How far would you travel each day for work before relocating?

[postbox]

I used to live 6 mins walk from work, then I decided to live in a City centre an hours drive away - I'm much happier for it though, as there's a million more things to do (there's only so much boredom you can take living in a sleepy country town in your 20's)
I get to work from home on a Friday & as soon as I mentioned I was looking for a job closer to where I live I got a promotion + payrise which more than makes up for it

 

[Bear]

Why wouldn't you move?

1 hour each way max and that includes any delays, transit times etc. which may occur.

Because my wife works in London as is very well paid.

 

[HangTime]

Would depend on the circumstances i.e. how cost-effective relocating was. For the right salary I'd commmute for 3-4hrs a day (1.5-2hrs each way) and but might consider relocating if housing was a lot cheaper near the workplace or there was some other circumstance that made me want to move. I used to commute ~1.5hrs each way and in the end relocated to somewhere a ~27min walk away because I was confident I'd be at the company a while and we wanted to get out of the area we were living in.

When looking for new employers location is pretty important to me and I rule out anywhere I can't get to in under 2hrs by public transport (which does limit me a lot due to poor links where I live - it rules out London and some places in M3/M4 corridor that aren't next door to a mainline station). Main reason being my wife and I are very settled in our current home. Theoretically I might consider moving if I was offered 'silly money' to work elsewhere but realistically that isn't going to happen as I'm not actively pursuing those sort of opportunities.

It can be pretty annoying when you see jobs advertised through an agency which are vague on location i.e. they name a town with a mainline station but it turns out the job is actually in some remote business park or a nearby village.

 

[krooton]

1:15 each way is the most I have had, and probably the most I would do.

 

[CJonny]

An hour is my max. I have been in the situation where it took me 1h45 to get into work before. At the start I found it no problem as I was just happy to have a job at the time. After a few months though I found it was really getting me down; getting back for work just in time to have my dinner and go to sleep and then doing it all again the next day. I was waking up later and later each morning and dreading going back to work.

 

[Destination]

45-50 mins either direction, did 35 mins for 10 years, recently went down to about 5 mins, would barely be bothered travelling any further in future.

 

[Curunen]

No more than an hour including walking if public transport.
No more than 40 mins if driving.

 

[Amp34]

I've done the full spectrum before, 1.5-2 hours each way on public transport (Haywards Heath to Enfield ), 30 mins each way by car, now settled nicely on 7 mins each way by car. Not much money in my profession so it'll be a long time before I consider increasing my current commute!

7 minutes by car?! Why not walk or cycle? Better for the environment, better for your health, your wallet and the wear on your car. You never know it may only take a couple of minutes extra by bike as well (especially when you include parking and other things like scraping windows in the winter)!

 

[Infidelus]

7 minutes by car?! Why not walk or cycle? Better for the environment, better for your health, your wallet and the wear on your car. You never know it may only take a couple of minutes extra by bike as well (especially when you include parking and other things like scraping windows in the winter)!

I used to work about that far (by car) from work, and I still used to drive.

Why?

At first, because I was lazy and didn't have any other mode of transport, and I don't do walking. It's the most boring, tedious, trudgefest of a way to get anywhere ever IMO.

Eventually, even after I bought a bicycle, I still drove to work - because I hated the company I worked for and didn't want to spend any more time than absolutely necessary getting to and from a place that I despised.

Simple really

 

[trickycurve]

My girlfriend's mum got a bike for her birthday because she wanted to cycle to work instead of drive (it's a 10 minute journey by car at most), but she's never once used said bike. Although her reason I believe is more along the lines of not wanting to be seen riding a bike around (she's quite a large woman) rather than despising her workplace.

 

[GTAMADDOG]

The time my commute takes seems to be determined by whether it's the school holidays or not. Over the Summer when it was the Summer Holidays I could drive all the way to work without stopping once and it would take 35 minutes. As soon as the kids are back at school an absolutely ridiculous amount of traffic appears from no-where and it isn't even anywhere near a school, so it adds at least 15 minutes to my commute on the way to work. At the moment I leave home at 8 and get to work at 8:55.

It's 25 miles each way, which isn't a drastic amount, but over a week I do 300 miles and it's as much as I would do. Any more and I personally still wouldn't relocate, I'd just find another job, but then again I probably wouldn't apply for one further away in the first place.

