How long is your commute and £££?
- Thread starter TS7
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it seems you have been a bit unlucky with those commutes... sure London can be an hour or so if you've got to change trains/tube etc.. too
I think I've probably been lucky as previously using the tube in Islington I had a 20 minute commute (including walking) and then I moved to the more suburban South East and have a 40 - 50 minute commute, 7 minutes from the station, catch a single train in (which is supposed to be 20 minutes but varies at the moment) and walk the other end
It's all about the terminus in London you arrive at compared to where your office is and how close you live to your originating station. I've always found those two factors affect commute time significantly and need to be considered more than most people give attention to. And sometimes life as a consultant means your employer thinks anywhere in London is fair game to send you onto a client site, yet it can make a drastic difference to a commute.
If you're running a global company do you not have a rather decent tenure there? Surely you'd have rather a lot of influence re: office location etc.. and will have been there for years??
I've lived South, East and North London and my commutes were around 45min to 1hr, unless you are lucky and work near a mainline station that seems to be around average for most people I know.
Now I've move out of London I work from home mainly so no cost or commute for most of the time. I get the coach to London every other week which takes about 3 hours and I stay overnight, bit of a pain but worth it to keep my London job and the flexibility working from home.
Now I've move out of London I work from home mainly so no cost or commute for most of the time. I get the coach to London every other week which takes about 3 hours and I stay overnight, bit of a pain but worth it to keep my London job and the flexibility working from home.
66 miles each way. Colchester to Rochester. A12 > M25 >A2/M2
I'm lucky that I have flexible hours. I leave the house at 5:15 and leave work at 3. Mornings are almost always fine, afternoons are regularly delayed. New job soon with a much nicer commute though.
I'm lucky that I have flexible hours. I leave the house at 5:15 and leave work at 3. Mornings are almost always fine, afternoons are regularly delayed. New job soon with a much nicer commute though.
Soldato
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From my flat, about two and a half miles and ten minutes or so.
From my girlfriend's place, about 40 miles, about an hour and 15 minutes.
From where we're planning to move to? 45/50 minutes hopefully.
Don't mind it, previously I was set on staying close to work but I got a promotion and a pretty fair pay increase so I'm not bothered about commuting now whereas before I was pretty stretched and had to stay close.
From my girlfriend's place, about 40 miles, about an hour and 15 minutes.
From where we're planning to move to? 45/50 minutes hopefully.
Don't mind it, previously I was set on staying close to work but I got a promotion and a pretty fair pay increase so I'm not bothered about commuting now whereas before I was pretty stretched and had to stay close.
Lots of reasons to have the office in London. Some off the top of my head
- The talent needed to work in the company is not where I live, it is in London.
- A London HQ has a bit more cachet than say a Maidstone HQ (unless you're opening up a dedicated complex or something and we're way too small for that)
- The ability to be a cab ride from an airport is important for international travel and that's important to us
- The executive team live in Woking, Chichester, Milton Keynes, Croydon, Clapham and Kent. Where's convenient for all of us?
- Many of my clients are in London
While I quite liked the year I once commuted by car, it was way more stressful. Trains are tough when you live on a line that is over crowded. That's the killer. Having now commuted four years on HS1, I can whole heartedly recommend it. Guaranteed comfort is worth the price and the extra time. When I started out in my work life commuting from Woking, I thought people were crazy paying out for first class - I now see why. HS1 is fantastic because it has no first class and every seat is considered 'international class' which means a bit more legroom, tables and power which you don't get on most suburban commuter routes. It is also rarely late - like once every other month by ten minutes. This is mainly down to having it's own track built recently that's only shared with the Eurostar. No old trains to break down in front of it, no leaves on the line because he track wasn't built near trees and all the points and signals are relatively new and hopefully built to last.
I also recognise that at different stages of life your attitude to commuting can change and also that it's not for everyone. The younger folks at work would hate to live where I do with nothing to entertain them in the evenings and think I'm mad paying the commute cost for the privilege to do so.
just to clarify - re: location I don't mean London vs elsewhere but the location within London
you mentioned a train, another train a bus then walking... making up a nearly two hour commute, that just seems crazy, there are plenty of people working in London who live outside in suburbs/rural locations and have half that commute
I don't think your commuting cost is particularly big, tis quite common for people outside London to pay 6 or 7 grand for a commute, though they can also then afford a bigger house than if they were living inside London.
It was just the time factor, I guess different strokes for different folks but I think I'd still be looking to maintain a shorter commute even if I were to move to Buckinghamshire or similar in future.
Man of Honour
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Yeah the time is a bit of a shame, but like BigT (I used to live in Dulwich too 
) I don't mind the commute if the trains are on time - as I can read a book, watch a series and have some unadulterated "me" time.
As long as there is a frequent train service, and the trains are on time I don't mind paying the price for the advantage of living in small village/town with a large property.
) I don't mind the commute if the trains are on time - as I can read a book, watch a series and have some unadulterated "me" time. As long as there is a frequent train service, and the trains are on time I don't mind paying the price for the advantage of living in small village/town with a large property.
I don' t commute as such.
I am self employed, I drive to and from "Jobs".
One of the main reasons why I made the decision to go down this path nearly 40 years ago was as a result of spending a couple of years in a regular job and experiencing the horrors of the "Rush Hour". Something that is far worse today than it was in the late 70's
I really cannot comprehend how people can stand it, I really can't. I structure my life around not traveling during the "Rush Hour", On very rare occasions I find myself having to travel at this time and it is horrible, really horrible! One morning of it is enough to make me want to grab the Venlofaxine, I really do not understand how so many other people manage to accept this on a daily basis without ending up bat**** insane, I really don't
If I ever found myself having to go back to that sort of life I think I probably wouldn't last a week before either ending up in a mental health ward or a police cell for actually killing somebody.
How do you people who do this every day cope with it, really???
I am self employed, I drive to and from "Jobs".
One of the main reasons why I made the decision to go down this path nearly 40 years ago was as a result of spending a couple of years in a regular job and experiencing the horrors of the "Rush Hour". Something that is far worse today than it was in the late 70's
I really cannot comprehend how people can stand it, I really can't. I structure my life around not traveling during the "Rush Hour", On very rare occasions I find myself having to travel at this time and it is horrible, really horrible! One morning of it is enough to make me want to grab the Venlofaxine, I really do not understand how so many other people manage to accept this on a daily basis without ending up bat**** insane, I really don't
If I ever found myself having to go back to that sort of life I think I probably wouldn't last a week before either ending up in a mental health ward or a police cell for actually killing somebody.
How do you people who do this every day cope with it, really???
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Ah fair enough. From the London terminus the bus ride and walk I mention is only 20 minutes and part of it is quite pleasant along a canal. Also I could shave five minutes off that if I took the tube instead of the bus but I have an aversion to it. And also you can't even begin to imagine what rent and rates are for offices in London very close to stations. Eye watering. Our location in London is actually pretty good for me.
kinda have to. i can luckily escape it due to flexi hours. i usually get to the office between 7-7.30am and can leave between 4-4.30pm thus i somewhat avoid the main rush hour.
if i have to stay longer i usually stay way longer to avoid the main 5pm rush hour.
@BigT
you're very lucky to have such a reliable train line. i used to take the train from Reading to Culham for about ~2years. infrequent service for Culham Station, frequent delays. even had times where the train just didn't stop at culham, so you'd have to wait another hour for the next one.
really wish we had the swiss or german train network here
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How do you people who do this every day cope with it, really???
Out of necessity - and it really isn't that bad. Unless you're particularly sensitive or made of glass it's not that bad.