Long distance commuting to London

[bigfoote]

Ten years ago, in healthier, more youthful days, I worked Gateline Security as a sub-contractor for (as it was) South Central. Training involved two weeks of commutes from Havant to Wimbledon, via Brighton. Most of the time, I covered West Coastway from Chichester to Worthing (including a memorable early morning full block at Worthing stations). November came around and I get a phonecall, from next week, our team was taking over Hastings and Bexhill duties. So began 2 months of Havant - Bexhill via Brighton, including a memorable diversion via Horsham and Gatwick to avoid a cracked rail at Shoreham. Needless to say, I didn't last long in that one.

 

[londonbridge]

Whether it's to or from London, one major hurdle to cross is persuading a potential employer that long distance commuting is something you're happy to do. In the past I've had more than one interview where I was asked if travelling would be a problem-my stock reply is that I researched the potential commute beforehand, and if I felt it was too long or cost prohibitive then I wouldn't have wasted the employer's time by applying for the job. I used to do Wallington to Kingston, after being made redundant from that position, jobs where I was asked if travelling would be an issue included positions that I applied for in Walton On Thames, Weybridge and Basingstoke. One agency that I applied to for a position in Harrow turned me down on the basis that the client would only consider local applicants, I also applied for a position in Loughton, Essex, but received no reply from the employer. From the employer's point of view, whilst a potential employee might be happy with a lengthy commute, they still need to weigh up the costs and consequences of employing someone who may struggle to make it into work whenever there is disruption on the trains for whatever reason.

 

[Mutant Lemming]

, they still need to weigh up the costs and consequences of employing someone who may struggle to make it into work whenever there is disruption on the trains for whatever reason.

We had a colleague who used to commute from Crewe to Queens Park and was forever late to pick up and always wanting to be taken off early to get trains home. Apart from the impact of the long commute itself there is also the impact on colleagues who have to cover and also the resentment by them of it all being 'one way traffic'. They were forever covering for him while he was never in a position to return the favour.

 

[Deerfold]

I do a fairly long commute from Steeton and Slisden or Keighley to south of the river in London. I'm not the only person in my office who lives in Keighley. I don't do it every day though - typically I do it once a week though this week I'm doing it twice and I have done it 3 times.

A colleague does commute from a station north of Leeds every day with another coming in daily from Newark.

The one who commutes from north of Leeds moved there from Sheffield and before that Nottingham - he came in daily from each of them (he does occasionally work very late and does stay in London about once a month - though he's been known to get the 2330 out of Kings X).

 

[DiscoStu]

Have you thought about investing in a bike? That would cut the hour-ish trip to the station to less than 20 minutes.

I've not been a fan of bikes since I was run over on a pedestrian crossing whilst riding one three years ago lol

 

[colchesterken]

I used to do Plaistow to Harrow on the Hill. I enjoyed it, the bit into Liv st was a bit packed but the rest was against the rush, Time it right get a fast Amersham from Liv St
They used to terminate there before they boarded up the the bay road. This was before they cut the speed limit for the A60s so the non stop Finchley Rd to Harrow was fun,,Lunch time was sarnies in the park in summer watching the class 86 expresses in the WCML. That would have been about 1970. aaaah the good old days

 

[anti-pacer]

Looks like I'll be doing Wakefield to Kings Cross daily soon.

 

[a729]

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?

I'd be willing to travel from Nottingham to London! (Baring in mind that working in the railway industry would mean free or heavily discounted rail travel!)

 

[455driver]

I'd be willing to travel from Nottingham to London! (Baring in mind that working in the railway industry would mean free or heavily discounted rail travel!)

Only free on the TOC that employs you and the 75% is only on the full price ticket making public advance tickets cheaper if you know what your plans are.

NR employees get naff all!

I wish we got half as much for free as most people think we get!

 

[cmovcc]

my total door to door is 4 hours/day, done it for a year now and don't mind it that much.

it's pretty easy, civilised (can sleep, read or watch tv, always get a seat, and the trains are modern), reasonably priced (compared to the £25k it would cost by car), and pretty reliable.

0555 leave home, 0609 Newmarket -> Cambridge, 0647 Cambridge -> Liverpool Street (getting in at 0755), office is ~5 mins away.

1918 leave office, 1925 Moorgate tube -> King's Cross (free!), 1945 King's Cross -> Cambridge, 2036 Cambridge -> Newmarket, back home at 2118.

everyone says I'm crazy... I suppose it helps that I'm a bit of a train nerd

 

[ainsworth74]

NR employees get naff all!

Which is scandalous in my opinion, they should at least get Priv.

