Moving to Headington Oxford and commute to London Heathrow

[madhura]

Hi All,

This is my first post here. I might get a job in JR hospital in Oxford and we are planning to move there. My DH works at Heathrow airport and will commute everyday. Is it a reasonable commute? We are wondering which place to move to in Oxford. We looked around on web and found Headington(closer to JR and town center but expensive and traffic issues), Wheatley(Easier to get to M40) and Bicester(cheaper and may be quiet. close to M40) as potential places. We have a son of around 3.5 years. Could you please give me some information regarding this?

Thanks a lot.

Madhura

Hi Madhura,

There are good fast frequent coaches from Oxford to Heathrow which might make the commute more appealing for your husband. I think the coach company sells season tickets, but you may have to ring and ask - I don't see them mentioned on the website.

www.oxfordbus.co.uk/main.php?page_id=24

If that sounds good, Headington would make sense.

I believe that staff parking at the JR is in very short supply (ask current staff about this) which means you need to live where there is good public transport to the JR, so look carefully at bus routes. Alternatively if you lived outside Oxford you could drive to a park and ride if it has a good bus service to the JR at the times you need.

www.parkandride.net/oxford/html/oxford_parkandride.html

Hi LeapingLizard,

Thanks for your reply. I had actually given up on getting any reply.

My husband is thinking of driving down to Heathrow everyday. We are not sure if it is an easy thing from Headington. I have been told that the traffic on A40 could be bad. Is it the case? How about Wheatly and Bicester for that matter?

Thanks again.

I don't know, but if you look through the old threads on this boards it is something other people have discussed. You may be able to find more info that way.

I guess it must also depend what time of day he's travelling - what hours does he work?

The a40 run used to be nightmare 10 years ago when i lived in Oxford (South Park area) near to Headington. Lots of student houses for Oxford Brookes students in that area too.

The http://www.headington.org.uk/shark/ shark is still there I see?!