Let's have a Poll for best fast commute to waterloo

[AlwaysBusy0]

As title I'm wondering which one of those daily commuting routes is the best, based on your daily experience or knowledge.

Cost of living would be different between but considering rent, council tax and the fact you may not need a car closer to go to the city I'm considering between 2700 and 3100 pound/month.

If you have experience with others fast trains/ commutes routes i would love to know about them.

Like Wimbledon and Earsflied or Canning Town.

which one would you choose and how sould destroying are they? :)

thank you

I live further out on one of the South Western Railway routes. It was fine when it was run by South West Trains, but these days it's probably faster to walk.

I ended up driving in as it was faster, cheaper, and a lot more comfortable.

When their contract expires next year, they will revert to government ownership, so it's anyone's guess what that will bring. Hard to imagine service could get any worse though.

I moved to Blackheath six months ago (tied housing - if you can afford it, whoopee!), so have used the train a lot. Technically, of course, it goes to Waterloo East, so there is then a bit of a walk (under cover) to get to Waterloo itself.

I've found it to be much pleasanter and more reliable than the journeys I used to do from Woking/Surbiton, and from further down that line.

Wow...driving is faster than take the train. Looking at time on google maps it looks like a very quick commute but I do read very bed comments about South Western Railway.

I'm looking at this because I don't want to make my partner life harder than should be once we move to London.

how do you find Bleackheat? we have a 5 years daughter and when there should be good primary schools over there too.

Money wise won't really matter at this point...we accepted the fact that we have to spend a higher % of income on housing than we though originally.

It's also true that with lower commuting cost and council tax Blackheath isn't that much more expensive than Weybridge (cheaper overall option that I was considering) but you save a lot of commuting time.

In Blackheath I found decent place under 2500 pound at month, would you consider that as a good amount? Do you need a car to enjoy your time ?

thank you

They're all wildly different places with wildly different transport options.

For instance, Camden - Waterloo may take 20 minutes I'm theory, but the northern line in the morning is packed and can be unreliable.

Maybe pick one area of London or Surrey and look there.

Around Blackheath is a great place to live with kids. Or you could go nearer to North Greenwich for jubilee line into Waterloo.

Hi, that is exactly why I'm asking it. Based on official schedule they all look overall the same but I can't find any real life people opinions about those commutes.

I would move to Woking and save almost 800 pounds a month if it would take 22 minutes train to go to Waterloo...but is it the case in real life?

Is commuting from Richmond to Waterloo one of the factors that make it "the happiest borough in London"? and the pay tag associated with justified it? Or is it just because the high income earner live in there?

Are they train in Weybridge very crowed and unreliable as someone said? (and very expensive I would add)

Is the Northen line a daily (very fast though) sardine can without AC (as people told me?)

is Blackheath this little hidden gem perfect for family with a decent commute time to waterloo?

Is Wandsworth/Battersea the place to be if you want to go to the office 5 days a week?

there are so many options and not really much "real life" information that it makes harder to find the optimal options also when there is budget for it.

What would you choose as daily commuting route?

thank you

Canning Town is my local station, I don't commute to Waterloo but go there and get the bus into the west end when I go to the theatre after work. The jubilee line is just fine, is pretty reliable and easy to get a seat at this end.

I used to live near Clapham junction which is the best place to commute to Waterloo due to the sheer volume of trains going there. Crammed but quick. And if the trains are totally fucked lots of buses as a slow alternative.
I also commuted out to Surrey from there and it was fine most of the time, but a strike or snow would mess things up. And a problem on the line could make for a long day. Woking does have fast and slow options though so usually something available if a train is cancelled.

The housing options in are wildly different between them though.

Do you have the sort of job where you absolutely have to be in if you're scheduled to be in? Or can you WFH the odd day if you wake up and all the trains are a mess?

If the latter, I'd be looking further out into Surrey. The trains are fine but they're not super reliable.

If you really have to be in then I'd be choosing somewhere closer where you could cycle/get the bus or whatever if there was a problem on the tube/train.

Look at southeastern from Waterloo East, Hither Green Bromley North, Sundridge Park. I go into Waterloo east and it generally ok. There always looks to be some kind of issue when I walk through Waterloo.

Train journey in was usually OK as I was on the earlier trains, but I got so fed up of cancellations and delays coming home that it was worth the switch. The journey time was supposed to be an hour and six minutes, but coming home often turned to several hours. I have a bad back and can't stand up, so with the ensuing overcrowding, it meant getting an even later train as I can't move fast enough to get a seat.

The car journey was about 2 hours each way, but I always got a seat, and the air conditioning worked. Cost wasn't comparable. Extortionate rail fare compared to a bit of fuel, so even with parking, car was significantly cheaper.

I haven't voted not sure where in Wandsworth you mean - it's a very varied borough. Links to Waterloo are pretty good, and (importantly) there are various means (train, tube, bus, plus Boris bike, e-scooter or even running, also Thames Clipper if you're looking near the river) so you're not utterly stuffed if something's up with SW trains.

Richmond would be my choice if the sums add up - again there are a variety of methods of transport as back ups, though the sensible way by far is train.

Woking is pretty good- far enough out that you should usually get a seat. The faster trains are great though clearly not all of them are fast so you have to get your timing right: and obvs if there is disruption then it can be bad- though sometimes slower lines are available/alternative routes. Reasonably rare that you're properly stuck . Depends how flexible you are though- eg would you need to commute every day?

do you need a car to live over there?

I think the first year would be better to go in the office as much as possible....after that it would be easier to move around.
We may go close to the office first year and after that Woking sound a good options.
We are coming in London without "blind" so we may need to take the easier/expensive route.

Yep, we would choose something next to the metro line plus bicycling to work would be an options from Wandsworth and battersea.

Most of these are mainline trains. Camden is a whole different kettle of fish. Then you’ve got the family burbs versus the inner city. Some sense of what matters to you other than commute would be useful.

for the first year in the new office I think would be better to be there as much as possible.
I)t will more expensive (around 600 pound at month) but it probably will be worth it.

You won’t always get a seat at Woking unless it’s a train that starts there. If it’s been to Farnborough, Fleet and Basingstoke first then it’s often standing room only by Woking in the mornings. Same with some of the popular early evening services back.

SWR are very bad at the moment, but this is because they’re about to lose the franchise and they don’t seem to care any more.

Hang on, are you coming from overseas?

how do you like to live around cannon Town?
The connection to waterloo sound great and the housing prices in the area aren't bad.

Would it be a good option for a family?

thank you

@HappiestSleeping where do you park in central London? Is it expensive?

Weybridge and Camden are pretty much night and day when it comes to the local area.
Do you want to live in a small commuter town or in central London?

I worked in Victoria, so could drive to just outside the congestion charge. I found a just park space in a secure car park that was around £10 per day.

The train is £45 vs the car at £15 of fuel, and £10 parking. Admittedly, if the train worked it would have been, on average, an hour faster. My experience was that the train was mostly two hours slower. With the comfort of the car, it was really a no brainer. Also, I walked from Waterloo to Victoria unless I could change at Clapham Junction which added to the time, so all in, the difference was negligible.

I ended up riding a motorbike in, which was even more favourable unless it was pissing down.

I like in a high rise and enjoy it. I wouldn't recommend for families as the school options are so limited.