Calculating Commuting Costs (London/Home Counties)

[Yoozanaim]

Hello

We are looking to relocate for work, job will be in London, I am looking at homes within zone six, but also outside as obviously we will get more space for our money - but I am trying to work out commuting costs and it's a bit of a headache!

So, for homes outside of the Oystercard zone, prices seem to jump significantly?

I've started looking at Guildford or Woking or Sevenoaks (or similar areas/distance out), and the travel costs are such a huge hike once out of zone 6. Unless I am looking at it wrong.
Are all z6 stations the same price from a central spot or does it depend if they are on the underground or not?
It seems to me, that if we can get to a tube station and travel in from there, it would be a big saving? Do people do this? Am I missing something obvious?
Any tricks to keeping the commute costs minimal, yet not living within z6?

Thanks, LBOCS2. My husband is not opposed to a bit of a hike or a bike ride (I am opposed to the latter if it's on busy dangerous roads) if it means a better house and garden - though I guess it will take a toll if he's doing it very often, especially in winter.

I've looked at Sanderstead, and have saved a few properties there on RightMove already, so good to have a recommendation for it.
I feel a little wary about Croydon, I keep hearing really bad things about it - crime, really - what are your thoughts on that aspect?

Brill, SauvugnonBlanc - I did Google but hadn't managed to find that! Very useful!

Ruislip?

If you work for a corporate they’ll usually give you an interest free season ticket loan that you pay back monthly.
£650k would get you a decent sized house in a village outside Guildford but you’d then have to factor in station parking plus adding time to the door to door commute.

I’d add look at a village without a station as that’s what makes it cheaper..

Op,have you thought about east London/ Essex? Like Woodford green - zone 4 Epping - zone 6
Both on central line, and they gave a nice village feel. Zone 4 monthly travel card is about £190.00

Zone 6 is about £11.80 a day payg oyster. Thats into London main terminal though - don't know if Vauxhall's is cheaper. There is one further out option. There are some stations on the Gatwick line outside zone 6 that take oyster I think. (Merstham / redhill area) not sure what the fares are from there though as assume they might be slightly higher than a zone 6 one. They go into Clapham junction where you can change for vauxhall.

Vauxhall is z2 so it's £8.80ish a day.

Honestly, Sanderstead is so far from being Croydon OP. Like in inner London boroughs where quite rough areas border really nice ones for various reasons, this is similar - except we're further away from the areas of concern; it's 4 miles to the town centre. Croydon itself is going through a huge amount of regeneration which is fantastic - a couple of really good bars and restaurants have opened up, there's a Boxpark, theoretically Westfield is on its way here soon as well. I never thought I'd end up living in the croydon borough (let alone singing its virtues!) but I would come down and have a poke about if I were you.

Trains out to Shepperton are awful. Walton is much better.

Check out the price of point-to-point train tickets rather than including underground/bus/all zones travel. Not sure if there's any difference, but if you don't need underground then don't pay extra for it.

Also, last time I was living in London, any zones rail card included all zones bus. So I had a Zone 2-4 travel card, got the train to Vauxhall (zone 1/2 border, so counted as zone 2), then got the bus to Southwark if it was raining.

Thank you all!
I feel pretty overwhelmed, really.
I am not opposed to Essex, though if DH ends up going into Vauxhall/S/SW London, Surrey feels like a better bet? Also there are job options within his industry out towards Brighton/Guildford in case he wants to move on from London in a few years/commute feels too much. Well, there are job options all over for his line of work but those are two of the bigger hubs.

Thanks, LB0CS2, it's impossible to tell as an outsider about the Croydon thing, but good to hear it is being regenerated.

I am currently crushing on villages around Guildford. Any specific input on that? Is Guildford well served with fast and regular trains? Anything I need to consider?
I also like the look of Dorking (and/or villages surrounding).

We have time, I am not dismissing Epping/Wood Green or Ruislip or anywhere. Thank you so much for everyone's input.

One thing to watch is the amount of car parking at stations.
Our local train station car park is full by 8.30. So if you're dropping children at nursery/school you'd have no chance.

Yes I was about to mention car park fees, and availability of spaces at the time you would be travelling. Also traffic into towns like Guildford could be unpredictable. If hoping to rely on public transport bear in mind local bus services may not operate early or late (our last bus is just after 8pm).

I think for now we will dismiss driving to the station as an option, but he is a keen cyclist so that is a possibility, or maybe a motorbike could be an option, save on car parking issues.

Lots of trains from Guildford. Careful with Dorking - it's South Eastern which is a notoriously poor train company. Look along all the lines from Guildford to Waterloo (three lines I think?) - lots of villages which means you wouldn't have to get a train to Guildford then another train to work. Horsley, Esher, West Byfleet, Thames Ditton.

That's very helpful, thank you.

Can anyone tell me, if we need to get a nightbus from London, how close to the Guildford area it gets us? Save getting a taxi all the way from London, if we go there for a late night out? (Am really thinking of the kids' independence when they are teens.)

Nght buses tend to work in the London boroughs, so maybe Epsom/Sutton. Trains to Guildford run pretty late though. Nightbuses also tend to take pretty circuitous routes.

Teenagers from Guildford rarely go to Central London! Kingston and Guildford have a reasonable nightclub scene.

Have you thought about Epsom/Epsom Downs/Banstead/Sutton areas. You can get a train to Clapham junction or London Bridge from there.

Lots of wide open spaces and still just within the zones.

I think that these houses has all your wants (apart from being in a village):

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-55127337.html

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-77024672.html

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-79042778.html

Thank you, all.

Am not ruling out Epsom/Banstead etc at all, just seen some lovely villages around Guildford and Dorking, but need to balance distance and costs and everything.
Thank you for the links - I do like the last one especially, though I am really keen on a friendly little village and having my kids feel part of a community where lots of people know each other.

Do remember if you go for an actual village, you will have to drive your kids around when they are old enough to go out on their own, compared to somewhere on the edge of the downs that still has proper public transport links.

I think that all the stations that I linked you are still (just in zone 6) which would help on the travel costs. Also if you do have a travelcard, you can use all the London buses for free, some go out as far as Banstead and Epsom.

It's hard to work out how bad that could be when right now, the ages they are, a village sounds so lovely.

I am seeing some nice options around Banstead and the places you mentioned, so there are houses that we could go for. Thank you

You do need to be a little cautious around Banstead though. The station is away from the town centre, across the A217, and while some of the nearby town/villages have multimillion £ properties, other areas are less desirable.