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Long distance commuting to London

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anti-pacer

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Just wondered, out of interest, how far people are willing to commute DAILY to London?

I know Doncaster and York have daily commuters but what's the extent of the commuter belt elsewhere?
 
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gordonthemoron

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I used to commute from Leicester, Nottingham and Grantham to London. I lasted 6 years before I couldn't stand it anymore
 

anti-pacer

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I used to commute from Leicester, Nottingham and Grantham to London. I lasted 6 years before I couldn't stand it anymore

I used to live near Leicester, and commuted for a while from Nuneaton to Archway in north London. It was a killer! :x
 

Cherry_Picker

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Just going through what I see at work I'd imagine the number is in the hundreds, if not thousands from Birmingham. Door to door journey time that is probably a minimum of two hours each way a day depending on the commuters distance from New Street/Moor Street and the distance of their office from Euston/Marylebone.

There does appear to be some psychological thing of the one hour commute though, stations less than an hour from London are noticeably busier than ones further out. That probably sounds like an obvious observation to make, but less than one hour seems like a golden number. These days one hour can mean you are 70, 80 or 90 miles out of the capital on a lot of lines which is pretty impressive if you ask me.
 

anti-pacer

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Just going through what I see at work I'd imagine the number is in the hundreds, if not thousands from Birmingham. Door to door journey time that is probably a minimum of two hours each way a day depending on the commuters distance from New Street/Moor Street and the distance of their office from Euston/Marylebone.

There does appear to be some psychological thing of the one hour commute though, stations less than an hour from London are noticeably busier than ones further out. That probably sounds like an obvious observation to make, but less than one hour seems like a golden number. These days one hour can mean you are 70, 80 or 90 miles out of the capital on a lot of lines which is pretty impressive if you ask me.

I agree. When you think Peterborough is 75 miles roughly from Central London, but it's takes the same time as it does to get the tube out to Upminster!
 

Eagle

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On the West of England line, I'd say the limit of the commuter belt is Templecombe, with a typical journey time to Waterloo of about 2h15 (so not including the time it takes to get from Waterloo to central London on the tube).

I don't know how they cope.
 

anti-pacer

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Anybody know of anyone north of York who does it?

I can imagine Crewe being the limit on the WCML.
 

tripleseis

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Takes me about 45 minutes door to door between Herne Hill and Camden (longer if I take the bus). Obviously a lot cheaper than living 75 miles out of London though. I did commute from Oxford but when I changed to my new job which has much more unsociable hours, I had to move into London so I could make those early starts.
 

Be3G

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I used to commute from home to my university in Egham on a daily basis – normally four days per week, but with eleven days of continuous commuting at the beginning of my first year. The commute was about two hours long with lots of changes, and I didn't mind it too much, though I probably wouldn't have wanted anything much longer.
 

westv

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I come in from Hull but only do it Monday morning and Friday evening.
 

MCW

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Leicester isn't too bad in all honesty, tw or three + trains per hour in the morning and evening rush in and out of london and from Leicester you can get a non stopper which does the journey in 1hr 15 i think??? although it can be like sardine cans sometimes.
 

embers25

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On the West of England line, I'd say the limit of the commuter belt is Templecombe, with a typical journey time to Waterloo of about 2h15 (so not including the time it takes to get from Waterloo to central London on the tube).

I don't know how they cope.

I commuted for 7 months from Pinhoe to Victoria...that was a lonnng commute of 3+ hours each way (even longer when the 0519 from Pinhoe became the 0430 replacement bus to Honiton!!)
 

CC 72100

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I commuted for 7 months from Pinhoe to Victoria...that was a lonnng commute of 3+ hours each way (even longer when the 0519 from Pinhoe became the 0430 replacement bus to Honiton!!)

ouch.... the automated announcements on the 159s are enough to drive anyone crazy. Couldn't do that everyday, fair play to you sir!
 

anthony263

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There do seem to be a few who commute regulary from Swansea to London Paddington which can be up to 3 hours 30 minutes if you take the 03:58 Swansea - London Paddington service which arrives into Paddington @ 07:32.

There are a lot more who commute to London from Cardiff and Newport.

