To ask if you commute to London for work

[Lurverly]

From outside london (Obvs) how far do you live from london and where and how much does it cost you?

ive been offered a job that will pay me about £500 pcm more after tax than current role BUT it’s London and I’m West Midlands. An open return train ticket seems to be £100, and I’d have to go once a week. I’ve looked up season tickets and it’s £700 a month! Surely this can’t be right? Are there cheaper ways? It’s a good opportunity but I’m not sure it’s worth it for an extra £100 a month

What are you searching, specifically? If I put in Birmingham New St to London (Any), arrive before 09.00 and depart after 17.00, there’s plenty of options to Euston or Marylebone under £70 in December, departing 06.50-07.00ish.

If you’re restricting to the high-speed service then it won’t get cheaper in peak times.

Maybe look at other websites?

https://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/service/timesandfares/BHM/EUS/300823/0900/arr/300823/1730/dep

I’d done london Euston, I’d take the longer train if it was £100 cheaper.. for sure

Book 8 weeks in advance to get the cheap tickets - I used to do this when I had to commute weekly from the midlands.

I’d put open return too as getting across london can be a real pain in the ass

For some reason with trainline its not coming up cheaper

The train arriving at 9.06 leaves New Street at 7.47.
I agree it's not the most reliable service.

I tell à lie, my cache must not have cleared its coming up as £66 open return now

Ticket pricing is a terrible mess. The companies rely on people needing to travel early in the morning and price them accordingly. The trains from Birmingham to London have a small number of advance tickets but once they're gone they're gone and you have to pay the standard walk on fare.

Sometimes it's cheaper to buy directly from the train company itself, rather than the Trainline. I took Wednesday 18th Oct as a test, arriving at Euston by 9. There was a train at 6 30 which cost £24 for an Advance Single.

Chiltern trains are sometimes cheaper than Avanti West Coast.

So yes, you are right. The new job might not be much better financially. If it leads to another promotion then it might be worth it.

It doesn’t sound like there’s any flexibility with the one day a week - it sounds like you’re free to go in more often but the 1 day is a minimum.

In a 5 week month you’d be worse off.

Unless this role is a stepping stone to something else then I wouldn’t do it.

That sounds very expense and intense for not much of a pay rise. I definitely wouldn't do it, especially with little kids.

Try booking single tickets on designated trains each way (I use Trainline).

An open return for me (1hr 25 into London) is £92 but booked as two singles £35. Does mean you have to get those trains and can’t pop to the pub after work or stay late to do extra meets.

The mad part is that it is a big pay rise 10k per year maybe can talk them up more, ive said already i need more than 50k so maybe they come back with 52 or something, but that’s insane it would be eaten up in travel costs

You need to consider the additional tax and loss of child benefit at just over £50k

I live on the Essex/Suffolk border and commute in once a week. If I buy far enough in advance I can get a peak day return for £38. If I book later and all the deals are gone then I have to pay about £50. Generally, as soon as I get paid I buy my train tickets for the month whilst there are still some cheaper deals to be had.

You also need to factor the cost of public transport within London. Tube fares add up quickly.

Season tickets will only save you money if you are going in about 4+ days a week generally.

Mine is about £75 return, Kent to london. Takes nearly 2 hours. But that's to get me in at peak time. I only have to go once per week, so don't need a season ticket as that's only worth it if you're in 3+ times a week. Plus by the time I factor in bank holidays, annual leave etc it's not like it's actually every week. I get a £7k uplift for being classified as a London worker.

But it works out much cheaper if someone is travelling every day. Are there advance tickets on that route? Or can you start later to get a cheaper ticket as usually they get cheaper once you get to 8am

Dh earns over 50k so we already have to pay it back, next year he’ll be 60k so we’ll have to pay it all back/ not bother claiming anyway

I pay 5k a year from Kent and that includes all tube and as many journeys as I want to make. I am always in London at the weekend and three weekdays for work so it is the cheapest way. Takes me 35 minutes to get into central London door to main station

I’ve found some advance ones now for £65 (not including tube)

@Lurverly a trick I found was splitting tickets and buying returns from London.

So Day1 AM buy return Bham to London with open return within a month. Day 1 PM buy return London to Bham with open return.

Day 2 travel AM on return ticket London to Bham Day 2 PM use return from first ticket.

This can reduce the overall cost.

You’ll still lose just over 40% of anything just over £50k - it’s shit!

Oh that’s rather clever that is!!!

Haven't read the full thread but I commuted from Birmingham to London pre-covid and my tips though obvious might help....

• travel outside of peak hours
• travel from Birmingham International rather than new street or travel from Moor St to Marylebourne
• take the slower train (it's grotty, rarely has tables or sockets, no food on sale, rarely working toilets, usually stinks and the seats are always slightly damp)
• look into railcards, eg my disability rail card cut prices by 30%
• use splitsave
• book in advance

But tbh I did it for a few years. I had a salary bump of £10k. Loved my job but gave it up just cos the trains were SO unreliable. I had to have a plan b, plan c and plan d to deal with childcare as a single parent. So my other advice would be:

• buy two power banks so u have phone battery for when trains are delayed
• always have water and snacks!!
• get Spotify subscription to listen to music or podcasts cos train WiFi is crap and u can't get work done
• also truth be told, people are annoying even on quiet carriages and when you're tired and want to get home, being stuck in a delayed tin can isn't great for mental wellbeing.
• it's hard to do "after work" drinks or social events cos you're constantly looking at train times and wanting to get home, that you can miss out on those team events.

I now have a commute that is 15 minutes door to door and its so much nicer for work/life balance and general sanity.

I do from just further than Cambridge, I go in twice a week and it costs me £30 return each time.

I have a railcard and luckily my work are super flexible so on my office days I can start later and finish earlier so i can travel off peak both ways (i get into London for 9:30, leave about 4;15 ish) then I work longer on my home days