Super Commuters

[anti-pacer]

I watched a programme earlier on C4 about people who have long distance commutes, although in fairness not every day. One commuted from the Bembridge area of the Isle of Wight to Wimbledon and back 3 days a week, and another from a village 40 minutes from Toulouse Airport to Central London on a Monday, and back on a Friday.

Thinking of daily commutes, anywhere in the UK, do any of you have a long daily slog to work?

 

[Lrd]

Surprising amount of commuters used to get the vehicle ferry from East Cowes to Southampton, many of which carried on up to London every day. Then you got the ones who get the RedJet from West Cowes and also anyone going to Portsmouth.

There was one lady who worked for the Met police doing shift work and would often be seen on the last ferry from the Island, hang around the terminal to then get the first train from Southampton Central.

 

[neilb62]

Newcastle - London seems a regular commute as does Preston - London. I remember a Waterloo Driver living at Crewe years ago as well.

 

[sk688]

It doesn't seem long by most standards, but I find my route to/from home ( if I haven't after school clubs, or I miss the coach am/pm) incredibly annoying

It covers Zone 6-5-4-3-2-1-2-3-4-5-6-7(sometimes)

The routes are below - the quicker and easier route first

It is : New Barnet - Finsbury Park - Kings Cross - Euston - Harrow/Bushey/Watford - Home from Hatch End

Or

High Barnet - Kentish Town - West Hampstead - Finchley Road - Pinner/Northwood/Moor Park and home

It doesn't seem too bad but there is so much waiting to do, delays and overcrowding that it is horrible. On the upside though, it is quicker than public buses across North London, and it its only 70p/£1.50 so it's not too bad financially

 

[Wilts Wanderer]

Someone I used to work with commuted from South Yorkshire to Swindon on a mostly daily basis, via Kings Cross / Paddington. We used to joke that on occasions where services were disrupted on the ECML or GWML (or both), they would pass themselves just north of Doncaster.

 

[birchesgreen]

My cousin used to commute from Wiltshire to Whitehall when he was a civil servant, think it was over 2 hours each way every day.

Now he works in Monaco though he only comes home at weekends!

 

[anti-pacer]

Someone I used to work with commuted from South Yorkshire to Swindon on a mostly daily basis, via Kings Cross / Paddington. We used to joke that on occasions where services were disrupted on the ECML or GWML (or both), they would pass themselves just north of Doncaster.

That is long!

 

[Wilts Wanderer]

That is long!

It certainly is! On occasions he'd be first in the office and would attempt to claim he'd travelled by overnight container...

 

[Wilts Wanderer]

My cousin used to commute from Wiltshire to Whitehall when he was a civil servant, think it was over 2 hours each way every day.

Now he works in Monaco though he only comes home at weekends!

When BR introduced the Golden Hind limited stop Penzance-London service in the late 60s, it triggered purchase of the first ever Taunton-London First Class season ticket. I wonder what the longest distance season ticket is today.

 

[anti-pacer]

It certainly is! On occasions he'd be first in the office and would attempt to claim he'd travelled by overnight container...

How long was his commute?

 

[Wilts Wanderer]

How long was his commute?

First train from home station, arrive office about 1100. Depart office about 1700, arrive home on one of the last services. Poor connection at Doncaster often resulted in 58 min wait just to rub salt in the wound!

 

[Busaholic]

It doesn't seem long by most standards, but I find my route to/from home ( if I haven't after school clubs, or I miss the coach am/pm) incredibly annoying

It covers Zone 6-5-4-3-2-1-2-3-4-5-6-7(sometimes)

The routes are below - the quicker and easier route first

It is : New Barnet - Finsbury Park - Kings Cross - Euston - Harrow/Bushey/Watford - Home from Hatch End

Or

High Barnet - Kentish Town - West Hampstead - Finchley Road - Pinner/Northwood/Moor Park and home

It doesn't seem too bad but there is so much waiting to do, delays and overcrowding that it is horrible. On the upside though, it is quicker than public buses across North London, and it its only 70p/£1.50 so it's not too bad financially

I don't understand either your mode(s) of transport or how it's so cheap.

My own commute from Hither Green to Maidstone West 35 years ago took a minimum of 1hr 50mins each way, if all three trains used each peak were running on time (if one wasn't, then usually an extra 30 mins, sometimes 1 hr.)

 

[387star]

probably mostly London commutes as no one can afford to live there

I know a driver who works out of Waterloo commuting from Bedford another commuting from Birmingham

Lots of emergency services staff etc commute in vast distances to work in London

 

[SS4]

I don't understand either your mode(s) of transport or how it's so cheap.

My own commute from Hither Green to Maidstone West 35 years ago took a minimum of 1hr 50mins each way, if all three trains used each peak were running on time (if one wasn't, then usually an extra 30 mins, sometimes 1 hr.)

Child fare? They mention after school clubs

 

[sk688]

Hi

I have a ZIP oyster card and use Some of the following

Northern Line, Thameslink, LM, LO, Met Line

 

[Busaholic]

Hi

I have a ZIP oyster card and use Some of the following

Northern Line, Thameslink, LM, LO, Met Line

So the coaches you mention don't form part of your journey? That's what confused me.

