Driving Times in London

brownacid

Hi Guys, I searched the Forum but couldn't come up with anything like what I am looking for,but if i missed it I do apologise. I will be moving to London soon enough and am currently scoping out areas to live. I will be working out near Basildon in Essex with some occasional days in Dagenham. My girlfriend currently works in city centre. We are looking at areas like Walthamstow and Greenwich, which are handy enough for her to get to work and me for the days when I am in Dagenham. For the other days which will be the majority of the time it seems the only doable way to get there is by car. Google maps seems to suggets that this will take approx 40ish minutes in no traffic.

I cant seem to find any information on traffic congestion on a given route at a given time, so it falls to me to ask if anyone on here would know anything about the general traffic in these areas and also on the M25. I haven't been told starting times yet but I am assumng it will be 8.30/9 am starts. I reckon it would probably be smart to asume a doubling of the travel time?

So, londoners of Boards,can any one help me?

enda1

There's a train from Fenchurch street to Basildon so Limehouse or West Ham or further out, Barking/Upminster could be options too.
I'd really try to avoid driving if I were you, though I don't have any figures to back that up with.

who the fug

what enda said, , Essex despite the jibes is not a wasteland so expand the search.

If you do want to drive then don't have crossing the river as a regular commute, it will be a head **** also cops do regular checks on the bridges

coathanger

From a Londoner,avoid living in Greenwich,as it will be a nightmare to Dagenham & Basildon from there,its a beautiful spot to live & go out there but the drive would be a killer,Walthamstow would be a better spot to live & you can commute easy there by public transport & the drive wouldn't be too bad either.


Best of luck with the move!:D

who the fug

coathanger wrote: »

From a Londoner,avoid living in Greenwich,as it will be a nightmare to Dagenham & Basildon from there,its a beautiful spot to live & go out there but the drive would be a killer,Walthamstow would be a better spot to live & you can commute easy there by public transport & the drive wouldn't be too bad either.


Best of luck with the move!:D

mind you we should let him experience the joys on a over height lorry in the north bound lane of the blackwall tunnel:D

coathanger

who the fug wrote: »

mind you we should let him experience the joys on a over height lorry in the north bound lane of the blackwall tunnel:D

Ha, you had that experience too then:D

brownacid

enda1 wrote: »

There's a train from Fenchurch street to Basildon so Limehouse or West Ham or further out, Barking/Upminster could be options too.
I'd really try to avoid driving if I were you, though I don't have any figures to back that up with.

Its not in Basildon unfortunately, its nearer to Laindon, and there is no way from the station to the office except walking which is about a 2.5 mile walk. I took a dry run out there on the tube/train 3 weeks ago and the areas don't seem the greatest, considered looking for places i Barking but an hour or so out there, a few taxi rides and some chats to a a couple of friends seems to suggest that Barking is a no go, from it general run down look to its apparent extremely prevalent BNP support base.

coathanger

Don't even think about going to live in Barking,your friends are spot on,a complete no go area,what about Hornchurch?Nice areas or Romford,Upminster on the tube line straight into London,what part of London is your girlfriend working in?

brownacid

coathanger wrote: »

Don't even think about going to live in Barking,your friends are spot on,a complete no go area,what about Hornchurch?Nice areas or Romford,Upminster on the tube line straight into London,what part of London is your girlfriend working in?

Yeah all the reviews and comments seem to suggest that about Barking, and Dagenham as well. She is working near enough to Regent's park, so its pretty central.

I am pretty open to living in most areas but would prefer to be inside the Greater London Area. I would preferable like to have as even a commute time for her and me as possible but I also don't mind driving, I do it everyday here as it is.

83ste

I can't speak specifically about the routes you're looking at, but in general driving times in London are horribly unpredictable: one day everything seems to go in your favour and you fly around, the next normally free-flowing roads are choked up as far as the eye can see. School holidays, etc. have a fairly major impact on traffic flow, too. I love cars and driving and loathe public transport - but even I would not consider commuting regularly by car in the greater London area.

