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Coming to London (From New Zealand) I was blown away at some of the extreme commutes I saw here, the worst was a guy who: Drove from his house to the closest t

Coming to London (From New Zealand) I was blown away at some of the extreme commutes I saw here, the worst was a guy who: Drove from his house to the closest town. Got a Bus to the train station. Trained into Central London. Took another train to the office. (The intermediate bus stop was required because parking was too expensive near the train station) It took him about 2.5 hours each way every day!

albertgoeswoof 9y ago
sounds like someone who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing
- chrisseaton 9y ago
  Maybe it's the opposite. Maybe he knows the value of his family getting to live in the countryside with space and fresh air and is willing to pay the personal price himself to allow that.
  - Boothroid 9y ago
    I think it's very sad that people have to sacrifice like that. What is the cost in human misery? Surely there is a better way?
mattl 9y ago
Yeah, I had a friend who was taking the train from York to London every day and back. I think they may have stayed over on a Friday night, but even still... I always thought it was crazy, until I moved to the US where people will take a 90 minute subway train across a city.
- zimpenfish 9y ago
  I know someone who was doing New Forest to London every day and back. Basically about 6-7 hours of commuting daily.
- myrandomcomment 9y ago
  I took the train from York to London a few days ago with my family. It was pretty crowded. The ride into Kings Cross from York was around 2hrs. It was not bad. What I wonder about is the cost. Peak time which is the morning trains are around £45 from what I saw.
a1studmuffin 9y ago
I knew a Londoner with an almost identical commute, seems quite common over there. At the time my commute was 60 minutes one-way, and even though it was pretty easy (a single train leg, always seats available), it was still enough to make me vow never to do it again. Those 2 hours a day could have been used exercising, cooking with my wife, playing with my dog. I guess it's all about life priorities, but I'm skeptical any time someone suggests it as a healthy lifestyle.
- tacostakohashi 9y ago
  Yeah, NYC is a lot denser that London, so commutes of, say, 1 hour more are totally normal in London, but somewhat uncommon in NYC. For me, this makes NY a lot more appealing.
  - cylinder 9y ago
    Infrastructure is way better in London and there's lots of people who commute over an hour on LIRR, njt, metro North.
- ghaff 9y ago
  Yeah. I commuted into Boston for a bit over a year and I was similar. It was a relatively straightforward commute. Short drive to train station, train, then shortish walk to office. And, of course, I could read on the train. (This was pre-smartphone.) But it was still about 1 1/2 hours out of my day each way and the train wasn't very flexible if I wanted to do something after work in the city. In which case I had to leave very early and drive to an outlying subway station. (Which took about the same length of time total.) I traveled some and worked from home some so it was fairly tolerable but I wouldn't have wanted to do it long-term.
aidos 9y ago
Also from NZ and living in London. Not that I'll ever go back, but I'd definitely be willing to do a much longer commute in NZ than I ever thought was acceptable when I lived there! I'm on the outskirts of London now where if I take public transport the whole way it takes me 1.5hrs each way (or more, because it's Southern trains - grrrr). Normally I cycle 20 minutes to Epsom where the train journey is much quicker. There are tradeoffs to be made. I don't like having to spend a long time travelling but equally, it's much better for my kids to have space to run around outside. I do wish the trains were cheaper though.
- oblio 9y ago
  Just curious, why are so many Kiwis leaving New Zealand? It seems a lovely place, it's a developed country, surely it can't be that bad. Romanians (where I'm from) I can understand, they are moving from a developing country to a developed country on the same continent, they just need to learn the local language and they double or triple their salary, possibly even more. But New Zealanders... it seems kind of strange.
  - malux85 9y ago
    I moved here to get out of my comfort zone
  - aidos 9y ago
    Imagine you live in a country where there's no where else to go for miles around, and you're young, and you want to see the world - then it might make a little more sense :-) It is really common though. It's referred to as your OE (overseas experience) and a lot of people do it. Many just to Australia, but the Uk and Canada are very common too. Mostly because there are reciprocal relationships with those countries that make it easier.
    - wott 9y ago
