Associate
Anything over an hour will cause an issue eventually - if you really enjoy the role or believe there is an opportunity to progress then its manageable.
How long is too long for a commute
- Thread starter FortuitousFluke
- Start date
Depends on how you feel, I personally wouldn't do it but when I worked in London there was a couple who worked with me who travelled in from Long Eaton everyday, they caught the train down and got in the office around 7ish and then left at 3 to catch the train home.
I did 9 weeks of a 2 hour 2 x train ride to Crewe and back and even though you're sat on the train it is still a ballache (I did negotiate a £40 a day increase on my rate though).
I did 9 weeks of a 2 hour 2 x train ride to Crewe and back and even though you're sat on the train it is still a ballache (I did negotiate a £40 a day increase on my rate though).
No more than 30 minutes is ideal. An hour is the maximum, as anything else becomes soul destroying. Even if you're doing an hour each way, that's ten hours a week out of your life just travelling to and from work. It quickly becomes miserable.
The only time it becomes bearable is if you can do something you love on the way. When I used to motorbike to work, people used to say I arrived with a smile on my face, but I wouldn't enjoy it nowadays with hugely increased traffic and speed cameras everywhere.
The only time it becomes bearable is if you can do something you love on the way. When I used to motorbike to work, people used to say I arrived with a smile on my face, but I wouldn't enjoy it nowadays with hugely increased traffic and speed cameras everywhere.
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Is that a realistic commute time? Including waiting around, delays and everything else working in London throws at you. Theoretically working in London for me is an hour each way however realistically it was often two hours each way for no other reason than delays which compound.
The same house half way up the line towards London would be another 50% for me
The same house half way up the line towards London would be another 50% for me
I've been doing 1+ hour commute for about 20 years. No issues for me, and if you use the time wisely (reading, and more recently watching vids, etc) then it can actually be quite useful.
Current commute depends on which office, but is about 1hr 20 mins each way.
There is no way I could earn as much working elsewhere, and no way I can move closer in, and sometimes you just have to adjust. So don't write it off, and consider the long-term benefits and also see if you can actually deal with it.
There's no denying that sometimes it is an utter pain, especially with delays on the trains, cancellations, crowds, etc - but for the most part, I find it actually quite agreeable.
Current commute depends on which office, but is about 1hr 20 mins each way.
There is no way I could earn as much working elsewhere, and no way I can move closer in, and sometimes you just have to adjust. So don't write it off, and consider the long-term benefits and also see if you can actually deal with it.
There's no denying that sometimes it is an utter pain, especially with delays on the trains, cancellations, crowds, etc - but for the most part, I find it actually quite agreeable.
Permabanned
Too much. Missing/delayed trains will often make it much longer commuting to London.
Anything over an hour gets to be a real drag imo.
Anything over an hour gets to be a real drag imo.
I also don't understand the concept of a commute being "wasted hours out of your life". Maybe back in the 70s you were stuck with reading the paper, reading a book - but now? Movies, podcasts, unlimited books on a kindle, episodes, play games - take a laptop, learn a language (if you can get a seat).
I think my only proviso to the above, having written it down, is that you'd need to be able to more-or-less guarantee that you'd get a seat - over an hour commute, standing up all the way? No thanks.
I think my only proviso to the above, having written it down, is that you'd need to be able to more-or-less guarantee that you'd get a seat - over an hour commute, standing up all the way? No thanks.
Permabanned
I live half a mile away and get an extra hour or so in bed. Totally worth not having to commute to London. 
(Though its only 45 minutes on train from here to Liverpool st)
(Though its only 45 minutes on train from here to Liverpool st)
Soldato
I do 90 minutes each way 5 days a week and have been since 2001.
Tube across London, train out to near LHR and a short bus trip. Until 2008, I used to be Reading based, so the job change meant my commute took the same time, but was 20 miles shorter and £300 a month cheaper. The £15K pay rise and way out of a dead end job didn't hurt either.
I'm not going to lie, the commute is an utter pain in the arse as it means I'm out the door at 07:00 and not home befor 20:00. I could drive, but it would take twice as long and cost me at least £500 a month more as I'd have to buy and run a second car.
Moving nearer to work was never an option due to wife and kids being settled locally. Area where I work is an utter toilet.
The one saving grace is that I get to listen to audio books or watch TV series on my iPad that I probably wouldn't get to hear/see if I had a short commute.
