[Closed] Longest daily non cycling commute

Surely depends on the roads doesn't it? Mileage not as important as the time.

What are the details of the new commute?

I have commuted some distance in the past and sitting on a fast train for an hour reading a book every morning is infinitely less stressful, and sometimes quicker, than a 10 mile journey across the centre of London

I do 66 miles to and from work which in a car is 1hr each way, sometimes it's OK and if the weather is good it can be a nice drive also if you have had a bad day by the time you get in you are relaxed and happy to see the wife and kids.

If I had a choice though I would want to work closer to home,

140 miles is hell of a drive, if you are going by car think of the petrol, I spend at present about £80/£100 a month on fuel, what will yours be? or is your new employer going to pay your travel.

Think long and hard first.

Well done with the new job offer though.

if it was 70 miles by train I might consider it. no way would I drive that far

M8 motorway straight through Glasgow or alternate route mostly B roads which are pretty crap roads pot holes etc
both roughly 1.5 hrs although if the M8 Kingston bridge is busy then this can increase it by quite a bit
Travelling from Ayrshire to West Lothian

I used to travel 60 milea each way, my journey included the dartford crossing which could be an absolute nightmare. After a year of doing it I moved closer to work, now I live 5 minutes from the office. The real shame is that now I have to live in Kent.

IM doing a 100 mile round trip to work everday and i can honestly say i hate it!!

i spend all of it on the motorway (m5/m42/m40) and i get so stressed by other people driving like ****s, im more wound up when i get home .

Also banging 24000 miles a year on my car isnt good!!

currently spending 50 quid a week on diesel!

yeah the thought of hours in the car is swaying my judgement somewhat
while my present job aint too bad it's starting to get me down
but i think a longer commute would be even worse might have to look for something closer to home

I used to drive for 30 mins to the train station, train into London for 1 hour (read books/papers etc) walk for 30 mins. Then repeat at the end of the day. So thats two hours in and two hours out. A total of 4 wasted hours each day. The train was not stressfull, well most of the time. But its such a waste of your life and it cost about 7-8k per year.

The more you do it the more it starts to wear you down. Working closer to home is so valuble its hard to realise until you have to commute a long way/time.

If I left work at five I would get home at 7. But thats not always possible. I never felt I had any time in the week, I lived only at weekends. Not worth it.

I used to do Renfrew to Grangemouth over the Kingston Bridge. Managed it for a couple of years. Moved nearer to work as I was needing a bigger house and was sick of the 2 hours lost out of my day. Also the Kingston bridge can be horrendous if you catch it at the wrong time.

That'd be too far for me I reckon. I used to drive 60 miles each way but it was motorway virtually all the way and I was able to go in early and leave early. Don't forget, if it's B roads, it'll only take one accident or a slow lorry in front of you to make it horrible.

I've done more than my share of driving and I would say that it sounds like a long way to me.
Depends on your family situation as well. Wife? Kids?
Do you need to be in the office 9-5 every day?

I do about an hour in the car each way at the moment but it is not every day. Given my previous experiences, I generally reckon that anything over an hour each way is too much.

I do 30 miles a day, Sheffield to Furness vale through the Peak district, its the best part of my day ! looking at the Views of Ladybower, Mamtor etc, seeing how the seasons change the whole look of the area 🙂

Only traffic is sheep on the road, although someone managed to overturn there car in the centre of Hope this morning £$)(£@@"£~~@:

I do 40 miles each way, mostly motorway,= 1 hour each way.

It's OK to start with and then you start to think what would I rather be doing with 10 hours of my life each week.

I most cases I doubt the answer would be "sitting in my car".

However and this is a big however.... if the job comes with a massive salary / career benefit that will improve your life in the short and medium term then you may suddenly come to love commuting.

I know a guy who travelled from Ayrshire to Fife by train every day: Walk from his house to local train station. Train to Glasgow Central. Walk to Glasgow Queen St. Train to Edinburgh Haymarket. Train to Rosyth. Walk to office.

