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Oxford to London commute
Hi all,
I am new in here and I would like your opinion and help. I found a job in London while my wife got a position in Oxford and we were thinking of living in Oxford as it is slightly cheaper and I would commute daily to London. By reading other threads it seems that the most convenient way is to take the train but the annual ticket is ridiculously expensive (~5000£ !!!!!). The buses is another option but it would also mean that I will be spending at least 3h commuting. I do have a car and I was wondering if it is worth driving to 3rd or 4th zone in London to avoid congestion charges, park at a station and then use the underground to get to zone 1. Would this be a good idea? Any other reccomendations? |
Oxford to London commute
On Tue, 10 Oct 2017 12:32:45 +0100
GeorgeK wrote: Hi all, I am new in here and I would like your opinion and help. I found a job in London while my wife got a position in Oxford and we were thinking of living in Oxford as it is slightly cheaper and I would commute daily to London. By reading other threads it seems that the most convenient way is to take the train but the annual ticket is ridiculously expensive (~5000£ !!!!!). The buses is another option but it would also mean that I will be spending at least 3h commuting. I do have a car and I was wondering if it is worth driving to 3rd or 4th zone in London to avoid congestion charges, park at a station and then use the underground to get to zone 1. Would this be a good idea? Any other reccomendations? The underground station car parks arn't free and you'll get stuck in jams on the M40 anyway. Whatever you do either you or your wife are in for a very expensive and/or long commute. Perhaps it would have been a good idea to check all this before you came here. |
Another possibility is for you and your wife to buy a house halfway
between Oxford and London. My guess is that Oxford house prices are quite high. Somewhere a bit off the beaten track might be cheaper, and your commute will require less time and less money. Is your wife able to commute or does she need to live in Oxford? |
Oxford to London commute
In message , at 12:32:45 on Tue, 10
Oct 2017, GeorgeK remarked: I am new in here and I would like your opinion and help. I found a job in London while my wife got a position in Oxford and we were thinking of living in Oxford as it is slightly cheaper and I would commute daily to London. By reading other threads it seems that the most convenient way is to take the train but the annual ticket is ridiculously expensive (~5000£ !!!!!). The buses is another option but it would also mean that I will be spending at least 3h commuting. I do have a car and I was wondering if it is worth driving to 3rd or 4th zone in London to avoid congestion charges, park at a station and then use the underground to get to zone 1. Would this be a good idea? Any other reccomendations? I've been in exactly the same situation (give or take) and you need to think about several things: Is the "Oxford night life" something you aspire to (as a potential local resident), or is that irrelevant. Commuting the last two miles into Oxford (depending on the exact location of your wife's employment) is by far the most challenging exercise here. When I had to travel regularly from east Oxfordshire to London, the most sustainable routing was M40/A40 to Ickenham, park, and get the tube. Next best perhaps transfer at Rickmansworth. Does your wife drive? Living in (or using the P&R at) Headington [which I don't regard as "in Oxford"], might be a useful compromise. There are many other villages in east Oxfordshire which will have cheaper housing and viable railheads to London and busheads[1] to Oxford. It might even be cheaper to leapfrog Oxford and consider living somewhere like Didcot and both commute the different distances eastwards. When I was looking at this (admittedly some time ago) I favoured Swindon, and colleagues were looking at Hungerford. [1] Is that even a word. -- Roland Perry |
Oxford to London commute
The underground station car parks arn't free and you'll get stuck in jams on
the M40 anyway. Whatever you do either you or your wife are in for a very expensive and/or long commute. Perhaps it would have been a good idea to check all this before you came here. Agreed. A number also drive out to the M40 junction & park there, where the London coaches call. But your coach or drive to outer zones will take the same time as you suggest, and possibly more than 3 hours in total. That's why the vast majority take the train and stomach the price. |
Thanks for your reply Robin. We were considering this possibility but the cumulative expenses for the season tickets from e.g. Reading (or any other town in between) to Oxford and Reading to London were way more than the 5000£ season ticket from Oxford to London while at the same time we would live in a town with less going on compared to either London or Oxford (I think).