 

[kiwi]

7 minutes by car?! Why not walk or cycle? Better for the environment, better for your health, your wallet and the wear on your car. You never know it may only take a couple of minutes extra by bike as well (especially when you include parking and other things like scraping windows in the winter)!

In descending order of importance: I'm lazy, I sometimes carry heavy stuff to and from work, I don't own a bike, my commute is mostly spent avoiding running over cyclists.

Edit: plus I'm spending a fortune on insurance, the least I can do is make a vague attempt at crashing it to get my money's worth.

 

[wannabedamned]

Barnsley to Dewsbury without driving.

Had to be in Dewsbury for 8am. I basically walked out of my door at 5.30am and arrived in Dewsbury for 7:10am

Thats using a bus and 2 trains.

I actually used to enjoy the commute too

 

[phill1978]

went from 8 mins (in car for me) and 5mins walk for gf to 1hr each way in the car for both of us (car share) we have been doing it for 8 years and got used to it, but it really adds to the week. At least it feels like we are a together more (well technically we are but its not quality time)

There are people i work with who start at 8.00 and finish at 4.00 so there getting about 2.00 more than me a day back (and what does anyone do between 8.00 and 9.00 before others get in..? surf of course)

its about time we both moved back local if not for the inevitability of fuel skyrocketing and commuting time through congestion getting worse, thats my biggest worry. The original move doubled my wage and put about 50% on hers + she trained up in accountancy so it was worth it up until now that is. If we could get the best of both worlds we would be set tbh

 

[Devrij]

I go about 1.5hrs each way on 2 trains, and tbh that's too much for me. I wouldn't mind so much if the money were great, but it's just alright. Leaving my house at 7 and getting home 12hrs later is pretty rubbish.

 

[Pawnless Endgame]

My worst commute was Stafford-Walsall on the trains as I'm unable to drive. For a 9AM start, I would need to leave the house at 7AM, arrive at the station for 7:28 service, which changes once and gets me to Walsall for 8:44, then a 10-minute walk to my place of work. I mean, like, 4 hours round trip just to work 8 hours seemed pointless to me. Thankfully this was years ago and I was one of many temps that got laid off because they massly over-recruited through the agency.

I'm very much for the idea that you live and work in the same town. 40-minute commute now; 20 on bus, 20 on foot. In Stafford.

 

[Mr^B]

I go about 1.5hrs each way on 2 trains, and tbh that's too much for me. I wouldn't mind so much if the money were great, but it's just alright. Leaving my house at 7 and getting home 12hrs later is pretty rubbish.

Would it be better if it was just one train? Is it the length of the journey or the fact you have to change?

For me it always has to be ONE train and a walk.

I had an argument with a recruitment agent once about the term "walking distance". In that he considered that the Westminster was within walking distance of Liverpool St. station. For those who don't live/work in London, that's about an hour's walk.

"Well, you *can* walk it, can't you?"

*sigh*

 

[Posty]

Over an hour and I would consider relocating. Currently I am spending about 45 minutes each way and I feel I need to move closer. My old job was 20 minutes away by car which felt just right.

 

[Craig R]

30minutes? An hour? 2 maybe even 3 hours? Would the mode of transport make a difference too? i.e. You wouldn't do 2 hours in a car but would consider it in a train?

I haven't really made my mine up about it yet so I'm wondering what other people think.

Any more than about 50 minutes and I would seriously consider relocating.

 

[Devrij]

Would it be better if it was just one train? Is it the length of the journey or the fact you have to change?

For me it always has to be ONE train and a walk.

I had an argument with a recruitment agent once about the term "walking distance". In that he considered that the Westminster was within walking distance of Liverpool St. station. For those who don't live/work in London, that's about an hour's walk.

"Well, you *can* walk it, can't you?"

*sigh*

It's both really. The change is what makes it a long journey. If I spent the same journey time on one train it just means my chances of standing up on a cramped train for the whole journey are higher, rather than having a second shot at lining up with the doors and getting a seat. Ideally it'd be one 40min shot from my stop to Leeds, but my local train runs once an hour. For a week in Oct it won't run at all so it'll be walk - bus - train - walk