4 ms·

Seems like a bit of chicken-and-egg problem; overcrowded city leads to better public transport, which leads to more overcrowding, which leads to...

• TheOtherHobbes 11y ago
  Except that London is becoming unaffordable, even on middle class salaries. The average monthly rent is over £1500, which is more than half the average monthly salary - and somewhere between two-thirds and three-quarters of average take home pay after tax.
  • dogma1138 11y ago
    And if you look at the boroughs that the professionals actually live in you can almost double that. This is how you get 4 people who make over double the average salary having to share a place just to afford rent while being able to preserve even a notion of savings. The problem is that most places around the m25 with easy access to London aren't that cheaper these days to rent in when you count the 3-5k yearly commute costs. So even the suburbs and satellite towns are becoming unaffordable.
  • to3m 11y ago
    That's more than half the average monthly gross salary. To get £3,000/mo take home pay you'd need to earn £49,500/year.
  • cjrp 11y ago
    Sure, but being unaffordable to live in doesn't stop a city being crowded. I work in zone 1 and commute in from zone 6, adding to the congestion. I suppose the overcrowding only reduces when it's not only unaffordable to live in London, but also to commute in.
    • dogma1138 11y ago
      It's only getting worse both Facebook (just where i work Euston Tower/Reagents Park Business Center) and Google (building a mega office near kings cross) are moving in with quite a few others following them just going to make things worse. The City of London want's to bring even more big companies into the heart of London and they are throwing tax intensives left and right.