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Oxford to London commute
On 2017\10\10 14:25, Roland Perry wrote:
When I had to travel regularly from east Oxfordshire to London, the most sustainable routing was M40/A40 to Ickenham, park, and get the tube. Next best perhaps transfer at Rickmansworth. Not Hillingdon? |
Thank you all for your replies. My wife doesn't drive but we are willing to live on the suburbs of Oxford provided that she can take at least the bus to work which is at the city center. We are mainly interested in living near a city with certain amenities (restaurants, bars, shopping street, etc).
The idea of staying at Headington doesn't sound bad as it seems to be less than 30min from the city center by bus. From your replies, it seems that the 6th zone (Ickenham, Hillington or Rickmansworth) is the closest I can get by car to London before being stuck in the jam. When I checked the commute from Didcot to London by train it wasn't faster (or cheaper) compared to Oxford. You reckon that Didcot would be more convenient though? |
Oxford to London commute
On 10/10/2017 14:35, GeorgeK wrote:
Thanks for your reply Robin. We were considering this possibility but the cumulative expenses for the season tickets from e.g. Reading (or any other town in between) to Oxford and Reading to London were way more than the 5000£ season ticket from Oxford to London while at the same time we would live in a town with less going on compared to either London or Oxford (I think). Surely it all comes down to what you will accept - the three hour commute by bus/coach is likely to be more than that unless you live and work at either end of the bus route. If you have to commute further in London, don't forget the cost of a travelcard can easily be another £1000 per year or more. Whilst it's convenient to live somewhere where things are going on, how often are you really going to take advantage of that, and if those places were 30 mins away to save even 5 mins each way on your commute if you only did them once a week. At the end of the day, trains work but cost money - I've also no idea whether you'd be likely to get a seat or not, with standing for an hour not being the most pleasant of things. Buses are subject to the vagaries of traffic - the advertised 90 minutes can be an awful lot longer on bad days. Given you just don't know, I'd suggest trying some options at typical commute times - if you don't like it one day, you're going to seriously detest it after weeks and months. One thing to consider, is that whilst Oxford isn't particularly great traffic wise, if your wife was to commute there and you lived in London (or its outskirts), at least she'd be going against the majority of the flow of traffic for a lot of the journey. |
Oxford to London commute
Someone Somewhere wrote:
One thing to consider, is that whilst Oxford isn't particularly great traffic wise, if your wife was to commute there and you lived in London (or its outskirts), at least she'd be going against the majority of the flow of traffic for a lot of the journey. A friend of mine did that - living in Victoria (so just round the corner from Victoria Coach Station) and taking the buses to Oxford a few days a week. It wasn't too bad apparently - but I dread to think what the rent for living in Victoria was! Another option of living halfway is to consider the Chiltern route - Kidlington, Bicester, High Wycombe, etc, possibly even Banbury. I don't know how that works out in terms of times and costs. Also worth working out what you're pay in rent/mortgage for each place: pay 1Kpa extra on the season ticket but save 2K on rent? OP: Where in London is your job? That could make a big difference. For instance, if you work in Canary Wharf you might want to be near Crossrail. That either implies Reading or getting the X90 or Oxford Tube to Marble Arch and walking to Bond St for Crossrail. Theo |
Oxford to London commute
In message , at 18:27:22 on Tue, 10 Oct
2017, Someone Somewhere remarked: One thing to consider, is that whilst Oxford isn't particularly great traffic wise, if your wife was to commute there and you lived in London (or its outskirts), at least she'd be going against the majority of the flow of traffic for a lot of the journey. The killer, however, is the last four or five miles where she won't be. And where to park?? -- Roland Perry |
Oxford to London commute
In message , at 15:53:11 on Tue, 10 Oct
2017, Basil Jet remarked: When I had to travel regularly from east Oxfordshire to London, the most sustainable routing was M40/A40 to Ickenham, park, and get the tube. Next best perhaps transfer at Rickmansworth. Not Hillingdon? I hardly ever found a free parking space there, and never failed to at Ickenham. -- Roland Perry |
Oxford to London commute
In message , at 17:30:57 on Tue, 10
Oct 2017, GeorgeK remarked: When I checked the commute from Didcot to London by train it wasn't faster (or cheaper) compared to Oxford. You reckon that Didcot would be more convenient though? Cheaper housing. -- Roland Perry |