I also used to do business with a girl in Japan who commuted something like 300 miles each way on the train every day.

Me? My commute is about 5 mins. 🙂

I used to do a 140 mile daily roundtrip and, after 18 months of it, decided purely on economic factors to move from my old place nearer to work.

Even with the economical Rover 620 SLDi (over 50 mpg on the trip average), it was costing over 400 a month and I had to tank it every four days. It was cheaper for me to move from my cheap flat on a stables to a 900 a month mortgaged house with the reduced fuel costs.

All told, I was spending about 3-4 hours in the car a day depending on traffic. It's not nice, but it is doable. Just take a big mug of tea with you.

my dad used to do Shrewsbury to the Shell Centre on the old intercity train (used to go to shrewsbury) three times a week - there and back each day...

madness

Well I only commute one hour each way per day.
Half of it is train, the other is bike. So not tedious by UK/STW standard. I only do this because it ables me free rent.
Otherwise I would be more than happy to have 8 hours a week more to ride bike properly and enjoy some social life.

Whatever happend to the computer/IT/broadband solution enabling us to work from home then ?

I do 80 miles daily. All Dual Carrigeway so takes 35 mins.

I would say it depends on your job, also working hours. I leave early, back of 6, that way the roads are a lot quieter and you can leave earlier. If i leave later it takes me 1 hour plus to get to work, so that is worth considering.

Job not possible to say do 4 day week, get sum digs, work longer hours mon-thurs then take long weekend?? just a thought.

A lot of factors to consider really

[i]Whatever happend to the computer/IT/broadband solution enabling us to work from home then ? [/i]

We're just trialing a new bespoke homeworkers solution where we stick a firewall, WYSE terminal and a phone at someone's house. We make them think they've got some sort of say in what's going on by allowing them to pick their own desk and chair from a catalogue and we provide a broadband connection to their house. Seems to work well. Our new Homeworkers officer used to manage 1800 homeworkers using this method for one company in yankland and seems to have come with similar ideas for our staff. Bring it on I say.

140miles a day? Your car insurance will go up slightly but worse- that wear and tear on your car will also wear and tear you mentally and physically. Some are born to commute (sales reps) but 30kmiles a year? No thanks. Company car and petrol card included? That would be the breaker for me.

Ps. I've never commuted more than 6miles.

Trimix-
I do not think I will ever be able to load a gas ship from my house 😆

I worked as a consultant for years, which meant working at different customer sites. I'd consider a 70 mile (each way) commute a day off. 100 miles was the norm and it would have to be over 200 (each way) before I'd stay over (basically if I could get home by 9:00pm I'd drive).

You get used to it. The majority of people I know do, or have done, the same kind of commuting. It's normal.

I've done long 1-1.5hr commutes, but only temporarily. I could never do it indefinitely i.e. without a plan to move closer.

Time in a car is completely 'dead'. If its a train/bus you can read, check your email, browse STW etc.. If your cycling you getting exercise. But a car means you sat still and getting stressed!

i have friends who've done it for longer (over 1 year) and they eventually had accidents due to the sheer volume of miles covered and the increased time spent driving tired/stressed with lots of other people in a similar state of mind!

5thElefant - this isnt a dig at you or having a go. I find that crackers. I become very bored in a car and restless.

Alcopop a friend of mine travelled from Barrhead to Linlithgow every day which did his nut in so he started working from home. Unfortunately he was promoted to a team leader position which meant he had to be in the office every day, so after fuel costs he had less money than before.

I live in Kilmarnock and work in Glasgow and driving in can be a complete nightmare - so I cycle most of the time. I drove in on Tuesday and it took me about an hour to get to the centre of Glasgow and no end of stress.

I used to work in Edinburgh the odd day and if I was unfortunate enough to have to stay till any time after 4pm it would take me at least 2.5 hours to get home - but that was to Stockbridge.

Maybe when the m74 extension is completed it would make it slightly easier.

No way I would drive that route every day.

