Commute to Guildford?

breadmonkey

Folks,

I'm trying to figure out if it's possible to commute between Guildford and London. Potential job in Guildford but I don't want to move out of London.

National rail is giving me a whopping £242/month (£2.5k/year) between Clapham Junction and Guildford. At that rate, I'd probably be better off getting a car. Google maps says it would take the guts of an hour which would be about the same as the train journey but I have no idea what the traffic would be like.

Does anyone here do this commute? Anyone got any thoughts in general?

Cheers

Irish Halo

It is possible.

I work with someone who does the Guildford - London commute each day and a friend used to do the London - Goldlaming (near Guildford) commute as well so it is possible and won't necessarily drive you screwy.

You will be going against the flow so will have a pretty comfy journey on each leg as the trains will be empty.

RE: Cost. Depending on the employer they may do season ticket loans so will pay the £2,520.00 (http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/service/seasonticket/search) up front and you pay them back.

Princessdizzy

The cost of petrol for that distance might end up the same or worse. In Kent, I drive 40 minutes each way to/from work (52 mile round trip) and it costs about £45/£55 per week in petrol (so over £200 a month). I've got the train occasionally for the same distance and got a price of about £52 per week on the train - so it would be about the same (and that's without tax, insurance and any repair/running costs for the car). Your train price of £240 per month doesn't sound too bad and for that distance you'd probably use that and maybe more in petrol.

biZrb

I have to get a train from Vauxhall to Upper Halliford every day. Upper Halliford is out side zone 6. South West Trains charge about £60 for a weekly ticket, but I've found out its cheaper to buy a weekly zone 2-6 travelcard, then buy an additional ticket to cover me for travel between Hampton, the last zone 6 station to Upper Halliford. Maybe you could try something similar as it may work out cheaper?

breadmonkey

Thanks for the feedback. £2.5k is a bit sickening but I guess I wouldn't have much choice.

As an aside, does anyone think the company might be less inclined to employ me when I tell them that I plan to commute from London?

Irish Halo

breadmonkey wrote: »

As an aside, does anyone think the company might be less inclined to employ me when I tell them that I plan to commute from London?

Don't see how that is a problem, Guildford is mainly a commuter town now and lots of people do the opposite of what you are planning every day and the train journey is ~30/40 mins, some people living in London take longer tube journeys to work.

lima

Hello,

I used to work in Guildford so I made the commute for 2 years from Clapham Junction (also lived there for 3 years). It costs about £60 a week for a 7 day travelcard, or if you are paying daily, £16 return (2010 prices there, they have probably gone up)

The journey is about 25min on the fast train (Southwest Trains), and the trains are very nice, that's about as much comfort as I can give you for paying that amount for a train ticket!

By the way, driving down on the A3 takes about an hour, but there's always a chance of traffic being worse than usual, I drove a few times and sometimes it took 2hrs!

As long as you are willing to pay that much on the train then it's actually a grand commute, and shorter than a lot of peoples who work in London. Your employer won't have a problem with you commuting.

BrokenArrows

breadmonkey wrote: »

Thanks for the feedback. £2.5k is a bit sickening but I guess I wouldn't have much choice.

As an aside, does anyone think the company might be less inclined to employ me when I tell them that I plan to commute from London?

I had a conversation about this with one of the managers where i work.

Its taken into consideration. Apparently statistically people who commute out of london tend to quit the job.

breadmonkey

BrokenArrows wrote: »

I had a conversation about this with one of the managers where i work.

Its taken into consideration. Apparently statistically people who commute out of london tend to quit the job.

Yeah, I'm not surprised to be honest. Well I got the job anyway so hopefully the commute will be bearable.

BrokenArrows

breadmonkey wrote: »

BrokenArrows wrote: »

I had a conversation about this with one of the managers where i work.

Its taken into consideration. Apparently statistically people who commute out of london tend to quit the job.

Yeah, I'm not surprised to be honest. Well I got the job anyway so hopefully the commute will be bearable.

I couldn't do it. I like my sleep in the mornings.

breadmonkey

BrokenArrows wrote: »

I couldn't do it. I like my sleep in the mornings.

8:30 start too!

BrokenArrows

breadmonkey wrote: »

BrokenArrows wrote: »

I couldn't do it. I like my sleep in the mornings.

8:30 start too!

Ugh!!