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Annual season ticket to London from Peterborough, at the edge of the commuter belt with relatively affordable housing is £9,500 (including Tube) That's 20% of

Annual season ticket to London from Peterborough, at the edge of the commuter belt with relatively affordable housing is £9,500 (including Tube) That's 20% of your after tax income if you're on more than double the median UK salary

blibble 4y ago
there's like 5 people who commute daily from Bristol too peterborough is on the border of super-commuter category
- steve_gh 4y ago
  Many more than that. Pre-pandemic Bath was quite busy in the mornings. Only 75 mins from Paddington, good comfortable trains, and always a seat, so you could work. What's not to like
chrisseaton 4y ago
Commuting from Peterborough would be absolutely insane. You can't convince me you can't find cheaper housing between London and Peterborough. That radius has got to be the majority of the UK's housing stock?
- Symbiote 4y ago
  It's something people might do for a short period, or while looking for a better option. A friend commuted from Coventry to London for a year. She moved there with her husband, but had one more year to go on her PhD -- using the labs at the university was essential, but there was also plenty of work that could be done on the train.
- notahacker 4y ago
  Peterborough is a commute of around an hour, was a designated New Town for precisely that reason and tops most people's list of least expensive London commuter towns to actually live in. Sure, you can pay a mere £4k per annum for your rail ticket coming in from somewhere like Stevenage, but then you have to find a mortgage lender that will let you borrow another £100k (and won't have a more exciting locality or fancier house to show for it)
  - chrisseaton 4y ago
    Are we talking about the same Peterborough? It's north of Birmingham?
    - timthorn 4y ago
      It's about the same latitude as Birmingham but due north of London so the distance is a lot less. The property in the fens around is affordable and often comes with land; it is absolutely a commuter station.
    - notahacker 4y ago
      Yes, we're talking about Peterborough, the city whose main attraction is fast trains to Kings Cross in 47 minutes and slower ones around 1hr 10 combined with relatively affordable housing for southeast England. I take it you're not familiar with the place or the line (tbf you haven't missed much...)
    - pjc50 4y ago
      Don't look at the geography, look at the travel time.
- Doctor_Fegg 4y ago
  I’ve encountered people who commute daily from Worcester - 2hrs from Paddington. (One guy in particular used to get in at the end seat of the quiet carriage and snore quietly all the way into London.)
KJKingJ 4y ago
Or £8,800 if you choose the "Great Northern and Thameslink" only one rather than the "Any Permitted" one. The former lets you travel on the same services as the latter as well as intercity services operated by LNER. They are somewhat quicker of course by virtue of not stopping anywhere after Peterborough (if they even stop there in the first place!), but as Thameslink services continue through London instead of terminating at King's Cross their slower time to get to King's Cross can pay off with a shorter overall journey by virtue of not having to change trains (for a number of people, this can also mean not needing to pay for the tube either - bringing it down to £7,388 year). Now undoubtedly £7,388 a year is a significant chunk of cash. But to be clear, Peterborough is very much on the edge of the commuter belt at 60 miles from London. A more typical 'commuter belt' origin on that route would be somewhere like Stevenage, Welwyn or Hatfield - which come in at £4,224/year, £3,300/year and £3,076/year respectively.
bombcar 4y ago
In the US at least that would get close to the cost of a small car with insurance and gas. However I assume the equivalent in UK would be more especially considering parking and intercity fees. Sounds like the commuter rail is pricing itself just below the cost of a car.
- notahacker 4y ago
  Commuting into central London by car is the sort of thing that makes using the British railway system sound appealing

blibble 4y ago

there's like 5 people who commute daily from Bristol too peterborough is on the border of super-commuter category

steve_gh 4y ago
Many more than that. Pre-pandemic Bath was quite busy in the mornings. Only 75 mins from Paddington, good comfortable trains, and always a seat, so you could work. What's not to like

chrisseaton 4y ago

Commuting from Peterborough would be absolutely insane. You can't convince me you can't find cheaper housing between London and Peterborough. That radius has got to be the majority of the UK's housing stock?

Symbiote 4y ago
It's something people might do for a short period, or while looking for a better option. A friend commuted from Coventry to London for a year. She moved there with her husband, but had one more year to go on her PhD -- using the labs at the university was essential, but there was also plenty of work that could be done on the train.
notahacker 4y ago
Peterborough is a commute of around an hour, was a designated New Town for precisely that reason and tops most people's list of least expensive London commuter towns to actually live in. Sure, you can pay a mere £4k per annum for your rail ticket coming in from somewhere like Stevenage, but then you have to find a mortgage lender that will let you borrow another £100k (and won't have a more exciting locality or fancier house to show for it)
- chrisseaton 4y ago
  Are we talking about the same Peterborough? It's north of Birmingham?
  - timthorn 4y ago
    It's about the same latitude as Birmingham but due north of London so the distance is a lot less. The property in the fens around is affordable and often comes with land; it is absolutely a commuter station.
  - notahacker 4y ago
    Yes, we're talking about Peterborough, the city whose main attraction is fast trains to Kings Cross in 47 minutes and slower ones around 1hr 10 combined with relatively affordable housing for southeast England. I take it you're not familiar with the place or the line (tbf you haven't missed much...)
  - pjc50 4y ago
    Don't look at the geography, look at the travel time.
Doctor_Fegg 4y ago
I’ve encountered people who commute daily from Worcester - 2hrs from Paddington. (One guy in particular used to get in at the end seat of the quiet carriage and snore quietly all the way into London.)

KJKingJ 4y ago

Or £8,800 if you choose the "Great Northern and Thameslink" only one rather than the "Any Permitted" one. The former lets you travel on the same services as the latter as well as intercity services operated by LNER. They are somewhat quicker of course by virtue of not stopping anywhere after Peterborough (if they even stop there in the first place!), but as Thameslink services continue through London instead of terminating at King's Cross their slower time to get to King's Cross can pay off with a shorter overall journey by virtue of not having to change trains (for a number of people, this can also mean not needing to pay for the tube either - bringing it down to £7,388 year). Now undoubtedly £7,388 a year is a significant chunk of cash. But to be clear, Peterborough is very much on the edge of the commuter belt at 60 miles from London. A more typical 'commuter belt' origin on that route would be somewhere like Stevenage, Welwyn or Hatfield - which come in at £4,224/year, £3,300/year and £3,076/year respectively.

bombcar 4y ago

In the US at least that would get close to the cost of a small car with insurance and gas. However I assume the equivalent in UK would be more especially considering parking and intercity fees. Sounds like the commuter rail is pricing itself just below the cost of a car.

notahacker 4y ago
Commuting into central London by car is the sort of thing that makes using the British railway system sound appealing