Commuting in and around Bristol - advice please

[Gettingorganised]

Hi all, looking to move to Bristol area in the near future. We are weighing up options of where to base ourselves. Main contenders so far are villages near almondsbury or villages around long Ashton area. Will need to get close to university for work each day. Heard worrying things about commuting by car (likely to need car in short term at least due to childcare issues) in Bristol so wanted some help. Anyone any idea of commute times and ease from these locations?

Will you be commuting to UoB or UWE? Which campus?

Christ knows why you'd want to live in Long Ashton though - there's nothing there if you're under about 70.

You need to know the campus and which Uni first.

There’s a park and ride in Long Ashton. Bristol uni is central and the right side for long ashton but I don’t know much else about the area.

I live in Bristol on the new Metro bus route. I've not used it myself, but neighbours speak positively of it. That stops at UWE, maybe consider somewhere like Almondsbury which I believe is on the metro bus route.

Thanks all, won’t be working at the uni, but based closed to the central campus. Will need to drive and will get parking with work but main worry is how long commutes take really. Guess looking at villages just outside city (not long Ashton itself but surrounding villages) or somewhere close to almondsbury. On google maps the commute from both between 8-9
am seems reasonable (30-40 mins) but don’t know if that’s really to be trusted!

Bristol traffic is awful!!! It can take me twenty minutes to drive 2 miles some mornings. Buy a house closer to your work place and an electric bike. Seriously I can not overstate how bad the congestion is around certain bits, M32, and the ring road. A good public transport options will save your sanity. Come and spend some time driving round at peak times to get a better feel for what you could manage.

long ashton is not far, circa 4 miles (I'd cycle it if I was commuting but not with a kid on the back). In terms of distance certainly better than Almondsbury. Both will be slow slow in a car around rush hour, 40 minutes sounds about right for long ashton but I guess it can also be an hour on a less good day. Almondsbury more likely 50-60 minutes.
Are you specifically looking for some rural village type experience because everything with young children will be much trickier (childminders, childcare, babysitters, clubs, activities, toddlers groups etc) in both those locations (less young families so less demand). Are you renting or buying? Budget (approx) might help people think of alternative options. It's very easy to get out into the countryside from Bristol at weekends (quick, lots of options) could you tolerate city living in the wee

I’m not suggesting it’s great for commuting, but I’m not sure pp have been to Long Ashton lately, it’s full of young families with plenty of toddler groups, kids activities, good schools and preschools. My kids are older now but when I was off work with preschoolers I found it a fab place to live. My children are both at one of the schools now and it is still a great community to live in with plenty of young people.
Having said that commuting can be a pain depending on where you are trying to get to. I have commuted to UWE from there and traffic can be fairly terrible, but DH commuted to near UoB on his bike and enjoyed the ride each day - took him about 35 mins I think from memory.

I know it as it currently is - I have family there.

By the time your kids are above primary school age there's nothing there and you'll be ferrying them into town each weekend. I don't know if the bus service has improved (doubt it) but last time I used it, it was expensive, unreliable, infrequent and non existent on Sundays. I wouldn't want to live there without a car.

I wouldn't choose to live there - I find it horrendously dull when I visit.

Long Ashton is much nicer lately, I'd definitely consider moving there

Thank you for replies. I guess you’ve confirmed that I may struggle to commute and may be better of more central. We currently live just outside of a city and love it as close enough to go in on weekends but get bigger home/garden which we appreciate. Was thinking of a similar set up in Bristol but if day to day commute is a nightmare and having to juggle school and public transport instead the will need to rethink. Anyone commute from almondsbury end via a408 type route, avoiding all motorways, I wondered if that’s any better or clutching at straws here? Current commute with school drops takes just over an hour so anything similar or better would be ok.