I can't afford to get to work

[FiscallyChallenged]

I was laid off my last job in July, and received my last set of wages (3 weeks worth) at the end of that month. I live in London, and I didn't get a travelcard last month because I didn't see the point if I wasn't going to be travelling every day, and I needed to make my money last as long as possible.
I started my new job last week, and have to pay pay-as-you-go fares to get there and back, which costs £7.60 per day. It would be cheaper to get the bus, but there's never any telling how long it would take- I took one home on my first day and it took almost three hours! I now have £15 left, I'm not paid til the end of next week and I have no idea what to do. It's way too far to walk, I have a bike but it's a bit of a wreck and doesn't have any lights. I'm already surviving on an apple and cup-a-soup for breakfast and lunch. I can't get a season ticket loan as you have to buy the ticket first before you're reimbursed. There's nobody I can borrow money from.

Help! Any ideas?

You have to use your bike. Sorry!

I think its bloody ridiculous and wrong that you are in this situation.

Are you living with a partner who would rather watch you struggle than help you out just a bit? Because that speaks volumes about the kind of person he is. Unless hes on very low pay and struggling as well.

I'm in North East London, the safest (and therefore, unfortunately, longest) route goes down the lea river & canal through Hackney marshes until Stratford, and then through Hackney past Victoria park and along Mile End/Whitechapel rd to the city. That's 13 miles and (according to google maps) 1 hour and 5 minutes.
The shortest/quickest way is A112, A104, zigzags a bit through Hackney and dalston and then through shoreditch. 9.7 miles, 56 mins.
I don't have any hi viz anything. My friendly local bike shop chap told me my bike is roadworthy but (quote) 'could do with a damn good service'.
If I cycle to Walthamstow (roughly 15-20 mins) I could then get one bus all the way there but that's the one that took forever last week. I start work at 8:30 so to be safe I'd have to leave the house at about half 5.
I'm tired just thinking about it!

HelenaDove, OP has said that her partner has given her money and is now broke himself.

Do you have anything you can pawn? Or any old or broken gold jewellery, cycling that many miles on two apples and two cupasoups every day doesnt sound like much fun.

Rotten situation to be in.

I'd also advise against cycling in your circumstances: too dangerous for a nervous inexperienced cyclist to travel busy roads on a dodgy bike, especially at night. You'll be knackered and probably make mistakes.
Not worth the risk.

The least bad option are Cash Converters, next least bad is bloody Wonka - £3 interest is better than the extra fares you are paying - but repay in full the minute you get paid.

Ok so you start work at 8.30am, and it's takes around an hour? Why would you have to leave at 5.30am? Sorry but I actually think 13 miles is fine. Go the safe way, leave just before 7am, giving you a half leeway.

Oh i missed that. A shit situation

Cycling with so little food for days, after a full day at work - you could get dizzy and fall off, or even wobble in front of a car. Don't attempt cycling.

Artandco the 5:30 start is if I cycled and then got one bus each way. Last week the bus took over 2 hours, it'd be about a 20 minute cycle to get to where the bus starts, I'd have to secure my bike before I get the bus, and I'd need to shower, change etc when I got to work. So yes, 5:30. Cycling all the way would be quicker and free, but as I've said, there's downsides to that too...

I've PMd you OP.

If it was me I'd bite the bullet and get a pay day loan but pay it back as soon as I got paid. Give yourself a break, you've started a new job and you haven't eaten properly. You'll make yourself ill or get injured cycling.

All offices will have a petty cash - Speak to your boss and see if you can get an advance from work

I had this one morning - I got on the bus and pretended to be asleep!

I used to cycle from seven sisters to Farringdon every day, often returning via the climbing wall at Mile End. If you are 15-20 mins from Walthamstow you'd be utterly mad to attempt this as an inexperienced and unequipped cyclist.

Get a loan.

Does your DP work? Is he able to access any extra money. Do neither of you not know anybody at all who can help you? Even if they don't live close by they can transfer the cash to you?

What about a credit card? If you don't have one could you apply for one. You will have proof of you job presumably.

I hate payday loans but if you are absolutely definitely going to get paid then why don't you consider using one. You HAVE to be sure you can pay it back in one. They can effect your credit rating though. Have you contacted your bank

Are you sure you haven't got anything to sell or pawn? A TV or spare phone or something?

13 miles isn't far on a bike if you take it slowly. If you left yourself plenty of time then you could walk any dangerous bits. If you haven't anything high vis you could just wear a light colour. You wouldn't necessarily need a shower afterwards - you could probably get away with just doing your underarms

I'm not sure if you are looking for advice or not.

I also don't understand why you wouldn't ask at your new job. It seems bizarre that any advance payment would have to be authorised overseas but even if this is the case then I can't see why it couldn't be done urgently by email or phone.
You have already done several days work for your new company so you are not asking for money you haven't earned. Surely it's worth a try.

This is how expensive London is for people on low wages
7 day travel card zones 2-4 costs £26.60

OP, sorry if I missed something but why not get the bus to Walthamstow? Are you in deepest Essex with no route?

I would also suggest payday loan, I've had one in the bank in thirty minutes.

Would you consider asking work if they can lend it to you? You're not even eating properly so bike seems a bad idea.

And if you have to go into zone 1 it's even more. I used to live in zone 4 and work in zone 1 and it cost me over £40 a week.

OP, have you or your DP not got any family or friends that you could borrow the money from to tide you over until pay day?

This sounds rubbish.

If you do cycle you don't need to go
Out to Stratford. That's a dog-leg. If you go down the Lea to just south of Clapton, there's a bridge which crosses you onto the Regents Canal, alongside victoria park, cutting out going through Stratford . You can then drop down to whitechapel/city- that bit will be on road but there is safety in numbers with all the cyclists. I used to do that from Tottenham- 40 mins tops. But it is not safe in the dark- £ shop lights are not good enough for the canal and it can be a bit nefarious.
Could you get to Tottenham high rd and then 1 bus? Very direct to Liverpool st and absolute max of 50 mins at rush hour.
Hope you figure something out.

Also wondering if the food bank can help as you're not eating

Let us know how it goes OP. I see the credit union link a pp gave also do payday loans.

I know it's too late but just in case anyone else is reading this, usually redundancy does mean you can claim contributions based JSA. But OP obviously I hope you dint need to claim in future, but given your situation I'm wondering if you can claim retrospectively?

Hi,

How much do you need to get to work between now and next Friday?