Maura74

When I have to travel out of London or in London I alway use this link it give the different options and times but make sure you uncheck the boxes as it starts off with all the transport such as trains, buses and coach therefore if you uncheck trains it will only show you the buses and coaches.

Also google maps are good as well for journey but it is the same procedures.

http://www.travelinesoutheast.org.uk/se/XSLT_TRIP_REQUEST2?language=en&timeOffset=15

Lump

Generally I always this the M25 is a nightmare to be avoided, if you get stuck on it it's game over. The public transport in London is great even as far as Essex. Unless you job involves having to transport alot of stuff I'd stick with public transport as Serrity says 1 day you'll do a journey in 30 minutes the next it'll take 90. Which means (if you care) you'll leave home earlier to avoid delays and ruin your work life balance.

Generally if you drive to work, blaming traffic isn't seen as an acceptable excuse for being late as you'd be expected to allow time for delays. Public transport delays are looked on more favorably.

That's my opinion any way.

John

El Vino

Consider a Brompton or other folding bike for the last 2.5 miles.

enda1

El Vino wrote: »

Consider a Brompton or other folding bike for the last 2.5 miles.

Doesn't even need to be folding. Leaving London by C2C means you can bring any bike. http://www.c2c-online.co.uk/on_board_trains/baggage_information/cycle_carriage__1

Fratton Fred

Things must have changed since I was last out that way. I worked in Greenwich and other than the area around Maze Hill, it was a real dump.

ballsymchugh

the main thing about where you are thinking of living is that if you're driving, you'll (almost) always be against the flow of traffic. greenwich to basildon is going to be around the m25, and although you can take some small roads and get onto the m25 a few metres from the toll booth, it's still unpredictable.

i drove from kent to romford once a week for a few years a long time ago and was held up probably 1 in 6 times. granted, the road is one/two lanes wider in places now, so being held up travelling north of the crossing isn't as common.

personally, i don't think it'd be as bad as some people think. going against the flow of traffic is a big factor though.

BrokenArrows

Use google maps to plan your route on the same day of the week and time you expect to travel. Google has live updates of traffic so it will give you a better idea of how long it will take.

Harps

I'm working just outside Basildon at the moment, living in Ealing in west London so its a far longer journey that what you're looking for I suspect. My route is usually North Circular - M11 - M25 - A127, generally its fine in the mornings and takes me about 70 minutes (though I do leave for work at 5.40am!). The journey home is another story and a single incident anywhere along the route can add an hour or more to the journey, this seems to happen every other day with the North Circular so its a horrible commute.

The M25 between junctions 27 and 29 is usually quite fast and free flowing even at rush hour, the A127 is a bit hit and miss though more often than not its fine. As long as you're within easy access of J27-29 then your commute should at least be bearable, as with all travelling though it can vary hugely from day to day.

I don't know much about the area in terms of where to live but somewhere like Upminster or Romford would be a good base.

theteal

OP, have a look at Romford. You can drive to Basildon in about 20-30 mins depending on traffic. The A127 can be a bit trafficy in the mornings but it's never added more than 15mins to any journey I've done. Trains into Liverpool St. go every 10 mins and take about a half hour, there's also 2 direct trains every hour that take approx 15mins. It's a fully functioning town with shopping and leisure facilities so there's no need to constantly travel into the city. There a decent Irish population too, if that's in any way important to you.

It's relatively cheap. Average price of a pint is about £2.80 (that's always the barometer), you can rent a 2 bedroom house for ~£1000pm, although I have noticed rents climbing lately.

The only downsides that I see is that parts of it are a bit dreary to the eye, not dissimilar to Crumlin, it's supposedly a bit rough but I've seen nothing to back that up in the near 3 years I've been here and also getting home from a night out in the city can be a pain i.e. trains stop at 1am, taxi will cost £50-60, buses run all night but take about 90mins!