Oxford to London commute
On 11/10/2017 10:36, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 18:27:22 on Tue, 10 Oct 2017, Someone Somewhere remarked: One thing to consider, is that whilst Oxford isn't particularly great traffic wise, if your wife was to commute there and you lived in London (or its outskirts), at least she'd be going against the majority of the flow of traffic for a lot of the journey. The killer, however, is the last four or five miles where she won't be. And where to park?? I was sort of thinking she would catch the bus - live in Hillingdon or similar, so he could catch the tube into London and she could get the bus to Oxford. |
Oxford to London commute
In message , at 11:21:56 on Wed, 11 Oct
2017, Someone Somewhere remarked: One thing to consider, is that whilst Oxford isn't particularly great traffic wise, if your wife was to commute there and you lived in London (or its outskirts), at least she'd be going against the majority of the flow of traffic for a lot of the journey. The killer, however, is the last four or five miles where she won't be. And where to park?? I was sort of thinking she would catch the bus - live in Hillingdon or similar, so he could catch the tube into London and she could get the bus to Oxford. That would avoid the need for driving, but at the expense(sic) of higher housing prices. -- Roland Perry |
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My job is at St Thomas hospital so I have to get to zone 1 (Waterloo or Westminster). I'll check the places along the Chiltern route as well. Would you recommend any of those places over the other for living?
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Oxford to London commute
On 11/10/2017 11:32, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 11:21:56 on Wed, 11 Oct 2017, Someone Somewhere remarked: One thing to consider, is that whilst Oxford isn't particularly greatÂ* traffic wise, if your wife was to commute there and you lived inÂ* London (or its outskirts), at least she'd be going against the majority of the flow of traffic for a lot of the journey. Â*The killer, however, is the last four or five miles where she won't be.Â* And where to park?? I was sort of thinking she would catch the bus - live in Hillingdon or similar, so he could catch the tube into London and she could get the bus to Oxford. That would avoid the need for driving, but at the expense(sic) of higher housing prices. True - but also a relatively guaranteed commute. What we don't really know from the OP is quite what his budget is for things - I realise he commented on the train price, but was that on the basis of not being able to afford it or he judged it as poor value? |
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Oxford to London commute
In message , GeorgeK
writes My job is at St Thomas hospital so I have to get to zone 1 (Waterloo or Westminster). I'll check the places along the Chiltern route as well. Would you recommend any of those places over the other for living? How does staying at a Travelodge 4 nights a week on the outskirts of London, travelling by car Monday morning and returning to Oxford Friday night compare with the cost/time of commuting 5 days a week -- Bryan Morris |
Oxford to London commute
On 11.10.2017 8:36 PM, Bryan Morris wrote:
In message , GeorgeK writes My job is at St Thomas hospital so I have to get to zone 1 (Waterloo or Westminster). I'll check the places along the Chiltern route as well. Would you recommend any of those places over the other for living? How does staying at a Travelodge 4 nights a week on the outskirts of London, travelling by car Monday morning and returning to Oxford Friday night compare with the cost/time of commuting 5 days a week It sounds like a pretty wretched life. It's been decades since I did it but there was a time in my life when I found myself (not through choice, thanks to my employer being taken over) working in Cowley despite living in south London. For what it's worth, I found the "Oxford Tube" and the X90 buses were viable for commuting (reliable enough etc.) - but I could only manage it for 6 months before I found another job and quit. |
Oxford to London commute
In message , Clank
writes On 11.10.2017 8:36 PM, Bryan Morris wrote: In message , GeorgeK writes My job is at St Thomas hospital so I have to get to zone 1 (Waterloo or Westminster). I'll check the places along the Chiltern route as well. Would you recommend any of those places over the other for living? How does staying at a Travelodge 4 nights a week on the outskirts of London, travelling by car Monday morning and returning to Oxford Friday night compare with the cost/time of commuting 5 days a week It sounds like a pretty wretched life. I did it for a while though staying in a hotel owned (as a part of the business) by my employers . My wife and 2 kids in London I worked (though based in the London office) in Kent mainly. -- Bryan Morris Public Key http://www.pgp.uk.demon.net - 0xCC6237E9 |
Oxford to London commute