      > Imagine you live in a country where there's no where else to go for miles around, and you're young, and you want to see the world. And you end up seeing crappy suburbs from a crappy suburban train 3 hours a day, 15 hours a week (that's like 2 working days a week).
philk10 9y ago
I had a similar commute - lived just outside London: Drive close to train station then walk - parking fare at station was a rip-off. An hour on the train. Half hour walk from station to work. At least once a month no trains due to a jumper on the line so not getting home til midnight Couldn't move closer to London as too expensive, main source of jobs was London Couple of years of that was too much so started looking around and ended up in Michigan with a 15 minute commute and an acre of property
Jaruzel 9y ago
Londoner here. I am lucky enough to be able to work from home 95% of the time, but for the first 22 years of my career it wasn't so. I commuted from various locations on the edge of South East London to the The City (London's original Financial District, near Tower Bridge) every working day. A typical journey would take about 90 minutes each way, IF the trains were running on time. If they weren't, and that is unfortunately a regular occurrence, I could be experiencing 2-3 hours each way instead. Property prices in London are insane, but even worse within walking distance of a train station. To even get to my local train station required a 15 minute drive from my house, and that's when I moved in; 10 years later from the same property that journey has become 30 minutes due to increase traffic levels. Once at the station, it costs about £8 a day to park in the station-side car park, however if you got there after 09:30, there are typically no free spaces, and with nowhere to park near the station either, you'd just have to give up and drive back home. I put myself down on a list to get a season ticket, which although still didn't guarantee me a parking space, did at least grant me access to the season ticket holders parking area before 09:30. It took three years of waiting before I finally got the season ticket. This season ticket for parking costs £1,200 a year. Once on the train, unless I get a train that departs for London before 06:30, it will be packed solid with commuters, leaving squeezed standing room only. The journey is typically about 45 minutes (again if no delays), with the train stopping at many stations en route, and even more people trying to squeeze on. For this enjoyable daily privilege, I pay about £180 a month on a travel pass. The 90 minute commute comes from factoring in the unpredictable traffic for the drive to the station, plus waiting time at the station, plus the train journey, plus the walk to the office at the other end. And then I have to do it all again 8-10 hours later, to go home. All because I wanted a nice house with a good garden for my family. I have worked with many people whose commutes into London take longer (From Norwich, or York), but those people always have a seat with a table, Wifi, and food service, so it's way less of an ordeal. London sucks. Don't work there if you don't have to.
- philk10 9y ago
  That brought back a lot of bad memories, glad to hear you get to work from home most of the time now
- Nimitz14 9y ago
flurdy 9y ago
2.5h into London is not uncommon. 2 hour is quite common and that is my commute. And many colleagues do similar routes. Recently there was an article somewhere of people living in France and Belgium and commuting to London! My commute is simpler, I cycle to the station, which is an end station so the train is always there, take a train for 1.15h to Waterloo station, then walk to the office. I am asleep on the way in and hack away on the way home. I am usually home before 7pm. The key to stressless long commutes is avoiding multiple connections and no waiting for a train, tube or bus. Also paying for your mental sanity such as near station parking and 1st class tickets also ensures less frustrating commutes. Kids are the reason I now live this far out (as opposed to my old 20 minutes commute). But I also take a lot of holidays, 1 or 2 days WFH a week, and long breaks between jobs/clients/projects.
- kiyundai 9y ago
  Well living in Lille (North of France), if i take the eurostar, it takes me 30mn to go to saint Pancras (1h30, but there is the time difference, brussels is 2h away from London so 1h if you add the time difference)
  - ThrustVectoring 9y ago
    Crossing a time zone doesn't make the trip take one less hour.
djhworld 9y ago
I work with people who do similar commutes into London One guy in my last job commuted from Bournemouth, which is about 2 hours each way. You can understand it though, London is horrendously expensive if you're not earning a good chunk of cash, especially if you have kids and a family.
yardie 9y ago
Have a few friends who were doing the Brighton to central London commute (~2.5 hrs). They liked the beach and hippy vibe of Brighton. More friends moved there and then the company decided to open a branch office in Brighton.

