Long distance commuters

Associate
Joined
28 Sep 2003
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Leamington Spa
I've been doing 100 miles a day for about 8 months (Milton Keynes to Cambridge).

It's mostly fast dual carriageway with the occasional bit of stop start traffic. I'm currently doing it in an old volvo, which is a bit naff, but I had no issues doing it in my 1.6 MX5 the rest of the time.

I think everyone has different tolerances for it really. For example, I imagine fox would go mad trying to do it in my car (No Air Con, no cruise control, can barely hear the radio at 100mph) but it really never bothered me; if it did I'd already have got another car I'm sure. Eventually I'll buy another car, but in the mean time it's not like I feel my current setup is driving me crazy.
 
Caporegime
Joined
11 Mar 2005
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Leafy Cheshire
I do 100 miles a day from Stone to Warrington. Takes me an hour each way which isn't too bad in the grand scheme of things. I leave home at 7am to start work at 8 and usually leave work at 4 and am home for 5.

If the M6 is goosed I can go the back roads which adds about another 40mins but is much more fun than sitting going nowhere!

I work in Stockton Heath so always drive the back roads to and from work, much more fun the M6 and M56 are a right pain in the bottom and it seems to enjoy slowing down and stopping around 19 - 18 for no reason!

I do around 60 miles per day, quite enjoy it actually but thats only because i keep away from the motorways.
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2004
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Kent
[TW]Fox;14618341 said:
Reminds me of Totnes. I used to work one side of Totnes and live 24 miles away in Plymouth. My girlfriend lived the other side of Totnes, a distance of 2 miles from the office. It would take longer of an evening to get to my girlfriends than it would to go home.

Traffic for the lose.

I can attest to this. I used to commute from home to uni in south London, a distance of about 17 miles, perhaps 40-45 minutes in rush hour. The first 15 miles along the A2 took about 15-20 minutes, the rest of the time was spent crawling the final 2 miles across Blackheath and through Deptford into New Cross :mad:

I could handle a long commute on a motorway or in free flowing conditions, but sitting in traffic is horrible.
 
Soldato
Joined
3 Apr 2007
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9,979
Sheffield to Northwich will be horrible. Through Glossop and on the M56 at rush hour is soul destroying. Can't you use another mode of transport, like.. trains?
 
Soldato
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Port Toilet
I do 100 miles a day.

Only two things made it bearable:

a) The fact I did it in my 5 Series so I was able to pull onto the M4, engage the cruise and cruise to work in comfort, arriving relaxed
b) I get 40p a mile being a contractor
 
Soldato
Joined
30 Sep 2003
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Norwich
I have a massive 2 mile commute ;)

When I do 9 AM starts in various places I always end up thinking that I wouldn't actually mind working further from home.
 
Permabanned
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18 Oct 2002
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12,336
Ive done a 53mile return commute for nigh on 10 years now, its always been fast flowing roads, I live 9 miles from Birmingham, and fortunately i go south, it takes my mate an hour to get to birmingham from Dudley, whereas it takes me 35 mins from Dudley to Worcester. Its all about the route, if its stop start, no car can make it bearable for me.Im lucky that I have a fuel card, and the car is a company car, so it doesnt really cost me all that much.

I work from home every now and then aswell, which is nice, but I couldnt do that day in day out. Everyone I know, who has a professional career, has to travel a fair distance for work
 
Soldato
Joined
11 Mar 2004
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5,000
I do 100 miles a day.

Only two things made it bearable:

a) The fact I did it in my 5 Series so I was able to pull onto the M4, engage the cruise and cruise to work in comfort, arriving relaxed
b) I get 40p a mile being a contractor

You getting expenses over your day rate ? Nice work if so...
 
Soldato
OP
Joined
18 Oct 2002
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Wellington, NZ
Sheffield to Northwich will be horrible. Through Glossop and on the M56 at rush hour is soul destroying. Can't you use another mode of transport, like.. trains?

Not looked at trains but I suppose I could.

I'm thinking that I would be setting off at 6am though so arriving on the M67/M56 for about 6.45 which should be quiet?
 
Soldato
Joined
10 Aug 2003
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London
i do a approximate 50mile round trip from east london to west london and back again. Takes up about 1.5 hours eachway during the day normally. If i could find a better job closer to home I would change. I don't mind the journey that much i have been doing it for 8 years now. If they (work) paid me for my journey for either time, miles driven or both, that would be make it even better :D
 
Soldato
Joined
19 Oct 2002
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Shakespeare’s County
You getting expenses over your day rate ? Nice work if so...

I imagine its a personal expense to avoid a bit of corp tax from his own Ltd company not from the client?

That said when I was at JLR i was saving about 8p in tax for every mile (21% of 40p) I did and my car doesnt use 6p of fuel to do a mile so I was making money by driving and keeping me further from the higher earnings bracket.

40 miles each way isn't bad for me. I think really the distance isnt the issue. I couldn't be doing with a commute that takes longer than an hour though. To much time to be in a car and to give up. Its okay if you're in a profession where 37hrs a week is the norm I guess though.
 
Associate
Joined
22 Oct 2004
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United till I die
Not looked at trains but I suppose I could.

I'm thinking that I would be setting off at 6am though so arriving on the M67/M56 for about 6.45 which should be quiet?

6.45 won't be too bad, it's been a lot calmer with school being closed. Once you start hitting anywhere near Glossop at 7am, it gets worse by the minute. Coming home you don't want to be near the roundabout for Glossop between 4-6.30pm as it's just a stupid long slow queue. Too be honest it really is a soul destroying route if it's done day in day out. I find it just as easy now driving 65miles one way back to Wrexham area from central Manchester.
 
Soldato
Joined
22 Oct 2006
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5,913
i do 52 miles to work and back and then that can do to about 80 if i do to the girlfriends from work.

takes about hour to do, first 2months it was hard now i'm soo used to it, it seems normal, having a bigger car makes the drive a lot more comfortable. I went from a fiat bravo - 205 size to a mazda 3 - same as a focus, and the differance on motorway and any long distance is massive so i hightly recommend a larger car for it
 
Associate
Joined
9 May 2005
Posts
222
Location
Scotland
I did 140miles a day for a month or two last year. I enjoyed the M77 part of the journey but the M8 commute from Glasgow to Edinburgh was incredibly boring! I aimed to be in Edinburgh for 7am every morning so i missed the worst of the traffic. It was worse on the way back when i hit Glasgow rush hour every day :(

Need to decided whether to do it all again for potentialy 5 months as i have a job interview tomorrow in a similar place!
 
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