Tube across London, train out to near LHR and a short bus trip. Until 2008, I used to be Reading based, so the job change meant my commute took the same time, but was 20 miles shorter and £300 a month cheaper. The £15K pay rise and way out of a dead end job didn't hurt either.
I'm not going to lie, the commute is an utter pain in the arse as it means I'm out the door at 07:00 and not home befor 20:00. I could drive, but it would take twice as long and cost me at least £500 a month more as I'd have to buy and run a second car.
Moving nearer to work was never an option due to wife and kids being settled locally. Area where I work is an utter toilet.
The one saving grace is that I get to listen to audio books or watch TV series on my iPad that I probably wouldn't get to hear/see if I had a short commute.
I did between 1.5 and 2hrs each way for around 6 years and it really ground me down. You don't realise how much because it becomes normal. One day I had enough, picked up sticks, moved into town, and now walk to work in 10 minutes. It's not the money - although 3-4k in the bank extra per year is nice! - but the time. 4 hours more every day to do what you want. The new flat isn't as big as our old or the area as nice - we were 5 mins from the beach in a beautiful part of the country - but really, who cares? Before I had no time to appreciate it - get home, eat, sleep, rinse and repeat. Bascially during the week there was no life. Now I have more free time than ever before and the affect on my happiness couldn't be more profound. Honestly, I Wouldn't go back for a 20k pay raise. 30 mins each way is now my max and if that requires moving, then so be it.
Associate
Contracted in 'the city' a year. commute was 2 hours door to door. There were downsides to the traveling but I massively increased my reading time. I used it as much as possible for gaining new certifications and also reading for pleasure.
I also found that being in the centre of London every day increased my social life. I live in the sticks so the broad range of things to do in town was great to experience new stuff. I greatly appreciated meeting up with friends for dinner and drinks and catching the last train back or spending long weekends doing fun stuff.
It really depends on whether you going to make the most of the opportunity imo. it's not a great deal more money for quite a lot of effort, but the work experience / social / cultural aspects may make up for that. Worth remembering also that the cost of getting into and out of the city is eyewatering and you may not feel, after all is said and done, that the bump is worth it.
I now commute by car to MK which is about 45mins to an hour. It's not nearly as enjoyable but I do listen to podcasts in the car. It's really the limit of what i would want to drive. Unfortunately there's not as much social aspect because...it's Milton Keynes, well my snowboarding has improved at xscape.
edit: If i was to accept another role int eh city, I would probably look to move as, for me, it was similar in cost to my total commute per month.
I also found that being in the centre of London every day increased my social life. I live in the sticks so the broad range of things to do in town was great to experience new stuff. I greatly appreciated meeting up with friends for dinner and drinks and catching the last train back or spending long weekends doing fun stuff.
It really depends on whether you going to make the most of the opportunity imo. it's not a great deal more money for quite a lot of effort, but the work experience / social / cultural aspects may make up for that. Worth remembering also that the cost of getting into and out of the city is eyewatering and you may not feel, after all is said and done, that the bump is worth it.
I now commute by car to MK which is about 45mins to an hour. It's not nearly as enjoyable but I do listen to podcasts in the car. It's really the limit of what i would want to drive. Unfortunately there's not as much social aspect because...it's Milton Keynes, well my snowboarding has improved at xscape.
edit: If i was to accept another role int eh city, I would probably look to move as, for me, it was similar in cost to my total commute per month.
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Permabanned
Also depends if you have family or not?
That's the thing with a long commute. You end up basically working and sleeping, and never enjoying time with family or in your home. There's also little time to wind down, relax and have a life before you end up back on the next commute.
If you're young and single and want to enjoy a social life in a big city like London, it's fine, but if you actually want to get home and enjoy a meal with your family or partner and wind down, a long commute kills that.
Personally, reading on a train or watching a movie on your phone is just filling in time. I'd rather have the time to do what I want, watch a movie on my nice TV cuddled up with the wife, or reading in peace with a snack. Or even go out and do something else, even if it's just sitting in the garden in the setting sun. Crushed into a communter train or breathing in traffic fumes stuck in roadworks is not ideal, even if you do manage to find some things to distract you.
If you're young and single and want to enjoy a social life in a big city like London, it's fine, but if you actually want to get home and enjoy a meal with your family or partner and wind down, a long commute kills that.
Personally, reading on a train or watching a movie on your phone is just filling in time. I'd rather have the time to do what I want, watch a movie on my nice TV cuddled up with the wife, or reading in peace with a snack. Or even go out and do something else, even if it's just sitting in the garden in the setting sun. Crushed into a communter train or breathing in traffic fumes stuck in roadworks is not ideal, even if you do manage to find some things to distract you.