"Clank" wrote in message ... On 11.10.2017 8:36 PM, Bryan Morris wrote: In message , GeorgeK writes My job is at St Thomas hospital so I have to get to zone 1 (Waterloo or Westminster). I'll check the places along the Chiltern route as well. Would you recommend any of those places over the other for living? How does staying at a Travelodge 4 nights a week on the outskirts of London, travelling by car Monday morning and returning to Oxford Friday night compare with the cost/time of commuting 5 days a week It sounds like a pretty wretched life. yep It's bad enough doing that if you don't have a family back home awful if you do tim |
Oxford to London commute
On Tue, Oct 10, 2017 at 12:32:45PM +0100, GeorgeK wrote:
By reading other threads it seems that the most convenient way is to take the train but the annual ticket is ridiculously expensive (~5000? !!!!!). Assuming you travel both ways 220 times a year, so 440 journeys of about 60 miles, that's about 20 pence per mile, which really isn't that expensive. And of course that ignores any benefit you might get from being able to use your season ticket for journeys into London during weekends and holidays - you'd have a Gold Card, so that would include cheaper tickets for your wife as well. The buses is another option but it would also mean that I will be spending at least 3h commuting. I do have a car and I was wondering if it is worth driving to 3rd or 4th zone in London to avoid congestion charges, park at a station and then use the underground to get to zone 1. Would this be a good idea? Any other reccomendations? Depends on fuel consumption, but almost certainly not. You'll need to pay for parking, for fuel, for extra parts and maintenance due to the increased wear and tear, and possibly for more insurance because you'll be doing an extra 20,000 miles per year. You'll not be able to sleep or read a book or whatever on the journey, or have a drink at the pub after work, and the journey will be slower. A train from Oxford to London is about an hour. Arbitrarily picking Wembley as your zone four destination, that's anywhere between 1h05 and 1h40 depending on traffic, plus the time to get from car to station, and the time on the tube. -- David Cantrell | Minister for Arbitrary Justice I don't do .INI, .BAT, or .SYS files. I don't assign apps to files. I don't configure peripherals or networks before using them. I have a computer to do all that. I have a Macintosh, not a hobby. -- Fritz Anderson |
Oxford to London commute
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Oxford to London commute
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Oxford to London commute
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Oxford to London commute
In article , (Someone
Somewhere) wrote: On 13/10/2017 02:32, wrote: In article , (GeorgeK) wrote: Thank you all for your replies. My wife doesn't drive but we are willing to live on the suburbs of Oxford provided that she can take at least the bus to work which is at the city center. We are mainly interested in living near a city with certain amenities (restaurants, bars, shopping street, etc). The idea of staying at Headington doesn't sound bad as it seems to be less than 30min from the city center by bus. From your replies, it seems that the 6th zone (Ickenham, Hillington or Rickmansworth) is the closest I can get by car to London before being stuck in the jam. When I checked the commute from Didcot to London by train it wasn't faster (or cheaper) compared to Oxford. You reckon that Didcot would be more convenient though? Has you wife actually looked at the cycling option? Oxford is only second to Cambridge for UK cycle commuting and up to 5 miles is an easy cycle commute. My wife doesn't drive and regularly cycles to her job 2.5-3 miles away as I did when working even though I drive. The problem with relying on cyclng is that it's lovely when the weather is, and when it isn't it's bloody horrible. I live on what is allegedly one of the busiest cycle routes in the UK and it's incredibly noticeable how usage drops when the weather is less than clement. Because of this I'd seriously argue that a modal shift to cycling is impossible - you still have to dimension the transport infrastructure for those bad days, and if you've just taken a chunk out of it to accomodate the cycle lane then for periods of the year (e.g. "February") you're actually making things worse, not better. Sorry, but that is as ridiculous as saying you will drive even though 10% of the time traffic will be so bad that you will be seriously late to work. Non-trivial rain occurs as commuter time well under 10% of the time. It isn't that hard to get good cycling raingear either. Look at Cambridge commuting if you don't believe me. Traffic is worse on wet days but that makes cycling even more advantageous in travel times. -- Colin Rosenstiel |
Oxford to London commute
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Oxford to London commute
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Oxford to London commute