 

[tractorned]

I do the 06.00 York- KX/17.00 KX-York SX, I used to do the 05.05 ex Leeds & 16.33 back before I moved to York. Hopefully coming to an end soon though as managed to get a job up north again ...

 

[a729]

Only free on the TOC that employs you and the 75% is only on the full price ticket making public advance tickets cheaper if you know what your plans are.

NR employees get naff all!

I wish we got half as much for free as most people think we get!

Oh I see, though TfL is brilliant with an interest-free loan for travel costs!

Really? Network rail is the publicly owned part of the railways so I'd thought it'd be heavily unionised with good perks!!

 

[anti-pacer]

Oh I see, though TfL is brilliant with an interest-free loan for travel costs!

Really? Network rail is the publicly owned part of the railways so I'd thought it'd be heavily unionised with good perks!!

He may have meant Northern Rail?

 

[broadgage]

Taunton to London is more common than one might think- back during my time living in Somerset's County town my own commute was to Weston-Super-Mare, but I remember seeing the same faces each day waiting for the service just after 0700 that omitted Reading and ran straight through to Paddington.

Yes, I travel that route fairly regularly, not commuting by any means, but I have certainly met regulars who commute if not every day, certainly 4 days a week.
A few use the Pullman regularly, and moan more than I do when it fails to appear. (been much better recently)

 

[Lrd]

He may have meant Northern Rail?

Nope, it's Network Rail that get nothing. Northern are just like the rest of the TOCs.

 

[Shimbleshanks]

I once heard of someone who lived in Walsall and worked in central London who used to commute daily. I was told that he had such an early start to get his inter-city from Birmingham New Street that he had to take the bus instead of the local train from Walsall. I think he worked somewhere in the transport industry so got a priv rate and living there saved money, but it all smacks of desperation to me.

And there was someone who lived on the Isle of Wight who commuted daily to Sutton in South London. Something to do with being from an old-established family on the island and not wanting to be seen not to live there.

 

[westv]

Nope, it's Network Rail that get nothing. Northern are just like the rest of the TOCs.

The delay repay money has got to come from somewhere!

 

[IanXC]

my total door to door is 4 hours/day, done it for a year now and don't mind it that much.

it's pretty easy, civilised (can sleep, read or watch tv, always get a seat, and the trains are modern), reasonably priced (compared to the £25k it would cost by car), and pretty reliable.

0555 leave home, 0609 Newmarket -> Cambridge, 0647 Cambridge -> Liverpool Street (getting in at 0755), office is ~5 mins away.

1918 leave office, 1925 Moorgate tube -> King's Cross (free!), 1945 King's Cross -> Cambridge, 2036 Cambridge -> Newmarket, back home at 2118.

everyone says I'm crazy... I suppose it helps that I'm a bit of a train nerd

I have an option for a similar 4 hours a day commute by train, versus a 2 hour commute by car. Driving isn't really good for my sanity so I'm always pondering.. the thing I can't quite resolve is how does one eat sensibly while arriving home after 21:00?

 

[Bald Rick]

I once heard of someone who lived in Walsall and worked in central London who used to commute daily. I was told that he had such an early start to get his inter-city from Birmingham New Street that he had to take the bus instead of the local train from Walsall.

well I lived in north Brum (about 5 miles from Walsall) and worked in London for 4 years. Used to get the 0701 from local station, with a 16 min connection at New St and was at desk not long after 9. This was pre Pendolino, although it helped that I worked at Euston.

 

[westv]

4 hours a day commute plus 11 hours a day in the office. No thank you!

 

[Kali]

I used to commute London-Luxembourg daily for a bit ( obviously not by train ), other than going deaf in one ear from propellor noise it wasn't *that* bad. Harringay->Canary Wharf on the other hand made me quit. I know a couple of folks who've tried commuting from Exeter, when you add the London journey time on the end that's quite a chunk of day.

 

[LTJ87]

It's the hassle of getting through the crowds at Euston and on the tube that really bug me.

I think if you happen to work near to a mainline station then long-distance commuting in London can not be too bad, but getting on the Tube at the height of rush hour really adds to both time and stress levels. And all it takes is one train to develop a fault to send a Tube line into chaos.

I have done a two hour door-to-door each way commute for a few years and whilst, contrary to my expectations, there was never a day when I thought I just can't face this, I was glad I stopped it when I did.

You get used to the routine, but it's not just the time but was also frustrating was being bound by a train timetable and having to get up exactly when the alarm goes off and not being able to leave the office when I felt like it. It's also no fun setting off for the station in the dark at the height of winter nor not being able to enjoy summer evenings to the full.