albertgoeswoof 9y ago

sounds like someone who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing

chrisseaton 9y ago
Maybe it's the opposite. Maybe he knows the value of his family getting to live in the countryside with space and fresh air and is willing to pay the personal price himself to allow that.
- Boothroid 9y ago
  I think it's very sad that people have to sacrifice like that. What is the cost in human misery? Surely there is a better way?

mattl 9y ago

Yeah, I had a friend who was taking the train from York to London every day and back. I think they may have stayed over on a Friday night, but even still... I always thought it was crazy, until I moved to the US where people will take a 90 minute subway train across a city.

zimpenfish 9y ago
I know someone who was doing New Forest to London every day and back. Basically about 6-7 hours of commuting daily.
myrandomcomment 9y ago
I took the train from York to London a few days ago with my family. It was pretty crowded. The ride into Kings Cross from York was around 2hrs. It was not bad. What I wonder about is the cost. Peak time which is the morning trains are around £45 from what I saw.

a1studmuffin 9y ago

I knew a Londoner with an almost identical commute, seems quite common over there. At the time my commute was 60 minutes one-way, and even though it was pretty easy (a single train leg, always seats available), it was still enough to make me vow never to do it again. Those 2 hours a day could have been used exercising, cooking with my wife, playing with my dog. I guess it's all about life priorities, but I'm skeptical any time someone suggests it as a healthy lifestyle.

tacostakohashi 9y ago
Yeah, NYC is a lot denser that London, so commutes of, say, 1 hour more are totally normal in London, but somewhat uncommon in NYC. For me, this makes NY a lot more appealing.
- cylinder 9y ago
  Infrastructure is way better in London and there's lots of people who commute over an hour on LIRR, njt, metro North.
ghaff 9y ago
Yeah. I commuted into Boston for a bit over a year and I was similar. It was a relatively straightforward commute. Short drive to train station, train, then shortish walk to office. And, of course, I could read on the train. (This was pre-smartphone.) But it was still about 1 1/2 hours out of my day each way and the train wasn't very flexible if I wanted to do something after work in the city. In which case I had to leave very early and drive to an outlying subway station. (Which took about the same length of time total.) I traveled some and worked from home some so it was fairly tolerable but I wouldn't have wanted to do it long-term.

aidos 9y ago

Also from NZ and living in London. Not that I'll ever go back, but I'd definitely be willing to do a much longer commute in NZ than I ever thought was acceptable when I lived there! I'm on the outskirts of London now where if I take public transport the whole way it takes me 1.5hrs each way (or more, because it's Southern trains - grrrr). Normally I cycle 20 minutes to Epsom where the train journey is much quicker. There are tradeoffs to be made. I don't like having to spend a long time travelling but equally, it's much better for my kids to have space to run around outside. I do wish the trains were cheaper though.

oblio 9y ago
Just curious, why are so many Kiwis leaving New Zealand? It seems a lovely place, it's a developed country, surely it can't be that bad. Romanians (where I'm from) I can understand, they are moving from a developing country to a developed country on the same continent, they just need to learn the local language and they double or triple their salary, possibly even more. But New Zealanders... it seems kind of strange.
- malux85 9y ago
  I moved here to get out of my comfort zone
- aidos 9y ago
  Imagine you live in a country where there's no where else to go for miles around, and you're young, and you want to see the world - then it might make a little more sense :-) It is really common though. It's referred to as your OE (overseas experience) and a lot of people do it. Many just to Australia, but the Uk and Canada are very common too. Mostly because there are reciprocal relationships with those countries that make it easier.
  - wott 9y ago
    > Imagine you live in a country where there's no where else to go for miles around, and you're young, and you want to see the world. And you end up seeing crappy suburbs from a crappy suburban train 3 hours a day, 15 hours a week (that's like 2 working days a week).

