To wonder how long I'll be able to afford to drive to work for?

[Octomingo]

I drive 40 miles a day, there and back. I do a childcare drop on the way. I don't always know what time I will finish. Public transport would take me 3 hours one way. No one to car share with. Can't move closer, as that would take dh even further away from his work and can't afford to move anyway.

Those of you with similar issues, what are you planning to do? I can't find any jobs the same level closer to home. The thought of spending so much money just on travelling to work is freaking me out.

3 pages in and finally someone has mentioned about Russia and rising petrol prices.

YABNU OP. I have a 17 mile commute, though luckily I do have the option to car share or get a job closer to home and cycle, but I'd hate to have to leave my current team.

@BearOfEasttown

THREE HOURS to go 40 miles on public transport? WHY? HOW?

Because the buses don't necessarily go directly to where you want to be. Sometimes there are several changes involved and often there is a long walk in the middle. It would take dh almost hours and 3 buses plus a walk at the end to get to his office, all of 22 miles away.

If you can't wfh, the options is to look for a more local but equivalent job. It may not turn up immediately, so you'll have to make cuts in other areas.

Fossil fuels are only going to get more expensive so over the long term all of us will have to look at smaller cars, shorter commutes, different working practices. A golf is a large expensive choice. swap for something much smaller, an Aygo perhaps.

@BearOfEasttown

THREE HOURS to go 40 miles on public transport? WHY? HOW?

Example. I live 26 miles from Bristol, where my office is. In the car, on a good day when I need to be in for 11, it takes 40 minutes.

On public transport, I’d have to drive 7 miles in the wrong direction to get to the railway station. Or get one of the four buses a day which serve it, hoping it ties in with the time of my train. Then wait for a train which runs once an hour. Then it’s a 15 minute rail journey, further in the wrong direction. The wait for another train which goes direct to Bristol, taking about 45 minutes. Then 15 minutes walk. Last time I did it, it took 2.5 hours. This is the reality.

And bus services are now worse than they were 2 years ago. Any government covid recompense is about to disappear, which means that now loss making services are being axed or merged.

Yes dh uses car for work and claims the 45 p a mile which is supposed to also cover wear and tear, its been 45 p for over 10 years though no account taken of prices
He prob puts in £70 a week and we have to then claim it back and its hard
We try and use a credit card and pay it back and it just about covers the petrol let alone any wear and tear
Then i have my car for commute which luckily isn't too far
On top of the news today from elec/ gas that they expect my bill to go up £62 a month , I don't know how we are going to manage
Not had the c tax , rent , water rates etc in yet which will go up too

I have a Skoda Citigo which is about as small as you can get. It does have great mileage but still can't stop increasing petrol prices. I got it 4 years ago and a full tank cost £35- £38 depending on the petrol station (and obviously varying levels of being in the red!). Last week for the first time since I've owned it, my tank of petrol cost over £50. I only commute 10 miles each way 2-3 days a week and fill up every 6 weeks. It still made me wince, especially now that our smart metre is giving us an average of £5 a day up from £3.50. The cost of living is increasing at a scary rate.

@BearOfEasttown we have two buses a day in our village. The road to the nearest town is a major trunk road and far too dangerous to cycle along. Not everywhere has decent public transport. In many rural areas many of us are reliant on our cars

My bus ticket to work is £9.50 return and that’s two buses there and two buses back. One is 4.50 but the other is £2.50 for a single journey and I need to make two a day, it jumps up a price bracket if I need to come home out of “core hours” so after 7pm because I need a different type of ticket and can’t get the return/day rate. It’s usually about £240 a month and has been for a long time. But that’s less than my electric bill so that’s nice.

@BearOfEasttown

THREE HOURS to go 40 miles on public transport? WHY? HOW?

Easily.

Many parts of the country have appalling public transport.

My parents live 25 miles from me. It's about 40 minutes by car (rural roads). If I wanted to get there by public transport it would take me four hours.

I paid £1.53 per litre to fill up yesterday, it cost just shy of £70.

