Commuting - How Far Is Too Far?

[SarahBell]

Was watching news before - university lecturer at MMU in Mcr who has been found dead with his family in Northants.

All the time on LLL we had people willing to commute from the country to town - I assume many of them are now having to stay in town during the week as it's too dear petrol wise to travel in every day (Even if you wanted the 2-3 hr commute)

Ok whilst looking up where he lived it does say:

Mr Ding, an expert in polymers, was a senior lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University and lived in the city for much of the week, travelling home to Northamptonshire at weekends.

The daily mail also fails to mention how expensive their house is. Although does describe it as a 5 bed detached and "comfortable"

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1382713/Family-dead-knife-wounds-Northamptonshire.html

his journey time:

1.

2 hours 28 mins

M6

137 mi

2.

2 hours 40 mins

M1

142 mi

3.

2 hours 42 mins

A50 and M1

142 mi

[guitarman001]

Used to take me an hour in and an hour back... now just 15 mins. Wouldn't want to do more than half an hour ever again, such a waste of time. Any more than 50 miles round trip is also too much in terms of petrol cost (taking the car is cheaper than public transport).

[Lagarde's Drift]

This is disappointing, I expected a loaded poll.

Fwiw 45mins one way drive is my limit, or an hour on the train. I've done 4-5 hr one way weekend commutes and it made me ill.

It sounds like the poor family were targeted.

[Realistbear]

If the house I am offering on goes through my commute will drop to about 5 minutes.

I have also traded in my Mazda 6 for a BMW powered Peugeot 207 that gets around 42mpg---around town (petrol engine).

[stuckmojo]

Currently 50 miles each way, but with lots of non-office based job so it's just about bare-able. It will reduce to 30 miles each way in June (which equals to more than a pay rise in petrol cost avoidance)

[200p]

By car.

Not more than 1/2hr about 20miles.

You'll find you'll want to hit the roads earlier to avoid the traffic, which adds more time to your day, and you have the time once you get there to freshen up.

I work in the sticks, rather than in the city, so the traffic is rarely a problem fortunately.

Edited May 3, 2011 by Money Spinner

[porca misèria]

Simple rule of thumb: if it's too far to walk or cycle most of the time, then it's too far for a daily commute.

So taking examples from my own past, Bath-Bristol was fine, but Bath-Yeovil was pushing it.

Longer journeys are fine from time to time, but not every bloomin' day!

[200p]

People buying expensive houses so they must commute 3 hours, are setting themselves up for illnesses in future. Falling asleep at the wheel is the other problem.

Now that is debt slavery!

---

I certainly believe houses in the sticks will be very cheap again if oil continues to remain high. 3 bed semis in 2000 in Calshot/Lepe (near where I work), cost £60,000. Now they are bought by equity rich Londoners who visit for the weekend, they're demanding £350,000 odd.

Edited May 3, 2011 by Money Spinner

[winkie]

By car.

Not more than 1/2hr about 20miles.

You'll find you'll want to hit the roads earlier to avoid the traffic, which adds more time to your day, and you have the time once you get their to freshen up.

I work in the sticks, rather than in the city, so the traffic is rarely a problem fortunately.

...for me no more than half hour but it was only a 4 mile journey. ....the bus took almost an hour stopping and starting going around the houses......best to leave early before the rush started, then leave early the other end if you can.

[cica]

Both me and the girlfriend have a 5min and 10min walk respectively. I still love driving because I never commute. Regularly just go for a drive for fun. We live in a dump trying to save money and at least wait for some sense in the housing market but things like this make up for it.

[Wooden Top]

No more than 15 minutes. Anymore and I would hate it. Especially after a night shift it's a struggle driving home. I know some colleagues who drive for over a hour after a night shift, I just couldn't do it. All that wasted time must really add up over the year.

[spyguy]

Mon-Fri - 40 minutes is about the limit.

Beyond that it gets too expensive and eats into too much of my time.

Staying somewhere Tues-Thu is too expensive.

I would handle B+B for 1 or 2 nights during the week.

[Jimmer]

Certainly wouldn't want to spend more than half to three quarters of an hour getting to or from work, life's too short.

I have also traded in my Mazda 6 for a BMW powered Peugeot 207 that gets around 42mpg---around town (petrol engine).

a 54 plate astra (late mk 4) 1.7 diesel will return 60 mpg on average if you drive conservatively. Dead comfy and you can pick one up for under £2500.

[Lagarde's Drift]

a 54 plate astra (late mk 4) 1.7 diesel will return 60 mpg on average if you drive conservatively. Dead comfy and you can pick one up for under £2500.

Yeah, breakdown trucks these days are rather comfy, with air conditioning /heating and all.

[rantnrave]

Advances in technology should free up more people to work from home. This is already happening to an extent. There is an advantage to the company in that they get staff who aren't drained already at the start of the day. At the same time, they lose the face to face contact with the workforce (and the possibility that their team members are actually watching Homes Under The Hammer rather than working).

Followed through to one logical conclusion, the internet could see less need for office space and high street shops. Both could be converted to housing, as could all the boarded up pubs.