philk10 9y ago

I had a similar commute - lived just outside London: Drive close to train station then walk - parking fare at station was a rip-off. An hour on the train. Half hour walk from station to work. At least once a month no trains due to a jumper on the line so not getting home til midnight Couldn't move closer to London as too expensive, main source of jobs was London Couple of years of that was too much so started looking around and ended up in Michigan with a 15 minute commute and an acre of property

Jaruzel 9y ago

Londoner here. I am lucky enough to be able to work from home 95% of the time, but for the first 22 years of my career it wasn't so. I commuted from various locations on the edge of South East London to the The City (London's original Financial District, near Tower Bridge) every working day. A typical journey would take about 90 minutes each way, IF the trains were running on time. If they weren't, and that is unfortunately a regular occurrence, I could be experiencing 2-3 hours each way instead. Property prices in London are insane, but even worse within walking distance of a train station. To even get to my local train station required a 15 minute drive from my house, and that's when I moved in; 10 years later from the same property that journey has become 30 minutes due to increase traffic levels. Once at the station, it costs about £8 a day to park in the station-side car park, however if you got there after 09:30, there are typically no free spaces, and with nowhere to park near the station either, you'd just have to give up and drive back home. I put myself down on a list to get a season ticket, which although still didn't guarantee me a parking space, did at least grant me access to the season ticket holders parking area before 09:30. It took three years of waiting before I finally got the season ticket. This season ticket for parking costs £1,200 a year. Once on the train, unless I get a train that departs for London before 06:30, it will be packed solid with commuters, leaving squeezed standing room only. The journey is typically about 45 minutes (again if no delays), with the train stopping at many stations en route, and even more people trying to squeeze on. For this enjoyable daily privilege, I pay about £180 a month on a travel pass. The 90 minute commute comes from factoring in the unpredictable traffic for the drive to the station, plus waiting time at the station, plus the train journey, plus the walk to the office at the other end. And then I have to do it all again 8-10 hours later, to go home. All because I wanted a nice house with a good garden for my family. I have worked with many people whose commutes into London take longer (From Norwich, or York), but those people always have a seat with a table, Wifi, and food service, so it's way less of an ordeal. London sucks. Don't work there if you don't have to.

philk10 9y ago
That brought back a lot of bad memories, glad to hear you get to work from home most of the time now
Nimitz14 9y ago

flurdy 9y ago

2.5h into London is not uncommon. 2 hour is quite common and that is my commute. And many colleagues do similar routes. Recently there was an article somewhere of people living in France and Belgium and commuting to London! My commute is simpler, I cycle to the station, which is an end station so the train is always there, take a train for 1.15h to Waterloo station, then walk to the office. I am asleep on the way in and hack away on the way home. I am usually home before 7pm. The key to stressless long commutes is avoiding multiple connections and no waiting for a train, tube or bus. Also paying for your mental sanity such as near station parking and 1st class tickets also ensures less frustrating commutes. Kids are the reason I now live this far out (as opposed to my old 20 minutes commute). But I also take a lot of holidays, 1 or 2 days WFH a week, and long breaks between jobs/clients/projects.

kiyundai 9y ago
Well living in Lille (North of France), if i take the eurostar, it takes me 30mn to go to saint Pancras (1h30, but there is the time difference, brussels is 2h away from London so 1h if you add the time difference)
- ThrustVectoring 9y ago
  Crossing a time zone doesn't make the trip take one less hour.

djhworld 9y ago

I work with people who do similar commutes into London One guy in my last job commuted from Bournemouth, which is about 2 hours each way. You can understand it though, London is horrendously expensive if you're not earning a good chunk of cash, especially if you have kids and a family.

yardie 9y ago

Have a few friends who were doing the Brighton to central London commute (~2.5 hrs). They liked the beach and hippy vibe of Brighton. More friends moved there and then the company decided to open a branch office in Brighton.