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Oxford to London commute
On 13/10/2017 14:37, wrote:
In article , (Someone Somewhere) wrote: On 13/10/2017 02:32, wrote: In article , (GeorgeK) wrote: Thank you all for your replies. My wife doesn't drive but we are willing to live on the suburbs of Oxford provided that she can take at least the bus to work which is at the city center. We are mainly interested in living near a city with certain amenities (restaurants, bars, shopping street, etc). The idea of staying at Headington doesn't sound bad as it seems to be less than 30min from the city center by bus. From your replies, it seems that the 6th zone (Ickenham, Hillington or Rickmansworth) is the closest I can get by car to London before being stuck in the jam. When I checked the commute from Didcot to London by train it wasn't faster (or cheaper) compared to Oxford. You reckon that Didcot would be more convenient though? Has you wife actually looked at the cycling option? Oxford is only second to Cambridge for UK cycle commuting and up to 5 miles is an easy cycle commute. My wife doesn't drive and regularly cycles to her job 2.5-3 miles away as I did when working even though I drive. The problem with relying on cyclng is that it's lovely when the weather is, and when it isn't it's bloody horrible. I live on what is allegedly one of the busiest cycle routes in the UK and it's incredibly noticeable how usage drops when the weather is less than clement. Because of this I'd seriously argue that a modal shift to cycling is impossible - you still have to dimension the transport infrastructure for those bad days, and if you've just taken a chunk out of it to accomodate the cycle lane then for periods of the year (e.g. "February") you're actually making things worse, not better. Sorry, but that is as ridiculous as saying you will drive even though 10% of the time traffic will be so bad that you will be seriously late to work. No it's not - it's observational that during poor weather (or winter) the number of cyclists reduces dramatically. Do you dispute this? Non-trivial rain occurs as commuter time well under 10% of the time. It isn't that hard to get good cycling raingear either. That's not the point, the point is cyclists seem fickle about the weather but presumably will still make their journey which presumably will be via tube / trian / taxi / uber / car. Look at Cambridge commuting if you don't believe me. Traffic is worse on wet days but that makes cycling even more advantageous in travel times. That may well be, but a) this is still uk.transport.london however many times you wish to bring Cambridge into it and b) I suggest that when introducing segregated cycle lanes that reduce overall throughput of people (excepting cyclists) then this needs to be taken into account. I'm not arguing that cyclists shouldn't have safe routes to follow, or similar, just that cyclists have differences that aren't shared by other modes of transport which means they don't use the road capacity with the uniformity of other users. Similarly it could be fairly argued that on days of bus strikes, penalties for other vehicles using bus lanes should be removed, but such events happen far less frequently than inclement weather (probably less than 0.1%). Again, I'm not arguing that such measures are practical - they probably aren't (reasonably) - just that such a modal shift is not as simplistic is as often presented (creating safe, segregated cycle lanes will mean people shift to bikes and overall journey times will decrease and not increase) |
Oxford to London commute
In article , (Roland Perry)
wrote: In message , at 08:37:43 on Fri, 13 Oct 2017, remarked: I live on what is allegedly one of the busiest cycle routes in the UK and it's incredibly noticeable how usage drops when the weather is less than clement. Because of this I'd seriously argue that a modal shift to cycling is impossible - you still have to dimension the transport infrastructure for those bad days, and if you've just taken a chunk out of it to accomodate the cycle lane then for periods of the year (e.g. "February") you're actually making things worse, not better. Sorry, but that is as ridiculous as saying you will drive even though 10% of the time traffic will be so bad that you will be seriously late to work. Non-trivial rain occurs as commuter time well under 10% of the time. It isn't that hard to get good cycling raingear either. Look at Cambridge commuting if you don't believe me. One of the driest parts of the country. It's the times of day that are important. The tendency not to rain at commuting times is national. But we are talking about Oxford, not Manchester. It isn't much wetter than Cambridge. Traffic is catastrophically worse on wet days but that makes cycling even more advantageous in travel times. As long as you don't mind turning up at work drenched. Do you cycle to work? How many times has that happened to you? In over 25 years working for Pye/Philips/Simoco it happened to me less often than the number of fingers on one hand. And that's in either direction. On the way home, recovery is simple anyway. -- Colin Rosenstiel |