Soldato
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Even if he doesn't (like me) Working 50 hours a week is a pain in the arse, do bit of travelling, not a lot but work is spread over the day, so usually 5/6am to 7pm.
Caporegime
It's free time but it's time away from family and it's no where near as restful as a meal at home and feet up.
Have you got kids op?
Obviously time at home is better than time on a train but I certainly wouldn't describe the latter as purely "filling in time" any more than watching TV at home, posting on OcUK forums or whatever is.
Regarding wind-down I think it depends a bit on the commute too, when my wife used to pick me up from my old job it was a 5-10min drive home and for me that just wasn't enough to switch off if I'd been working hell-for-leather and getting stressed by phonecalls asking when I was going to be finished. She'd ask me questions on the way home like how my day was, what do you want for dinner etc and it got irritating at times because it felt like I was being bombarded with questions before I'd had a chance to switch off or indeed have any 'me time' for surfing etc. At least with commuting I'm normally in a better frame of mind by the time we meet, unless the journey has been a nightmare. I've heard this suggested by others too, that they find a 20-30min journey home helpful to wind down. Hence I used to walk home quite often if the weather was fine.
During my commute I've had a lot of time to contemplate options and my views change frequently. As time has gone on I've started to come round to the idea of commuting a bit more; I think a single journey of 1hr on a fairly comfortable / reliable route where you can nearly always get a seat is OK nowadays when I can whip out a tablet and watch legal downloaded content (iPlayer / Sky Go / Amazon Prime) - 10 years ago this wasn't really an option. I had previously set a max of ~45min per main journey into London (so total door to door of around 90mins) but I'm a bit more open minded regarding longer journeys now if they don't require changes, reliable, get a seat, good rolling stock, not massively expensive etc. But as I say, my views change quite a bit. Other days I'll be thinking I'd really like to get the commute down nearer to an hour.
One factor that needs a bit of consideration is what rolling stock is used on the routes. I travel on multiple SWT routes and the Waterloo<>Weymouth line is fine because the carriages are configured to have 4 seats per row. However the Waterloo<>Portsmouth line by contrast typically has 5 seats per row so the seats are narrower and thus less comfortable. When I'm in London doing other activities I travel on some utter **** carriages that are well old, e.g. the line out of Moorgate I sometimes take when going to football in the evenings has old stock, also some of the trains out of Liverpool St heading out to Essex seem ancient.
Regarding wind-down I think it depends a bit on the commute too, when my wife used to pick me up from my old job it was a 5-10min drive home and for me that just wasn't enough to switch off if I'd been working hell-for-leather and getting stressed by phonecalls asking when I was going to be finished. She'd ask me questions on the way home like how my day was, what do you want for dinner etc and it got irritating at times because it felt like I was being bombarded with questions before I'd had a chance to switch off or indeed have any 'me time' for surfing etc. At least with commuting I'm normally in a better frame of mind by the time we meet, unless the journey has been a nightmare. I've heard this suggested by others too, that they find a 20-30min journey home helpful to wind down. Hence I used to walk home quite often if the weather was fine.
During my commute I've had a lot of time to contemplate options and my views change frequently. As time has gone on I've started to come round to the idea of commuting a bit more; I think a single journey of 1hr on a fairly comfortable / reliable route where you can nearly always get a seat is OK nowadays when I can whip out a tablet and watch legal downloaded content (iPlayer / Sky Go / Amazon Prime) - 10 years ago this wasn't really an option. I had previously set a max of ~45min per main journey into London (so total door to door of around 90mins) but I'm a bit more open minded regarding longer journeys now if they don't require changes, reliable, get a seat, good rolling stock, not massively expensive etc. But as I say, my views change quite a bit. Other days I'll be thinking I'd really like to get the commute down nearer to an hour.
One factor that needs a bit of consideration is what rolling stock is used on the routes. I travel on multiple SWT routes and the Waterloo<>Weymouth line is fine because the carriages are configured to have 4 seats per row. However the Waterloo<>Portsmouth line by contrast typically has 5 seats per row so the seats are narrower and thus less comfortable. When I'm in London doing other activities I travel on some utter **** carriages that are well old, e.g. the line out of Moorgate I sometimes take when going to football in the evenings has old stock, also some of the trains out of Liverpool St heading out to Essex seem ancient.
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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.
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.
Soldato
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.