Edited May 3, 2011 by rantnrave

[montesquieu]

Academics generally teach 3-4 days a week and then only in term time. Research (which is the main part of the job that most are assessed on: their publications record is entirely what their reputation and promotion prospects depend on), as well as lecture preparation and marking CAN be done in the office but doesn't need to be (can be done just as well at home), so if necessary the amount of time actually spent in the institution can be quite small. Just about everything is online these days and even for hard sciences, computer modelling can be done remotely rather than on-site.

And example: three nights teaching on campus means two nights in a cheap (usually on campus) hotel = £100 a week, in term time only which is 24 weeks of the year. Add a few weeks for exam invigilation, non-teaching term staff meetings, and attending graduations. Still under three grand a year in hotel costs, cheaper than a London season ticket.

This works well for some of my wife's colleagues at her University of London college, who prefer to live in Cambridge, Oxford, Bath Barcelona, Venice, and come in to work when they have to, anywhere but sh*itty, chav-ridden, noisy overpriced London. This is, perhaps, an unfortunate thing for campus life (seminars, collaboration and all that) but for many subjects these days, collaboration is with external institutions anyway, in my wife's institution, she is the ONLY one expert in her field.

We've been renting through East since she got the job nearly three years ago but are looking at heading back to Somerset at some stage. Get much, much more for our money that way and a decent quality of life away from the noise and the crowds. In my job (private sector IT consultancy) I'm home-based anyway and get expensed whenever I need to go to London or a customer site anywhere in the country.

[winkie]

Advances in technology should free up more people to work from home. This is already happening to an extent. There is an advantage to the company in that they get staff who aren't drained already at the start of the day. At the same time, they lose the face to face contact with the workforce (and the possibility that their team members are actually watching Homes Under The Hammer rather than working).

Followed through to one logical conclusion, the internet could see less need for office space and high street shops. Both could be converted to housing, as could all the boarded up pubs.

I agree...more and more are set up for working from home, only to visit the office occasionally....the incentive and benefits of working at or close to home can only increase.......there is only so much hard commuting someone can take before it affects your work, your health and so your family.

[DTMark]

Used to live in Harlow and commute to Marylebone (Central London)

Took about one hour 25 minutes at best and 1 hour 45 minutes at worst on a normal day.

Trouble is that when public transport, especially in congested areas like London, goes wrong, you might not get home at all if you live near the end of the line (power failures on the Central Line sometimes caused trains to have to stop at Leytonstone or Stratford and go no further east, so there's a £50 taxi fare) or might get home at a very late hour travelling in intolerable conditions.

For me, no more than 45 minutes maximum each way driving only, I wouldn't go back to using trains again, but in a way it becomes academic because unless parking costs too much, it's cheaper to drive anyway and you can then pretty well always guarantee getting home and having a seat.

[rantnrave]

I agree...more and more are set up for working from home, only to visit the office occasionally....the incentive and benefits of working at or close to home can only increase.......there is only so much hard commuting someone can take before it affects your work, your health and so your family.

Contradicting my earlier point, this trend means we need houses big enough to fit an office into

[silver surfer]

Advances in technology should free up more people to work from home. This is already happening to an extent. There is an advantage to the company in that they get staff who aren't drained already at the start of the day. At the same time, they lose the face to face contact with the workforce (and the possibility that their team members are actually watching Homes Under The Hammer rather than working).

Followed through to one logical conclusion, the internet could see less need for office space and high street shops. Both could be converted to housing, as could all the boarded up pubs.

The reality is that if you can work from home then someone else can work from India.

[winkie]

Contradicting my earlier point, this trend means we need houses big enough to fit an office into

.....some places give you far more for the same money.....in more ways than one.

[DTMark]

Contradicting my earlier point, this trend means we need houses big enough to fit an office into

The main problem with working from home is the country's complete lack of a broadband network in the 52% of it that isn't cabled. When I've lived in cabled areas I've had no problems, but move outside of one and it's all hit and miss, you name it - Welwyn Garden City, Blackpool, here - no broadband availability at all (just one or two meg narrowband ADSL if you're lucky) albeit we can get 2 to 3 Meg 3G here which is what we use.

That's (hopefully) going to become a key issue, but I fear we're so far behind now that the UK will be damaged in this respect.

[winkie]

The reality is that if you can work from home then someone else can work from India.

...it's a small world.

[Bradbury Robinson]

.....some places give you far more for the same money.....in more ways than one.

Currently I'm doing a fifteen minute (five mile) drive into town and a five minute walk from the car park.

Previously I was doing a forty five minute (twenty mile) drive. This was town-quiet motorway-town.

If I was ever to look for another job I'd never go further than twenty miles as the extra one and a half hours on your day was just too much. The only upside was I had time to listen to an album each way but now don't really listen to any!

[DTMark]

Currently I'm doing a fifteen minute (five mile) drive into town and a five minute walk from the car park.

Previously I was doing a forty five minute (twenty mile) drive. This was town-quiet motorway-town.

If I was ever to look for another job I'd never go further than twenty miles as the extra one and a half hours on your day was just too much. The only upside was I had time to listen to an album each way but now don't really listen to any!

Quite like listening to audiobooks on the move - www.audible.co.uk - works well