How long is too long for a commute

[FortuitousFluke]

I've been contacted by an agency about a position in London. Technically it's £17k p/a more than my current job but after season ticket etc would work out as around £200 a month extra in the bank. Now I could use the money, and the increase in job role could allow me to either move to a higher paid position in London, or take a sideways step but closer to home after say 12 months.

The thing that bugs me is I'd be moving from a 35 minute cycle each way to a two hour commute made up of a cycle, a train, and the tube.

So, denizens of GD, given that I'm probably going to have a number of London based opportunities even if this doesn't pan out, in your opinions how long is too long for a commute?

 

[FortuitousFluke]

Ha ha, I love this place sometimes, pretty unanimous response I'd say. The only reason I'm considering it is the potential to drop it after a year and find a similarly paid role back in Cambridge.

I'm thinking I will go for the agency interview at the very least, it's only the location in London that makes it such a pain, something a bit closer to Kings Cross wouldn't nearly be so arduous so I've got no issue with them coming back to me with other opportunities.

I suppose I've got one other question just to put it to bed, given that it's a local authority position, would an element of flexible working change any minds in here, say 1 or two days a week from home?

 

[FortuitousFluke]

It's going to cost you £14,600 a year to commute?

Seems extremely steep.

You're going to be spending an extra 17 hours every 4 weeks commuting for £185.. around £11 an hour.

Should have clarified, the £17k is pre tax, my season ticket would be about £6.5k in total I believe, when you take into account pension increases due to moving up thresholds and student loan etc it works out as roughly £200pm extra in the bank according to listentotaxman.com.

 

[FortuitousFluke]

Local authority very unlikely I would say for working at home. Is it worth suffering it for a year just for an extra £2,400.

I work for a local authority now and most of them are quite big on flexible working, not least because during tight times it has allowed them to scale back their office costs.

Just get a part time job to make that £200 a month. That's nothing. Basically do 6 hours a week and that's your £200 a month.

That is an incredibly good point and I'm extremely annoyed I didn't think of it.

I think I may bow to the wisdom of the group, it's double the length of the longest commute I've ever had to do and I think there are enough opportunities around at the moment for me to avoid taking the hit right now.

Cheers for the sanity check, this place is as useful as ever.

 

[FortuitousFluke]

A few questions kicking around so I'll update a bit with where I am in my thinking.

I've not got any kids at the moment, just me, my fiance and too many cats. We're getting married in July so the kids are likely to come along not to far in the future, however this isn't necessarily an issue as I don't see this role being an overly long term appointment, 1-2 years all being well.

In terms of the reliability of the commute it will be either St Neots, Cambridge, or Huntingdon to Kings Cross and then Kings Cross to Tower Hamlets using tube and DLR (don't quote me). In terms of the trains it's a pretty reliable service with okay stock and, if I opt for Huntingdon or St Neots, I'm almost guaranteed a seat on the way in at least, not sure about Cambridge as I've not done the route at rush hour.

At the moment I think I'm going to keep my options open, I'll see what they have to offer me and make a decision based on the offer (assuming I get one), I think if I can wangle 1-2 days at home a week then it's probably a good fit, if they don't offer that then I'll have to have a think. Looking at the role I'd also need to be top of the scale for it to make sense so it may not even be a goer if they aren't willing to match that (typical agency using the top end estimate when describing the role).

I've been looking for more time to read, a few years ago I have a 1hr commute by bus which gave me loads of time to read, I could also feasibly take the laptop and try to get some housekeeping done so I maximise my time.

We'll see how it goes I guess.

 

[FortuitousFluke]

That must be one expensive season ticket if a £17k pay rise equates to only an extra £2.k take home a year.

Looking again it may be a £250 pm increase, and depending on flexibility I could probably get that even higher by opting for a tubeless season ticket and using an oyster, I'd look into this more a bit later.

Just as a breakdown as people have asked, the pension contributions are a higher percentage than my current job and I have a student loan to pay as well.

Take home before travel would be £2408 vs the current £1650. Travel, assuming the need to get a season ticket for 5 days pw including tube travel (worst case scenario), is £6188 so £515.16 pm leaving about £250 left over. Some of that might go into an additional pension pot though.

 

[FortuitousFluke]

If you're travelling 5 days a week I would be surprised if tubeless season ticket works out cheaper. I'm assuming you will need to make around 500 tube journeys a year - pay as you go costs £2.40 for a single even within Zone 1 (so around £1200 PAYG costs) and a season ticket is £1320 for Zones 1-2.

My Zones 1-6 travelcard adds about £860 to the season ticket cost, so the breakeven point is somewhere around 350 journeys, and also gives me free travel throughout London for leisure activities.

Factoring in only commuting to the office and adjusting for annual leave and bank holidays it's cheaper to use an oyster if I'm in the office 4 days p/w. Having said that there's likely to be some travel to supplier bases etc and of course the season ticket can be used in leisure time so it probably only becomes truly viable if I'm working from home 2 days per week and in the office 3. Depending on the authorities flexible working policy that's not impossible but I'll need to play it by ear.

Chances are I'll opt for the season ticket just to save the hassle.

 

[FortuitousFluke]

£15,000 per year for a season rail ticket?!

I've answered this a few comments up.

 

[FortuitousFluke]

Anything over 80 mins is too much for me. But I'd want to be well paid for being at the top end of commute length. 2hrs each way with numerous interchanges would be pretty tough, especially for 200 a month. HOWEVER, is the job better and the career step worthwhile?

I took a 30% pay cut for my current job, but my work life balance is amazing as are the benefits and my commute (other than it being southern rail) is easy.

This is the added value that kind of has me interested. I'm currently a business development analyst, the new post is a commercial and strategy contracts manager which is a pretty decent step up in terms of recognition (I'm probably doing a lot of what the job entails at my current place, I'm just not being paid for it).

Ultimately I'd use it as a stepping stone and either look for a further step up in a year or so, or a sideways move closer to home thus providing a £6k after tax pay increase (by allowing me to drop the season ticket) if I can wangle something in Cambridge.