Daily commute from Bedford to Slough. Journey time?

hebangsthedrums

Hi Everyone, I asked this question in a similar thread on the employment board, but didn't want to hijack there and thought I may get a few more responses here...

Basically I am due to start my first non temp job since uni soon, near Slough, and I will initially commute from where I live near Bedford. I was wondering if anyone else did a similar journey or part of that journey, and how long I should anticipate it taking.

I haven't had my contract through yet but anticipate working 9-5 so needing to be there 8.50ish. I am open to doing part of the journey by train but this doesn't appear viable from my research.

Thanks in advance guys!

seftonsun

By car the most direct route is M1, M25 and M4. But depends where in Slogh and where in Bedford. These are not the easiest of roads in the rush hour and I would suggest that you will need anything between 1 and 2 hours for the journey. With closer to 2 hours the more likely. If there are accidents expect anything upto 2 hours more.

You have not picked an easy commuting journey I'm afraid. Busy, busy, busy.

Good luck

zincoxide

You have chosen a very busy route, down the M1 onto the M25, then if I was you I'd come off at the M40 and take the backroads into slough via Iver. I'd still give myself at least an hour and a half for the journey depending on what time of day you'll be leaving.

Keith

It takes me 25 minutes to get from J11 of the M1 to J6A (M25) and I'm on a motorbike and not stationary. I'd allow 45 minutes alone for that stretch of motorway.

hebangsthedrums

Thanks guys! I would be going from a village just outside bedford along the a421 to the m1. The destination is actually langley not slough, but I thought Slough may be a more common destination. I would need to be there for 9 so hopefully leaving just before 7 is fine - I am just worried about traffic particularly with the widening near Luton.

Any suggestions in terms of doing part of the journey by rail?

Oh and I know its not the best commute but I really want the job and hopefully won't have to do it for too long!

anewman

If you get a sat nav, at least on the tomtom, it lets you create a route avoiding the roads you want to avoid. So it sort of does a next-best route. Or the other way is to set it to "shortest route" but this won't be the quickest or most economical. The more pricier sat navs come with a traffic thingy, which supposedly receives traffic reports from the radio and re-routes automatically if it expects the journey using the route you're taking to take longer due to traffic. I understand that this doesn't always work as well as it sounds it should though in practice. I used the old tomtom traffic a while ago (during it's trial period) which was the version where you used your mobile phone and bluetooth. It sent me off the motorway which was moving slowly onto some nice fast empty A roads, rejoined the motorway only to find myself with the same car I had beside me as I left the motorway. So no time advantage but missed most of the long crawl along the motorway.

devils_spawn

I used to live in Langley - take the back roads from the M40 J1 and simply follow the signs towards Slough then towards Langley (down a road called Mansion Lane).

The busiest parts of your journey are the M1 and M25.

The whole journey should take about 2hrs if done by train, you'd get the train from Bedford to St Pancras, the tube to Paddington then an overground train from Paddington to Langley.

debsy42

My daily commute used to be 12.9 miles and I had to give it at least an hour in rush-hour traffic along the M60 to make sure I got to work on time :eek: Good luck with the job but I'd start looking for something a bit closer to home

Bob63

I commuted for three years from Milton Keynes to High Wycombe which is a shorter route but very similar. It would take a minimum of 45 minutes but more typically up to 90 minutes - especially if I was trying to get to the office for 9:00am.

The motorways would be a disaster. Even taking a cross country route e.g. Bedford - Woburn - Wipsnade - Berkhamsted - Chesham - Amersham - Beaconsfield - Slough would be subject to a huge amount of possible delay during rush hour. Bottom line is unless you are prepared to do a commute like this by motorcycle, in which case the commute time will never vary, then it could take you anywhere up to two hours and you simply won't be able to predict an individual journey unless you leave home at 5:00am and leave work after 8:00pm.

Mike

amcluesent

Agree with other posters, this route would be a nightmare and you're nerves would be in tatters after a couple of weeks. I used to do Peterborough-Crawley every couple of weeks and it was mental.

If the job is that good, can you consider lodging near Slough Mon-Thu and commuting weekly?

dzug

By getting a train part of the way I assume you mean driving to a station and completing your journey by train.

I really don't think that's on - it would need to be somewhere between Paddington and Langley to be of any help at all - and anywhere there would be just as if not more difficult than driving all the way.