I am possibly relocating to the Milton Keynes area due to my other half's
change of employment. I intend to commute to London daily. Although I have
travelled through MKC on the WCML from Manchester, I have never actually
used the station as a starting point.

Has anyone got experience of commuting to London from Milton Keynes ?
Things such as getting a seat (Arriving London 0830/departing 1730), safety
around the station, frequency of severe delays.

I intend to live within a mile of the station and walk each day. Any
pointers where to avoid.

Regarding season tickets, there used to be a trainline operated website
giving season prices, cannot find it now, any hints.

Cheers

Sam

Sam wrote:

Has anyone got experience of commuting to London from Milton Keynes ?
Things such as getting a seat (Arriving London 0830/departing 1730), safety
around the station, frequency of severe delays.

A surprisingly good location for commuting, IMX.

Chance of seat circa 100% (no, really)[1], certainly from Watford
northwards in the evening peak, serious delays pretty rare, comfort
high (if you get a Desiro). Station area (as with much of MK) is very
safe, if a bit deserted at night.

So far as living there is concerned, look at a map (www.mkweb.co.uk/map
is a good one). If it has straight roads, avoid it, if it has curved
roads, look at it. Loughton, just behind the station, is a very nice
area. There are also a lot of blocks of new flats going up in the
centre. Don't go near Conniburrow or Fishermead; parts of Oldbrook
(very near the station) are OK but go and look at it first as some
parts of it are very scruffy.

I intend to live within a mile of the station and walk each day. Any
pointers where to avoid.

Regarding season tickets, there used to be a trainline operated website
giving season prices, cannot find it now, any hints.

swt-seasontickets.com, or the info for MK is on silverlink-trains.com
somewhere.

[1] A project was implemented a couple of years ago to massively expand
capacity at the expense of a slight slowing of the service and removal
of VT services in the peak. It has largely succeeded.

Neil

Regarding season tickets, there used to be a trainline operated website
giving season prices, cannot find it now, any hints.

http://www.swt-seasontickets.co.uk/

You need to register, but when it asks you for a p/card number, just
type anything in.

Regarding season tickets, there used to be a trainline operated website
giving season prices, cannot find it now, any hints.

http://www.swt-seasontickets.co.uk/

You need to register, but when it asks you for a p/card number, just
type anything in.

Well if (big if) you can ignore the fact that the whole place looks as
if it was planned by some Eastern European Communist Government then
actually it's not a bad place to live.

It's pretty safe compared to London, good shopping, very good train
service and even on the stopping Virgin trains (mostly from Brum) you
can usually get a seat.

Compared to London quality of life will be much improved, especially if
you have kids.

Also, I would have thought selling a London property in echange for a
Milton Keynes one could a mean a significant upgrade.

One word of warning though the M1 is hell on earth.

Neil Williams wrote:

Chance of seat circa 100% (no, really)[1],

I would disagree with that but then I only catch trains as far as
Watford so I can't speak for the trains that miss out Watford. You are
only more or less guaranteed a seat if you are on the train at least 10
minutes before departure. 5 minutes or less more or less forget getting
a seat unless you want to squeeze between Mr and Mrs Fatty or asked the
ingorant ******* to move their bag off the seat next to them.
And if you are lucky you wont have a bike taking up the vacant standing
space. I am sure bikes are banned but then why do I see them on the
trains.

Kevin

Kev wrote:

I would disagree with that but then I only catch trains as far as
Watford so I can't speak for the trains that miss out Watford.

Those have a lot more space, so you are best to take those if going to
MKC.

Neil

allan tracy wrote:

One word of warning though the M1 is hell on earth.

This is true. I don't even think about commuting south by car.
Northbound it isn't as bad, though watch out for hideous traffic jams
going south on a Sunday evening.

The train service to most parts, though, is really rather good, give or
take weekend engineering works. The WCML has changed a lot in the last
few years, and VT seem to quietly get on with the job in hand these
days.

Neil

Kev wrote:

5 minutes or less more or less forget getting
a seat unless you want to squeeze between Mr and Mrs Fatty or asked the
ingorant ******* to move their bag off the seat next to them.

Is this really that hard? I find people are usually quite willing to
move their bags on a full train.

allan tracy wrote:

Well if (big if) you can ignore the fact that the whole place looks as
if it was planned by some Eastern European Communist Government then
actually it's not a bad place to live.

First time I ever stepped out of MK Central I thought the whole big
"Bahnhofsvorplatz" affair with a clock as the centrepiece (which rarely
shows the correct time, but hey) and bus services right by the station
felt very German. That many German cities and MK have both been
(re-)built since the war is probably relevant.

If you stay out of the "straight roads" areas, most of the rest of it
looks like a giant Barratt's housing estate, really, IOW extremely
practical but lacking in the character of an older town - but there are
some completely unspoilt old villages hidden among all the newness, and
they are real gems as the grid system takes away all their traffic,
giving them the feel of many years ago but the amenities of a large
town nearby.

When I first moved there I really didn't like the place, but it has
grown on me a lot.

Neil