 

[Hartington]

Wasn't there a BBC program many years ago that looked for long distance commuters; one of the early evening "newsy" programs. I seem to remember they found someone who lived at the far end of one of the South Wales Valley and commuted daily to Londo via Cardiff. They also found a weekly commuter from Luxembourg to London but he flew!

Staying on the "non-railway" commuters there are crew of various airlines whose base is London but who live not just in far flung parts of the UK but across the world. I've met BA crew "commuting" from Los Angeles to London for work. I believe there are crew who commute from Australia. They can do it partly because of "staff travel" and partly because the bid system that allocates their work can be used to pack two months work into the end or one month and the beginning of the next.

Back on UK rails I have a son in Newcastle upon Tyne who works from home and comes down to London for the day once a month to see his employer.

 

[168lover]

I know of someone who commutes from Bournemouth to Bank and back everyday

 

[johntea]

I've made a decision starting with my new job that I'll be renting a spare room 10 minutes from the place of work and just travelling home at weekends (I mean eventually if the job works out well I'll be buying my first house in the area but that is quite a while off yet!)

A 10 minute walk to work and back certainly is a lot more appealing on paper than a 10 minute walk to the station, a crammed 20 minute train, then a 10-20 minute wait for a connection followed by another 20 minute train and then a 5 minute walk like I was doing in my last job!

 

[anti-pacer]

First train from home station, arrive office about 1100. Depart office about 1700, arrive home on one of the last services. Poor connection at Doncaster often resulted in 58 min wait just to rub salt in the wound!

Where in South Yorkshire was this person? An 11am start softens the blow somewhat.

 

[LowLevel]

I know a London Underground Permanent Way supervisor who commutes from Boston in Lincolnshire to London generally working permanent nights. He's been there for decades so has a cheap staff season ticket.

 

[sk688]

So the coaches you mention don't form part of your journey? That's what confused me.

I have a school coach, organised by a private operator. Unfortunately I cannot get this coach most evenings, hence I take the train

When I go by coach my commute is a lot easier though, but sadly most evenings I have to take the circuitous route that I posted earlier

Hope that solved your query

 

[Andrew1395]

Had a colleague who did Cromer to central London every day, and remember there was a daily Scarborough to London commuter

 

[Taunton]

David Frost, former TV personality, had programmes in both London and New York for many years. In the days of Concorde, when he was its most regular passenger, he actually was doing more flying hours per year than its pilots.

 

[ic250]

http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2014/05/charting-rise-new-willies

There are more people than ever who work in London but live in Edinburgh.

The collapse of RBS and HBOS, two large banks headquartered in Edinburgh, as well as the economic downturn, has led to an increase in the numbers of people doing a 400-mile commute twice, or sometimes more, every week. After the takeover of NatWest by RBS in 2000 and the 2001 merger of Halifax and the Bank of Scotland, there was a significant transfer north of high-powered bankers. In 2008, many of them disappeared – some to admire their redundancy cheques; others back to London.

Willies now often make up the bulk of the passengers on the frequent early-morning flights from Edinburgh to London, as well as the East Coast trains that leave Edinburgh Waverley almost every half-hour and do the journey to King’s Cross in as little as four hours. The trains back on Thursday or Friday nights are like parties, the long-distance commuters celebrating the journey home with champagne and smoked salmon. Most have paid £229 for an East Coast Scottish executive return ticket, which gives them first-class travel and food....

'Willies' = Work in London, live in Edinburgh.

I think they catch the early morning 5.40 East Coast service which takes exactly 4 hours.

All high net worth individuals, who seem to only do it a few days a week.

 

[185]

When I started with GNER in 1997, for the first two weeks (new flat was late being sorted)

> 0557 (432) bus through the Mersey Tunnel
leg it over the road into Norton Street Coach Station
> 0630 National Express (060) up to Leeds (scrounge a lift, my former employer)
dropped off at the lights, leg it up Neville Street into the station...
> 0847 Leeds to York (GNER agreed to pay for this bit, no privs at the time)
for....
an 0930 start at York at their NUCRU training centre

Then the same back in the evening Surprisingly, on time every day though.

 

[MedwayValiant]

Back in the 90s, I knew a guy who was an Air Traffic Controller working at Gatwick.

He was English, but lived in Amsterdam and commuted by plane. He didn't commute every day, but something like three times a week - if his shift wasn't convenient for flights to Amsterdam, he just resorted to the fact that his mum still lived in Crawley and had a spare bedroom!

Aren't there said to be a few people who commute daily from Lille to London on the Eurostar?

 

[Andrewlong]

Where in South Yorkshire was this person? An 11am start softens the blow somewhat.

You have to question whether this is effective use of time and whether they have to be present in person or their business could be undertaken by conference/video call ?

As we are living through the Southern disruptions and the yearly season ticket fare rises - I question whether some of those work activities could be carried out some of the time from home thereby saving time and cost to the individual?

Buts that's another discussion!

 

[Timrud]

I've done Sheffield to Bridgend a few times, get there for 12, work till 5 then back home

 

[tsr]

For some reason the outer extremes of the c2c route have a small but healthy commuter flow towards the Oxted and Redhill routes. I believe there are one or two people who do journeys from the Southend area to East Grinstead, which whilst not especially heavy on mileage, must take a good chunk of the day once you take crossing London into account. Certainly they are usually on the earlier trains of the day.

I've had to adapt my commute in some weird ways before. The most recent "odd" journey was from Horsham to Norwich.