[i]M8 motorway straight through Glasgow[/i]

But generally the queue to get to the m8 from Ayrshire starts at the top of Newton Mearns.

personally, i hate commuting.
what a waste of time. i know a guy who works in derby, lives in shrewsbury, which is about 80 miles each way, but personally, if i cant ride to work, im not interested.
10 miles max would be my limit i think.

it once took me an hour and a half to cross derby though, it was a 10 min bike ride.

Thanks to all,yep 140miles daily does seem excessive i now dont feel such a wuss
I drove in on Tuesday and it took me about an hour to get to the centre of Glasgow and no end of stress
Gary M i feel your pain, presently in Mauchline and work in Killie
so an easy commute
possibilty of something in Livinstone hence the initial question
present job looking better every minute

Surely depends on the roads doesn't it? Mileage not as important as the time

Not always, I'd rather be driving on a clear road for 2 hours then stuck in a traffic jam for an hour and a half.

Alcopop fortunately I don't do the drive in very often as I ride to/from work 3 to 4 days a week and work from home at least one day. I'd stick with the easy commute if I were you.

Also if you were going to Livingston from Ayrshire you would be better going the a77/new East Kilbride road then m73/m8, this route is slow too but going through Glasgow takes a lot longer.

100 miles or 120 miles round trip depending on office - takes about 2 hours each way for either. Thankfully it's rare I'll do that for more than a day or two a week, I'm at customers or at home the rest of the time.

I wouldn't do it every day. I certainly wouldn't do it if the company wasn't paying my mileage.

Gary M usually use the A70 carstairs road when heading to the east coast
shorter distance but more winding pot holed roads so ends up taking as long

Crikey, I find my 6 mile commute boring enough.

140 miles per day would be a massive waste of life in my opinion.

I'd only do it if my home was 5 mins walk from a station, at least you can read a book or listen to some music on the train. Driving is so dull

21 miles 35mins for me but my neighbour commutes to central London by car, train and tube which takes him 2 hrs. Fortunately he can usually work from home one day a week but I'd rather work on the bins than have that kind of commute.

100 miles was the norm and it would have to be over 200 (each way) before I'd stay over (basically if I could get home by 9:00pm I'd drive).

You get used to it. The majority of people I know do, or have done, the same kind of commuting. It's normal.

It might be normal for some people, but it's still crazy 😉

Driving is great fun if you are going somewhere you like or want to visit.

I've never understood this 'driving is great fun' thing. Can you explain to me what's fun about it if you're driving on normal roads in the UK.

Obvioulsy there are times where the scenery is nice but I don't think I've evr driven anywhere and said 'wow, that was fun'.

"I do 80 miles daily. All Dual Carrigeway so takes 35 mins."

Surely 35 mins each way? Or do you drive a rocket ship? 😀

I used to drive 110 mile round trip - Sussex to Docklands (M23, M25, A2) - for 5yrs. Kind of therapeutic in the early days, but then suddenly became stressful as hell.

On a clear day I could do the first 50 miles in under an hour, but then hit Blackwall and take another hour to get to to wharf. On a bay day it could double that with me having to negotiate around half of sarf London.

PITA in the end, hence quitting the job.

Not really something I'd commit to again either, unless the job made up for it. Whatever you do, think it through.

It was sunny, warm and light this morning. I decided to drive the 2miles as Im still worn out from yesterday 🙄

I now live 50 miles from where I work (had to move for wife's job and to be nearer family), but have to cross Bradford and use the M62 to get to Sheffield. Its a bloody nightmare and takes approx 1 1/2 hrs there and 2 hrs back.

I tried for about a week and now rent a room during the week, and work a 4 day week.

To me its not just about the time in the car, its whether your moving or not. I find that if I'm constantly moving above 60mph on the motorway I dont find the journey too taxing, if the speed drops though the journey becomes much more stressful and tiring.

I'm currently looking for a new job, and I will never commute over 40 mins each way again!