Oxford to London commute
In article ,
(Robin) wrote: On 13/10/2017 14:37, wrote: snip The problem with relying on cyclng is that it's lovely when the weather is, and when it isn't it's bloody horrible. I live on what is allegedly one of the busiest cycle routes in the UK and it's incredibly noticeable how usage drops when the weather is less than clement. Because of this I'd seriously argue that a modal shift to cycling is impossible - you still have to dimension the transport infrastructure for those bad days, and if you've just taken a chunk out of it to accomodate the cycle lane then for periods of the year (e.g. "February") you're actually making things worse, not better. Sorry, but that is as ridiculous as saying you will drive even though 10% of the time traffic will be so bad that you will be seriously late to work. Non-trivial rain occurs as commuter time well under 10% of the time. It isn't that hard to get good cycling raingear either. Look at Cambridge commuting if you don't believe me. Traffic is worse on wet days but that makes cycling even more advantageous in travel times. I am unclear. Are you arguing that Someone Somewhere was: a) wrong in his observation that the number of commuting cyclists falls when the weather is bad or b) wrong about the consequences for other modes of transport - eg because the missing cyclists work from home when the weather is bad? Or is it something else entirely? That the effect on cycling is surprisingly is marginal. Traffic is mainly worse because it is driving slower due the the adverse driving conditions. -- Colin Rosenstiel |
Oxford to London commute
In article , (Someone
Somewhere) wrote: On 13/10/2017 14:37, wrote: In article , (Someone Somewhere) wrote: On 13/10/2017 02:32, wrote: In article , (GeorgeK) wrote: Thank you all for your replies. My wife doesn't drive but we are willing to live on the suburbs of Oxford provided that she can take at least the bus to work which is at the city center. We are mainly interested in living near a city with certain amenities (restaurants, bars, shopping street, etc). The idea of staying at Headington doesn't sound bad as it seems to be less than 30min from the city center by bus. From your replies, it seems that the 6th zone (Ickenham, Hillington or Rickmansworth) is the closest I can get by car to London before being stuck in the jam. When I checked the commute from Didcot to London by train it wasn't faster (or cheaper) compared to Oxford. You reckon that Didcot would be more convenient though? Has you wife actually looked at the cycling option? Oxford is only second to Cambridge for UK cycle commuting and up to 5 miles is an easy cycle commute. My wife doesn't drive and regularly cycles to her job 2.5-3 miles away as I did when working even though I drive. The problem with relying on cyclng is that it's lovely when the weather is, and when it isn't it's bloody horrible. I live on what is allegedly one of the busiest cycle routes in the UK and it's incredibly noticeable how usage drops when the weather is less than clement. Because of this I'd seriously argue that a modal shift to cycling is impossible - you still have to dimension the transport infrastructure for those bad days, and if you've just taken a chunk out of it to accomodate the cycle lane then for periods of the year (e.g. "February") you're actually making things worse, not better. Sorry, but that is as ridiculous as saying you will drive even though 10% of the time traffic will be so bad that you will be seriously late to work. No it's not - it's observational that during poor weather (or winter) the number of cyclists reduces dramatically. Do you dispute this? Have you got the traffic counts? There appears to be much more traffic. While a bit of that is cyclists using their cars but the main effect is because cars are driving slower due to the conditions. Non-trivial rain occurs as commuter time well under 10% of the time. It isn't that hard to get good cycling raingear either. That's not the point, the point is cyclists seem fickle about the weather but presumably will still make their journey which presumably will be via tube / trian / taxi / uber / car. Ones like contributors to this thread maybe. How many of you ever cycle? Even since I retired I cycle regularly in central London. Sometimes it rains too. Fortunately reality is becoming more apparent in places where cycling is properly supported. Look at Cambridge commuting if you don't believe me. Traffic is worse on wet days but that makes cycling even more advantageous in travel times. That may well be, but a) this is still uk.transport.london however many times you wish to bring Cambridge into it and b) I suggest that when introducing segregated cycle lanes that reduce overall throughput of people (excepting cyclists) then this needs to be taken into account. I'm not arguing that cyclists shouldn't have safe routes to follow, or similar, just that