Is 100 miles a day too far to commute?

Five_Star said:
After reading the How many miles do you do a week commuting thread its got me thinking about just how far is too far when looking for the next job?

I've been lucky in that I used to get the train to work, all of 15 minutes, then later in another job 20 minutes of walk / bus to work.

Now I'm looking at spending more than an hour each way and about 100 miles per day total in the car just to commute.

Having never experienced this before am I going to hate the job and resent the work because I'm forever travelling and stuck in traffic? The route is mainly A roads and some dual carriageway here in the North East but with some nice parts notorious for congestion.

So is it worth it?
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In short it depends on the pay. I used to comute an hour each way. It was worth it
 
I commute 100 miles a day. It sucks, but right now because of the position I am in I have to continue to do this for a while yet. I have just been promoted and need the experience before I go elsewhere.

My journey costs me about £300 a month in fuel alone, not counting the wear and tear costs, insurance, and TIME too. I drive a 58 plate mondeo TDCI and it's not a bad place to spend the time.....Average is about 1 hour 15 minutes each way, with a friday afternoon getting close to the 2 hour and 15 minute mark. Something to keep in mind when deciding if it's worth doing.

My mrs works outside of normal hours to help cover the cost of the commute. I'm on £38k + and the amount of money going out for travel alone is noticable.

My journey is M3/M25/A414.

If I had a choice I wouldn't do it.
 
i dont know how some of you guys do it

I used to have a 35 mile commute that took approx 45 minutes, up to an hour if the M1 was busy, and it did my head in. Added an extra 2 hours onto my day and generally didnt enjoy it.

Current job is a 7 mile commute which takes almost exactly 10 minutes. I could even get a bus if it wasnt for the fact i cba as at the times i now work the busses are only ever half hour getting me there too early.
 
Some of you people with big commutes and big thirsty petrol cars really ought to consider an LPG conversion. My GF's LPG 200SX gets more miles to the £ than my diesel "econetic" Mondeo and has the added advantage of not being as dull as dishwater to drive.

We're currently in the same boat though. She has just been made redundant and so far the nearest suitable job opportunity is in Gloucester, the others being Bracknell, Cambridge and Maidstone. We don't want to move because it's nice (and cheap) here and I work in Cardiff and I kind of need access to the Gwent NHS as in our previous locations I wasn't able to get proper treatment.

One tip though, if you're contracting, you can profit nicely on a long commute as you can pay yourself 40p a mile tax free, we found this out when she was commuting to Newbury (100 miles each way) daily.
 
Lum said:
One tip though, if you're contracting, you can profit nicely on a long commute as you can pay yourself 40p a mile tax free, we found this out when she was commuting to Newbury (100 miles each way) daily.
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I don't thikn there's a contractor on this earth that isn't already claiming for their mileage ;)
 
Any contractor who doesn't know that already (remember that this is supposed to be for any travel that is outside of your commute to normal office location...) should be shot :p
 
Well I've done it for a year (Last year in fact)

I drove 102 miles round trip. 95% motorway. My job was based in North London and lived in Essex. I could park my car in a underground carpark provided by my company.

I worked 8 hour shifts, Morning Shifts started at 6-2pm, evening shift was 2-10 then night shift was 10-6. These rotated every week - although with nights you got 4 off after. I missed rush hour what ever shift I was on.

Would I do it again? Totally. I bought a cheap Derv, cheap tax and insurance and used to do a major service every 8-10k. Car never wanted for anything - 2004 Pug 206 1.4 HDi, then replaced with a 2005 Mondeo ST TDCi.

Cost in Derv per week was £50 (Record was 670 miles to a tank / 600 on the mondeo)
Tax was £35 a year (Can't remember the mondeo)
Insurance was £500~ (Insured for the distance as well)

I put over 30k in that year. I found it relaxing listening to music/pod casts/radio in your own personal space. Now I've changed job and can't drive, I'm paying £22 a day for a train ticket...
 
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JonRohan said:
markyb, would you commute the same distance if you have a 9-5 job and had to endure rush hour?
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Depending on the journey and how bad the rush hour was on that particular road.

I could have put up with another 30 minutes in rush hour each way. I think once it starts to add just under/over 2 hours to your work day I think it would then become a problem.

However, I would weigh it up with what a train would cost you and the time that would take. The train is costing me a lot more money now compared to if I could drive up there.
 
Ev0 said:
I don't thikn there's a contractor on this earth that isn't already claiming for their mileage ;)
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I'm throwing it in the air for people who may be looking at contract jobs out of desperation.
 
Some people prefer job security over get rich quick.

Not much of that around right now.
 
thats not really an answer. i dont know any contractors who have taken a contract over a perm role out of desperation.
 
I was considering travelling 105miles from London to Leiston. I had to get to work at 8.15am. I've decided it was too long a journey and would leave me exhausted by Thursday/Friday. I'm moving to a place closer to work which is only 7 miles away.

It was easy for me to say "100 or so miles is nothing to go to work". But I actually tried it out in a mock test (I don't start work until next week) - as in I woke up at 4am, left at 5am and got there at 7.50am. By the time I got there I was yawning like an idiot - not a state I would like to be in when starting work.

So is 100 miles a day too far to commute? I'd say so, if you're driving that is.
 
You were yawning because you aren't used to it. You get into a routine and you won't be yawning.
As others have said, 100 miles is just a figure, how long it takes and how much it costs also has to be considered.
 
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