5thElefant - this isnt a dig at you or having a go. I find that crackers. I become very bored in a car and restless.

Actually I think you may have a point. I might be a bit odd. 😯 But... not compared to most of the people I know. It hadn't occurred to me that we might all be odd.

[i]It was sunny, warm and light this morning. I decided to drive the 2miles as Im still worn out from yesterday[/i]

Are you joking?

I do 40 miles each way, M5, M42, M40 and would not want to do any more than that. It takes just under 1 hour and anything more than that would drive me insane (no pun intended).

Out of interest (stalker alert), Renton, do you drive a small green car, Peugeot perhaps, with an Orange sticker on the back window? If so, I think I do the same journey as you. I had often wondered if the driver was on STW.

Yep- I start people watching other cars on the motorway to see what they are doing. Playing with passengers hair (generally annoying people) and shifting around in my seat. On trains though you have the magic seat next/across from you...what 'if' a lovely lass sits there.

Did a 120 mile round trip each day for a about 6 months (inc. Severn Bridge), not cheap and sooo boring. Needed to be in work for 8am to and was woken up on more than one occasion by wheels on the rumble strip (not good). It's also crap if you oversleep and then still have 1 hour or so commute to worry about.

Mind you an old boss had a 140 mile commute (Reading-Bristol) he did for a few years and didn't seem to mind it, only took him about 45 minutes though and I don't think he got a speeding ticket in all that time.

I would ask you to think very carefully about this.

I took a job with a 60 mile commute and a lot of work miles four years ago. I stayed three and a half years.

It crippled me, and I mean crippled me, financially. One month I remember totting up that transport had cost me alomst 600 quid and most months it was 500. (car loan, insurance, tax and diesel).

The impact that had on my finances will take years to recover from.

I personally wouldn't do it. My commute at the moment is 1hr by bike (17.5 miles each way), a fraction under that if I do walk/train/walk and can be anything from 40mins to 2hrs if I drive.
But at least I can vary it and I have the option of working from home every once in a while. I wouldn't do a longer commute than that.

Doing the same long journey using the same method every day would be SO dull especially if it was "wasted" time in a car. At least on a train you can sleep/read the papers/work etc, car time is totally dead time other than listening to the radio.

Not wishing to me morbid, but the chances of being involved in an accident...wouldn't they increase the more time you spend on the road...?
I had some work colleagues years ago who commuted 220 miles a day from London to Lichfield. In two years they had two accidents, neither was their fault, & it was their car rolling after being shunted by a truck that led to them handing their notice in.
I've resisted moving jobs for too long now, because I enjoy taking the kids to nursery / school, with the bike trailer. I could earn a good few £k more but what price the 2-3hrs a day I don't have to spend in a car ?
I'll end up being forced into it one day but for now I'm happy. 🙂

You people are strange 😆 My commute is 32 miles each way (50minutes to 1 hours) and I like it. I hate trains with a passion, infact i hate public transport. I would find a train/bus stressfull.

I enjoy driving, so i guess that helps. Plus for me to public transport to work would take 1:30hr and cost around £15 a day. Fuel wise now £40 will last me a week.

I've been doing 160 miles a day between Dubai and Abu Dhabi, which is a bit wearing. Roads generally pretty good, and the journey can be done in an hour door to door.

What is a bit of a concern is the frequency of seeing the aftermath of horrific looking crashes - big SUV's totally unrecognisable. My Golf would certainly come of considerably worse I'm sure.

Economics are totally different here though as a full tank of petrol is about £12.

Glad to be moving to Italy next month where I'll be much closer to work.

Cheers, Rich

All the long commuters- do you get a car allowance/car and/or fuel card?

Someone offered me say a diesel Jag as a company car I think I could manage 50miles each way everyday. If it was in a Golf-box though. **** that!

alcopop - the M8 [i]car park[/i] from Mearns is a bit quicker that the East Kilbride/Raith/ M73 one at commuting times. I stay in EK and often have to drive to Edinburgh. I need to leave home at 7 to be in the office there at 9..........