 

[Roverman]

When my Dad was in the Fire Brigade he knew of a fireman who managed to commute, albeit, not daily, from Europe into London for 4 night shifts on the trot, he'd then get 3 clear days off before coming back for another block of shifts. As a long serving officer he was able to pretty much negotiate his working pattern to suit his lifestyle.

 

[cde]

For a couple of months last year I commuted daily from Durham to KGX - that was a killer. I'd have to be in the office from 10.30 until 18.00, Monday to Friday, so that meant I'd have to get the 7.07 from DHM, and then the 18.19 on the return getting me in just after 9pm.

It could have been worse - the timings however meant I could make good use of the 14 day 1st class ALR instead of buying a season ticket - so I got dinner and breakfast on the train too for marginally more than a standard class season would have cost. I think the staff on the train (usually the same bunch) thought I was mad.

I wouldn't do it again but it was an experience I won't entirely regret apart from the absolute packet it cost me for those two months!

Now I live in Didcot during the week to keep the costs and miles down which is absolutely fine for a commute, only 40ish mins into PAD, and go home to Durham on Friday evenings then back on the 5am Monday mornings to KGX. Much more doable!

 

[Hartington]

Many years ago (early '70s probably) a Radio 4 program (Today, I think) looked for long distance commuters. I think they found someone who lived up at the end of one of the Welsh/Cardiff valley lines who commuted to London daily. They also found someone who commuted London/Luxembourg weekly which in those days was unusual. Around the same time David Frost used Concorde to do TV programs in both London and New York.

When I first thought about retiring here to Somerset I enquired about fares into London and discovered that the weekly season from Castle Cary was cheaper than from Westbury. As I understand it BR took a view about how far people would commute and hiked fares for the distances they thought people would travel and until quite recently the results were still visible.

In about 1977 I was working as a travel agent in Fleet St. I made a booking for someone and asked for their address to send documentation to. It was somewhere up in Warwickshire and I asked if he was just visiting. No, he said, I work next door. His logic was that his journey took him no longer than someone coming from somewhere like Brighton which was considered normal and his first class season cost only marginally more than the standard Brighton one did.

If you really want long distance commuting look at aircrew. They live all over the place using their "staff travel" to commute to work. At the time of one of the BA strikes a few years ago one of the union reps was reported to be commuting from Los Angeles! I've certainly met crew living in France and Spain and there are plenty of London based crew who live around UK airports "up north". Of course, they have a bid system of working and they can usually arrange their work rosters so that they work for half the month and live at home the rest of the month. There are houses/flats around major airports that are used as crash pads by aircrew working in this way. The bed occupancy can be similar to that which the UK media get excited about when reporting on immigrants with 2 or 3 bed shifts a day!

 

[Cherry_Picker]

In about 1977 I was working as a travel agent in Fleet St. I made a booking for someone and asked for their address to send documentation to. It was somewhere up in Warwickshire and I asked if he was just visiting. No, he said, I work next door. His logic was that his journey took him no longer than someone coming from somewhere like Brighton which was considered normal and his first class season cost only marginally more than the standard Brighton one did.

I can't comment on the prices, but the time thing is definitely more true than it ever was. Coventry is as close to London as Brighton is these days, the frequency of service is comparable too.

 

[westv]

Now I live in Didcot during the week to keep the costs and miles down which is absolutely fine for a commute, only 40ish mins into PAD, and go home to Durham on Friday evenings then back on the 5am Monday mornings to KGX. Much more doable!

That's interesting. Any reason why you don't just commute straight to PAD?
Just curious. Is it that much cheaper to live in Didcot and pay to travel to London Tuesday to Friday?

 

[cde]

That's interesting. Any reason why you don't just commute straight to PAD?
Just curious. Is it that much cheaper to live in Didcot and pay to travel to London Tuesday to Friday?

Well, the reason I do it is because I already have a base in Didcot which I would otherwise have to try and rent out again - the monthly travel card isn't too bad, £500 or so and includes Z1-6 tubes as well. We lived in zone 5 for a while and that was £200 a month, and a lot more unpleasant, and a lot more costly than £300 a month more to live there. So very happy to base myself further out.

Is that what you meant by the "Why don't you just commute straight to PAD" question? Because I do - the only day I don't is when I am coming from DHM, after the weekend.

Cheers

Chris

 

[island]

You can save a little by buying tickets other than in monthly blocks. You can purchase anything from a month up to a year (although after around 10½ months it becomes better to buy an annual). This allows you to miss out a weekend in every five when you aren't travelling, and with a bit of planning you can also avoid paying for holidays.