I suspect when journey times are cut by electrification there will be more people perhaps opting to commute into London from places like Bristol ( which will be more attractive having 4tph from Temple Meads and the same at Parkway. With Swansea to London reduced to 2 hours 45 minutes there may be a few more hardy souls who might elect to commute the full distance
 

cymro inside

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there are at least 10 season ticket holders from Chester to London not all travel daily as season discounts on long distance journeys mean that you would only need to make the journey 3 times a week in the peak hours for a season to be worthwhile
 

amcluesent

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I did PBO-KGX for about 7 years. Had to pay for FC to retain sanity, God knows how many G&Ts I knocked back too...
 

oliMw

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There are many people who commute from Norwich to London Liverpool Street Daily, 1 hour 55 mins (or there abouts) each day :cry:
 

edwin_m

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In most parts of British Rail you usually had to take jobs in different places if you wanted to climb the greasy pole, but also got priv or free travel and first class in many cases. So the likes of Derby to London wasn't uncommon and there are probably people who retained their privileges and still do that today.
 

paddington

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I know the OP said DAILY, but I know someone who commuted weekly to Hong Kong for 10 months.

Apparently he generally worked all of Monday and half of Tuesday in London, before going to Heathrow for an evening flight which arrives on Wed afternoon. Then it was straight to the office to work late on Weds, all day Thurs and Fri then return to London on the midnight flight, arriving Saturday early morning.

So he got to spend most weekends with his wife and kids, and after the conclusion of that project, he can retire whenever he wants to. However it was still pretty awful despite flying in first class most of the time (the company paid for business class, which earned enough miles to upgrade to first, and whenever business was overbooked he would be the first to be bumped up)

When we were discussing this commute, he told me about a mythical figure who used to commute to New York once or twice a week, when Concorde made it possible to return to London on the same day you left while giving you an hour or so for a meeting in NYC.
 

ChiefPlanner

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My worst ever was Wimbledon to Andover for a year - nearly killed me outwards change at Surbiton and Woking , back via Waterloo, Class 50 and REP sets though.

I have come across Leominster to Paddington (drive to Worcester) , Gillingham Dorset to East Croyden and Salisbury to North Wembley.

In terms of traincrew - the biscuit has to taken by a Met line driver who did Port Talbot to Rickmansworth daily, + a Bakerloo guard who did the Isle of Wight to Baker Street. ot sustainable long term really.
 

sheff1

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I knew someone who commuted from Crowborough to Paddington. When the work relocated to Swindon he did not move house but continued to commute.

Either leg would have driven me mad after a few days, never mind the whole thing !
 

AndrewP

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I have done York - London for up to 3 times a week many times but it quickly becomes cheaper and easier to stay in a hotel.

I have done the 3 4 5 (stay 3 nights, client site 4 days, 5 days work for the client) model all over the world - it gets hard.

You know you are travelling too much when:
  • You have favourite car parking spaces at a station or airport
  • Chain hotels know your name
  • Train / plane staff don't have to ask your order - they know it
  • Hotels automatically upgrade you - even if you have a really cheap rate
  • You know airport shortcuts
 
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Mate of mine commutes to the City from Basingstoke. Lives 5 mins walk from the station, an hour with one stop to Waterloo then W&C and 5 minutes to the office.

My idea of hell personally but at least he works slightly off hours (early or late) depending on conference calls with America/Asia

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2
 

TheJRB

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Mate of mine commutes to the City from Basingstoke. Lives 5 mins walk from the station, an hour with one stop to Waterloo then W&C and 5 minutes to the office.

My idea of hell personally but at least he works slightly off hours (early or late) depending on conference calls with America/Asia
My dad commutes to Basingstoke from Ashford (yep, the one in Kent!) about three days a week. He usually gets the 06:24 from Ashford and arrives at Basingstoke at 08:35. It's three miles from home to the station and then just under the mile from Basingstoke station to the office. All in all he reckons it's not much less than three hours door to door. And to think it would have been quicker pre-HS1 and the 2009 timetable recast!
 

Bald Rick

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I did north Birmingham to London daily for 4 years, including the post Hatfield months when the journey was routinely 3h+ e/w. I was 25 when I started, and 35 when I finished.
 
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