I've just spent 3 days training in East Kilbride, travelling south on the M77 from Glasgow each morning. Watching the miles of crawling traffic edging northbound from the GSO to the Kingston Bridge was depressing. These people will mostly have been going to Glasgow. The thought of enduring that, particularly in winter, then continuing to W Lothian on a daily basis seems like madness. Surely you could use the GSO and EK Express Way to Raith or take the A71 from Kilmarnock to the M74 at Larkhall? Before you decide, try a dummy run along each of these options during rush hour, your current job may not seem quite so bad.

All the long commuters- do you get a car allowance/car and/or fuel card?

Some friends of a friend here (no really, they do exist) work 4 days a week but commute DAILY from Barcelona to London ❗

[i]take the A71 from Kilmarnock[/i]

I'd rather endure the horrors of queuing on the m77 or trawl through the million roundabouts of Stewartfield that drive the a71 in winter.

From my experience iainc I always found the gso quicker than going over the kingston bridge.

Hi,

I worked for 4 months on a contract in glasgow a couple of years ago and stayed there during the week. So driving monday morning (v v bad) and fri night (v bad unless later on.) The traffic on the M8 is hellish during the week at peak times. It must take for ever to get across the kingston bridge. Just go and try it one morning!! Before you decide.

Distance driving is mostly about how busy it is and how good the roads are. I used to commute from Amersham to Staines (junction 13 I think m25.) If I left at 6am it took me 25-30mins. Approx 25miles. If I left after 6.15am it took 1 hr 15-25mins. And is that horrible 35mph to standstill traffic which is very tiring & fustrating. Fri night forget it.

For two years I did a 110 mile round trip daily driving on quiet motorways in Scotland. Which took 50mins one way. It was an easy drive with few holdups but it really drains you after a while doing it every day. Especially when it is dark or wet. It ruins your car and costs a lot in fuel.

I have now moved house and although I still commute 100 odd miles daily it is now 5 mile on bike to train station, mostly on tracks. Or drive and 5 min walk. 45 mins on train + less than 10 min walk to office.

Although the wasted time is annoying I now read a book a week on the train and feel normal when I get to work and home.

downshep - shoulda said you were along the road and come in for a cuppa 😆

alcopop - as i said before, Raith at that time of day is just about as bad as the M77/M8 gary - I agree, it's the lesser of 2 evils though !

Hi,

I forgot to say in the 2 years motorway commute I must have seen 20 cars on their roofs in fields on straight bits of roads. And that's not the bad ones!!

Although the wasted time is annoying I now read a book a week on the train and feel normal when I get to work and home.

Interesting. I find the train far more stressful. I'd rather have a longer car journey than a shorter train journey.

I use a motorbike rather than endure the train if I have to spend more than a few days in London (where a car isn't practical). The bike is quicker (2 hours door-to-door, compared with 3 on the train), but the main thing is you're not at the mercy of the train service in all its crapness.

I forgot to say in the 2 years motorway commute I must have seen 20 cars on their roofs in fields on straight bits of roads. And that's not the bad ones!!

On my short curry commute over Saddleworth/M62 in the rain I ALWAYS see cars on every trip involved in such mishaps. Due to idiots racing on 4 lanes into 3. Last week there was a Jag estate parked in the middle of the field next to the famous M62 farmhouse. Rear looked crumpled - gawd knows how he/she got it down there without major carnage.

I must have done a couple of hundred thousand miles on the M4 and can't remember seeing a single car crash.

I remember the motorway being closed once, a sheep in the the middle lane (and watching an idiot in my rear view mirror stop - that probably didn't end well), and a plane crash. Which was odd. But no car crashes.

5thElefant you may well be right too.

The train I get is a long haul train from Glasgow to Aberdeen and is rairly late. I get off and opn mid way. You always get a seat. Only busy on a Fri night.

Granted commuting into London or across London is a different matter all together. Hot and very crowded, often late or delayed from what I remember.