Prices are expected to increase even more due to Russia, combined with E10 giving poorer fuel economy is a double whammy really.

@EmmaGrundyForPM

I'm struggling to see the issue. A 20 mile commute is nothing unless you're on a very low income.

I disagree. I think a 20 mile commute is huge! I don't know anyone that commutes that far. What an awful waste of time.

It's a horrible situation and the bloody patrol companies are still raking in obscene profits. Bastards.

Would,it be possible to switch to a moped? More initial expense but long term could be much cheaper. A lot of london commuters use them for speed and easy to park.

can you visit a driving course for fuel efficience? or look up things on the web?

it's likely to get more expensive.

125cc moped typically does about 100 mpg, costs a lot less than a car to run and buy as well.

I was visiting my family member in a care home yesterday - warm and toasty in their room.
I'm sure the fees will have to go up to cover the cost of heating bills.
Also costs of a hotel stay.
Life is going to get v expensive.

I feel you OP.

I nearly cried earlier in the week I put £10 worth of diesel in so about 6 litres, thinking that would get me to work (14 miles) as range was 20 miles (but Varies as you drive) before put it in, but after I put it in the needle never moved and my range actually got lower and then blank and didn't readjust, (early morning so I even thought did I actually put the pump in the car, or had it spilled out) so I to had to detour to another petrol station in order to get to work without panicking I would run out of petrol!

No advice OP but I feel for you. It's hard especially now with utility increases.

I'm lucky enough to be able to continue mostly working from home, before covid we used to travel all around the country and I'd waste so much petrol and wear and tear costs , not to mention being bad for the environment.

They've since realised we can offer our service just as well from home and see more clients so will not be sending us back physically, just once a week at the office base for team morale.

It has helped a lot in all aspects of life.

Also, 20 miles is a big commute in my eyes. My office commute is 3 miles and I find that to be enough tbh, sitting in a car is depressing especially sucking up all fuel fumes.

Can you move out of your field and maybe consider a little salary drop to account for the lack of travel hopefully?

I think a 20 mile commute is huge! I don't know anyone that commutes that far. What an awful waste of time.
And yet where I live rurally it’s so common as to be unremarkable. And when I lived in a city the commute costs were similar for public transport and took as long as a 20-mile commute despite being much closer in miles. You must be very lucky to have a circle of friends and family whose skills and experience and careers all match up perfectly with the opportunities in their geographic area.

Well the same as I did pre pandemic. I’ll drive it. Train is an option. Ask if anyone lives nearby for a car share. Or look for a perm home working job

@ChrissyPlummer - there’s quite a lot of civil service jobs advertised on CS jobs at the moment, some apprentices (any age can apply for them), some not. If you filter by AO and EO grade they will come up. Lots of information online on what they are looking for in application forms and how to score. When I’ve been sifting external applications so many people haven’t read the info on how you draft a ‘behaviour’ or personal statement so do check that out if you apply. Lots of jobs as volumes have increased hugely in our area (this is Home Office by the way, with vacancies in many locations across the U.K.) and I’m sure other areas will have the same. Once in there’s lots of opportunity to get promoted if you put the work in. Good job and good pension, flexible working. We are returning on a hybrid basis - 40% so 2 days in the office for a full timer. Nice home life balance

@garlictwist - depends where you live, where I am (south east) that’s not far but where I grew up in North Wales they’d be horrified at the thought of a 20 mile commute. We have people come from the South coast, an hour plus on the train

Lovely, comforting responses from MN I see

YANBU, @Octomingo

Ooof! Imagine putting your ignorance on display like that and telling the whole world you “can’t imagine/don’t know anyone who commutes more than 20 miles”!

OP, I’ve just taken a job that’s 100 mile commute. I’ve made it clear I’ll go in max once a week because frankly I’m too old to have the energy to do it daily. I’m just going to have to suck up the petrol prices.

Someone else mentioned though - 50mph is a very fuel-friendly speed, so at least you’ve that.

I disagree. I think a 20 mile commute is huge! I don't know anyone that commutes that far. What an awful waste of time.

20 miles is nothing. I take it you don't live rurally?