min walk to work (and a bit extra to allow for waiting on platform, etc). I work 9-6.

OP - what area are you currently in?

SouthLondonUser

You really need to look at the frequency of the trains. If there is one every 20 minutes, there will be times when one train is cancelled, the next is too full and you must wait for yet another one before being able to get on. I.e. you will be late and miserable.

Do you have a partner? Children? You won’t be doing school drop-offs and pickups, right? Two adults in a family with children both commuting long distance can be tricky – there will be times when neither of you can pick up a child on time.

Do your homework on the reliability of the train line. Remember what happened to Southern rail a few summers ago? There are people who moved away from areas served by Southern for that reason. Not all lines (the Balham to Victoria seemed fine), but most suffered massively. Remember that many people will always downplay problems because, you know, wherever they live is best etc etc etc.

Don’t underestimate travel costs. Do you need to add parking to the costs? There are many towns where the station is far from the town centre, and, even if it’s in the middle of nowhere, there’s nowhere else to park but the station car park – this can easily add £1k per year. Remember that, when train companies couldn’t increase fares as much as they would have liked, they increased car park fares massively, because they’re not regulated. What could commuters do? Walk 3 miles to the station? Move elsewhere? I know people in Surrey who pay more than £5k per year for their commute (ca. £3,500 for the train, £900 to add the tube, another £900 for parking).

Do you really need to move outside the M25? Would you consider areas towards the end of the central line, e.g. near Epping Forest?