Iain

Probably only about 25 miles, but about 75 mins each way on the train (in theory). A lot less than my previous 2 and a half hours each way (wooo! that was about 35 miles!).

Not sure how some on here manage to find trains that are rarely late....mine are always all over the place and TfL don't give a ****.

All the long commuters- do you get a car allowance/car and/or fuel card?

Oh yes. My contract is based from home (so whenever I leave my front door, the company pays to get me wherever I need to go), the car allowance covers something reasonable, the rate per mile is about double what the diesel costs, leaving a chunk over for insurance and maintenance. Effectively a free car.

I don't mind it so much, podcasts, audiobooks and R4 keep me sane, it's not every day, and when the weather's nice and I don't need to carry anything I ride my motorbike in instead.

I've known people do 120 miles a day (30k miles a year, before personal miles) out of their own pockets. That's about £3000 just in fuel, and even on a cheap-to-run car you can spend that again. And of course that's out of your taxed income so really you'd need at least 10k more on your salary for it to be anything like worthwhile. And you don't get those four hours a day sat in the car back.

I do a round trip of 220miles most days Hull Manchester Hull via our office (anywhere between 3 and 5hrs most days, better this week half -term however it to 8hrs to get their a few months back), however not tomorrow I'm off to London and back via our Southern office so should notch up about 460 by the end of the day.
My cars 18months old and has 87000 miles on the clock.

🙄

i f3ckin$ hate it.

i used to have a [b]huge[/b] commute to rotherham from...... sheffield. It took me 50 minutes and i hated it, despite the vast amount of music i have and the chances to race at the lights. If you don't feel that you can commute and have a decent life afterwork; move house or decline the job graciously

18months old and has 87000

What is it out of interest and what (apart from discs' tyres) has gone wrong? Thats ALOT of mileage!

I also like 'long' road trips occassionally ef'. I drove from South Germany, through Netherlands/holland, France- up over the Channel, up through England to Huddersfield then onto Manchester. I actually felt fresh/fine at the end although my car at the time had bags of torque for the job 😀

I would need a VERY good reason to go that far. It would effectively be another 2 working days of time every week.

[i]I also used to do business with a girl in Japan who commuted something like 300 miles each way on the train every day.[/i]

Isn't this about one hour each way - sounds reasonable to me 🙄

I do 110miles a day. No fun at all. I now have trapped nerves in both my arms from all the driving, and I've only been doing it for 6 months so far, and I'm lift sharing! Have ended up using B roads most of the way to avoid the A14, which is so clogged up as to be useless... Takes about 1.5 hours each way.
We're trying to move closer, but just can't sell our house in this fekked up market 🙁 I used to cycle the 3 miles to my old job, but redundancy struck. Now I'm desperate to move within about 10 miles so I can get cycling again, and get fit again...
Long commutes are rubbish!

I used to drive from Woking to east grinstead every day 80mile each day m25 used to be ok, but getting out of Woking and from the m25 to eg (a22) was the real pain - overall about an hour each way for 2 years . In the end I move offices with the same company to central london. Now Brompton to station, train to waterloo, the Brompton to work still takes 50-60mins, but now I gwtti read more books on the train and more biking as well.

Not every day but far too frequently: Drive Southampton to Gatwick, fly SleazyJet to Basel, Train to Berne, Tram from train station to near office, 20 minute walk to office, bus back to the hotel. Every other bloody Monday.

I do nr Inners to Glasgow 5 days a week. go via edinburgh, sometimes get the train. can be anything fro 1hr30 mins to 2hrs30mins. Depends how many people decide to fall off the Edinburgh Bypass.

My opinion anything over an hour a day had better be for a damn good reason and not too often or permanent.

Its such a big chunk of your life otherwise and would annoy me intensely. wasting all that time. Being able to cycle to work is important to me on many levels

WCA next time you near Basel, think of my friends lovely face (it'll help)
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goan - is it not quicker to go cross country though Carluke and up M74 from Larkhall and in London Road ?