5 ms·
Most people are coming from outside of London and what you find is that it is usually quicker to drive in and just sit in the traffic than mess about doing park
by davesmith1983 7y ago
Most people are coming from outside of London and what you find is that it is usually quicker to drive in and just sit in the traffic than mess about doing park and rides and then travelling in.
- isostatic 7y agoIt was far quicker to walk a mile to Twyford station, get the train to Ealing, and the tube to White City (or fast train to Paddington and tube to Shepherds Bush now) than to drive. It was a long time ago, and I don't work in Shepherds Bush any more, but the trip today would be 0835 - leave home 0856 - get slow train to London 0935 - arrive Ealing 0950 - arrive White City 0955 - arrive at office Or 0840 - leave home 0900 - get fast train to London 0932 - arrive Paddington 0950 - arrive White City 0955 - arrive at office Driving was 0800 - leave home 0900 - arrive Hammersmith flyover turnoff 0950 - arrive car park 0955 - arrive at office It was the hammersmith roundabout that was the real killer. The reason I drove in for 10AM (once a week) was because I was on 12-14 hour shifts, and driving home after 10pm was about 50 minutes. Very few people working office hours would drive into London, especially Central London, and parking at stations across the south east is often full by 9AM.
- davesmith1983 7y agoInteresting tbh if it was the same amount of time I would just drive in. Outside of London the train is always slower. I used to live in Manchester and get the train into Stoke. Driving was always faster without exception. Generally it was cheaper as well (I have a crappy old diesel astra that is even cheaper to repair and I will drive it til the wheels fall off).
- isostatic 7y agoAll things being equal I'd rather take the train - you can read, work, watch TV The main benefit of driving is not having to wait for a specific train. From where I live in south cheshire, it's quicker to get the train into Manchester than drive (although quicker to drive to Stoke than train). That's with a 0930 arrival in Picadilly Gardens. Same to get to Cardiff, Birmingham and certainly London (2h15 to Euston, vs 2h40 to the M25 with no traffic) If I had to be in Picadilly Gardens for 0900 though it would be faster to drive thanks to the train times.
- davesmith1983 7y agoVirgin trains wants basically another 10-15 a month on top of your journey for internet and you can't take a bike on their trains without phoning ahead first. Cross country aren't much better. Phone internet doesn't work on the train typically. That combined with the travel sickness after each journey make the car much more appealing. I will never go back to using the train as long as I can legally drive. They are just garbage in the UK and expensive. I doubt I will buy a new car either. I own two cars. I have an old 1994 mercedes SL which is kept in a storage garage at the moment and the other car is a 2005 vauxhall astra that is getting up to 400,000 miles and doesn't show any signs of dying just yet. Every newer car I have driven is full of mostly electric crap which tends to break or they have some awful drive by wire nonsense that takes the feeling out of the vehicle. I think much like the operating systems I use, I am going to resist using any newer tech as long as I am able to.
- isostatic 7y agoI use 4G tethering and works really well between Crewe and Manchester (well enough for uninterupted youtube streaming and ssh sessions). Virgin "pendilinos" have free wifi now too. Northern run on the Manchester-Stoke line and don't need bike reservations. YMMV.
- davesmith1983 7y agoYeh well I gave catching the train a chance (I was riding trains for about 10 years before I could afford a car) and driving is much easier.