80 mile commute into London

There's also the getting to and from the station, parking charges at home end, transfer costs at destination end.

Is the train packed at the time you'd be using it, I would not wanna travel like a sardine every day cos that would stress me out big time, something I'd be prepared to lose money to avoid.

I'd use the bike as much as poss tbh, the journeys in your hands then, not worrying about cancelled trains, packed trains etc.

[garynortheast]

If you look like your current avatar Ralph, you'd have no problem getting a lift in everyday if you hitched!

[timwilky]

Is the train really so expensive?

The daughter was commuting to Leeds about 70 miles away, her ticket was £200/month.

She parked at Blackburn as it was free instead of a £10/day at Preston. But last week moved into a shared house, no cost saving but lots of time (4 hours/day) saving.

Why did she move into a shared house. Simples, the train wasn't reliable. sometimes it was cancelled 3 times in a week.

Any train heading to London in the AM is expensive. No really related to mileage of the journey.

Yes Tim, no such thing as an advance ticket. I already do it at least once a week, 70% of my customers are in London. On a quiet month I'll put 4 london train tickets through expenses, on a busy month I'll put 10 through, but on quiet month for London trains, I'll have a fist ful of fuel card receipts. Travel is just prt of a customer facing job, I've done it my whole career. It costs 96 quid for the day travelcard which inculdes the tube day ticket. The car park is 7 quid and no alternative at other stations, I live close enough to the station to make that bit of the travel negligable.

What a bike would save me most is time, mainly because it is door to door, would probably take about 90 minutes door to door, butI wouldn't take the job if i was more than 2 or 3 days a week in the longer term.

The season ticket is about 5k, but that doesn't include the car park, which would probably be another few hundred quid.

Posting from PDA (whilst on the train to London ha ha) pls ignore typos

and daft smileys that I didnt intend to be there!

Personally I'd take the bike due to the enjoyment factor - though it can cost dearly in terms of wear & tear on the bike/your kit + tyres + servicing, so getting something specifically for the job is a good plan.

However as others have said the impact of that sort of commute on your life has to be something that you consider very carefully.

It may be worth doing a trial on train and bike during peak times to see how each pans out/whether you really want to do it. Trains can be packed and even the bike takes longer in heavy London traffic, plus it isn't like you can leave slightly earlier and miss the rush - it's always busy here!

Not saying don't do it, just think v carefully before making the commitment. I was doing a 60 mile round trip into London and TBH wouldn't really want to have done much further, especially in the Winter. You can get very cold/wet in that time!

That said, if it's temporary/just 2 days per week it wouldn't be so bad

[Bri w]

I'd mix it depending on how the mood, and the weather, took me. Winter = train, and most of summer = bike.

Ralph---When I was working I had a 44mile each way daily commute and easy route A12/M25 and to be honest after 5 years it did my head in.Rail travel is ok but can be inconvenient and just as long by the time you add the end links on. Driving depends a lot on the day of the week and time,early morning 5:00am and leave by 3:00pm misses most of the traffic[Made my morning journey 45mins and afternoon 60mins but if I was late in leaving that would extend to 90-120mins]Two of the biggest problems being parking and congestion charge which could add a fair lump on to your travelling bill apart from the mileage[150x200=30,000miles p.a.]
I know you both work,be it part-time for San but if she could find a job down South I would suggest Essex or Hertfordshire would be the best option and someplace that has a direct rail or/and road link preferably