more than two hours a day?

[TightEnd]

Why do Brits spend so long commuting each day? People traveling for more than 2 hours has gone up 72% in a decade

are you one of those?

who has the longest commute on here...?

[Graham C]

20 mins on a bad day here.   In the past I've travelled to Birmingham and Hayes for long commutes, can't say I miss it.

[DungBeetle]

Assume that is there and back?

I do an hour each way.  I work in central london but I'd rather by out of the city at weekends so I think it's worth it.

[Longines]

My commute is just under 2 hours each way: work in central London, live in Leicestershire. Always get a seat on the train in both directions and can get a solid hour of work done. Also manage to work from home 1 or 2 days a week which helps.

Most of my team live in outer London - still takes them over an hour to get to work. I'm happy to trade that extra hour for the benefits to me and my family of living in the sticks.

Leave home around 6am and get home between 8.30pm and 10.30pm depending on workload. There are a couple of hundred regulars doing exactly the same thing from my local station.

[George2Loose]

My total commute takes an hour with traffic and probably 30 mins no traffic and that annoys me. Not sure how you guys who commute for longer do it!

[arbboy]

20 steps from bed to laptop. Roughly 8 seconds.  Never timed it. Just getting up now will set the stop watch and report back.

I went racing twice last week during midweek for the first time in a long time and hitting the rush hour traffic getting home with the clocks going back seems just awful every day no matter where you are.  Fair play to anyone doing 1hour + commutes.  I couldn't do it every day.  Would have to move closer to work.

As for why it happens successive governments from both side of the fence have been anal about keeping house prices artifically high with virtually every economic policy they have introduced to keep winning over the crucial middle england voters which win or lose the elections.  This obviously forces more and more people into longer commutes when they have to work in London and the South East.

The longest commute i know anyone does is from Stafford to Harrow (via Euston).  He used to work for 365 and has moved to lolbrokes for a semi senior management role.  His first class ticket from Stafford to Euston is decent five figures a year (so he has to earn circa £25-30k before tax just to pay for this before parking at station and tube from Euston to Harrow).  I think he is bonkers. 

[EvilPie]

Those doing commutes; do you take the commute time in to account when working out your hourly rate?

If you're doing 1 hour a day commute + an 8 hour day would you consider a pay cut for a 5 minute commute and an 8 hour day?

Conversely would you consider a job for more money if it meant an even longer commute?

We have a guy at our place who does about 90 minutes each way from Cambridge to Nottingham. Don't know how he does it but apparently you just get used to it and it becomes the norm.

[arbboy]

.

[edgascoigne]

1hr 8mins in, 1hr on the nose back. Usual caveats about the trains apply...

The thing with London commuting is that the housing market is just so very efficiently priced. There are no 'secrets' out there price/time wise.

Ultimately you have to make a really complex call on what will make you the happiest. The complexity is that this is different for different individuals, all of whom have their own internal order of....

- Commute time
- Commute comfort/crowding
- Facilities on commute
- Willingness for 'changes'
- Cost of commute
- Space at home
- Facilities near home
- Routes away from home to elsewhere
- Forecast appreciation in house prices in area
Etc.

The list is surely almost endless.

When buying I took what I thought was the 'perfect' decision, though naturally others may think I'm a mentalist.

I have a 6min cycle, trains every quarter hour and take 25-34mins, last train 0009, 3mim walk in town.

Doing this, as opposed to living in say Earlsfield (SW London) means for the same money as a two bed flat needing work I got a brand new three bed semi-detached. Incremental time cost is probably 20-25mins a day, which I see as being more than compensated by commute comfort and nicer home.

Horses for courses!!

[DungBeetle]

Good point - it's not just about time.  I'd rather have an hour commute and always get a seat, than be crushed in like a sardine for 30 mins.

[arbboy]

Schools for kids in affordable areas must be a big factor for older commuters than Ed.  Ed's list is pretty good summary of the balance.  When you add kids/schools into it certain people will literally commute their life away to get their kids into good schools even if it means they never see them 75% of the week.

[Longines]

Those doing commutes; do you take the commute time in to account when working out your hourly rate?

If you're doing 1 hour a day commute + an 8 hour day would you consider a pay cut for a 5 minute commute and an 8 hour day?

Conversely would you consider a job for more money if it meant an even longer commute?

Good question. If the role had the same long term opportunities then yes, I'd definitely consider taking a pay cut. However the reality is that in my industry it's not going to happen - the differential between London and anywhere else is too just too big.

Not sure I could physically manage a longer commute, getting enough sleep is the limiting factor. Again, depending on the opportunity I would consider getting a flat for Monday to Fridays.

[Doobs]

Right now, nearly 3 hours Sunday night, 4 hour coming back sometimes.  My expenses are probably over 20% of my fees.  Doing 4 hours each way in a day is pretty damn grim though.  These journey times would be longer on a train.  Tend to stay in hotels a lot.  My brother used to do way more miles than me, not sure how he did it.

Sometimes I work in London and it is easier, though rarely without pain.  I did work in Sydney for a while.  Don't know how you'd classify that.  Obviously the commute wasn't daily.

Sometimes wish I picked something less specialised.  

[The Wycher]

Many years ago I commuted from Carlisle to Newcastle on the train, about an hour plus walking to and from the train station, but used to read or sleep (do remember waking up on a completely empty train in Newcastle as every had left me sleeping!). Then there was a train strike so had to get the bus!!!. It stopped at every village on the way and I spent more time travelling than I did at work, on the plus side was cheap.

[Longines]

And the fact that moving with kids is a huge gamble. Once they're settled and doing well I'll happily suck it up to ensure they're not impacted.

We did think about moving recently as our youngest has started A levels - saving £xxxx per annum on commuting costs looks attractive until we realised it would take several years to offset the sunk cost of moving - stamp duty, fees etc.