cyclists have differences that aren't shared by other modes of transport which means they don't use the road capacity with the uniformity of other users. Similarly it could be fairly argued that on days of bus strikes, penalties for other vehicles using bus lanes should be removed, but such events happen far less frequently than inclement weather (probably less than 0.1%). Again, I'm not arguing that such measures are practical - they probably aren't (reasonably) - just that such a modal shift is not as simplistic is as often presented (creating safe, segregated cycle lanes will mean people shift to bikes and overall journey times will decrease and not increase) I worked in London for nearly a decade and cycled a lot between westminster and main line railway stations as well as between my Cambridge home and the station. I know perfectly well what the advantages of cycling are, as well the the largely imagined issued raised here. Cycling meant shorter commutes and a predictability of journey times just not available by car or tube. So when I left the office I knew with far greater confidence which train I would catch than when I took the tube. In the mornings after I stayed at my parents' in Putney, I could cycle in in much the same time as taking the tube, using low traffic and car-free routes (rather than a cycle super-highway composed mainly of paint), and, unlike on the tube, I got a seat. -- Colin Rosenstiel |
Oxford to London commute
On 13/10/2017 18:55, wrote:
In article , (Robin) wrote: On 13/10/2017 14:37, wrote: snip The problem with relying on cyclng is that it's lovely when the weather is, and when it isn't it's bloody horrible. I live on what is allegedly one of the busiest cycle routes in the UK and it's incredibly noticeable how usage drops when the weather is less than clement. Because of this I'd seriously argue that a modal shift to cycling is impossible - you still have to dimension the transport infrastructure for those bad days, and if you've just taken a chunk out of it to accomodate the cycle lane then for periods of the year (e.g. "February") you're actually making things worse, not better. Sorry, but that is as ridiculous as saying you will drive even though 10% of the time traffic will be so bad that you will be seriously late to work. Non-trivial rain occurs as commuter time well under 10% of the time. It isn't that hard to get good cycling raingear either. Look at Cambridge commuting if you don't believe me. Traffic is worse on wet days but that makes cycling even more advantageous in travel times. I am unclear. Are you arguing that Someone Somewhere was: a) wrong in his observation that the number of commuting cyclists falls when the weather is bad or b) wrong about the consequences for other modes of transport - eg because the missing cyclists work from home when the weather is bad? Or is it something else entirely? That the effect on cycling is surprisingly is marginal. Traffic is mainly worse because it is driving slower due the the adverse driving conditions. So it's (a) - ie you are disagreeing with Someone's observation about the variation in the number of cycling commuters with weather. I have no idea which of you are right. But may I ask if your "marginal" comes from your personal observations of CS1 or CS2 etc, or from TfL figures, or what? -- Robin reply-to address is (intended to be) valid |
Oxford to London commute
On Friday, 13 October 2017 14:37:45 UTC+1, wrote:
In article , (Someone Somewhere) wrote: On 13/10/2017 02:32, wrote: In article , (GeorgeK) wrote: Thank you all for your replies. My wife doesn't drive but we are willing to live on the suburbs of Oxford provided that she can take at least the bus to work which is at the city center. We are mainly interested in living near a city with certain amenities (restaurants, bars, shopping street, etc). The idea of staying at Headington doesn't sound bad as it seems to be less than 30min from the city center by bus. From your replies, it seems that the 6th zone (Ickenham, Hillington or Rickmansworth) is the closest I can get by car to London before being stuck in the jam. When I checked the commute from Didcot to London by train it wasn't faster (or cheaper) compared to Oxford. You reckon that Didcot would be more convenient though? Has you wife actually looked at the cycling option? Oxford is only second to Cambridge for UK cycle commuting and up to 5 miles is an easy cycle commute. My wife doesn't drive and regularly cycles to her job 2.5-3 miles away as I did when working even though I drive. The problem with relying on cyclng is that it's lovely when the weather is, and when it isn't it's bloody horrible. I live on what is allegedly one of the busiest cycle routes in the UK and it's incredibly noticeable how usage drops when the weather is less than clement. Because of this I'd seriously argue that a modal shift to cycling is impossible - you still have to dimension the transport infrastructure for those bad days, and if you've just taken a chunk out of it to accomodate the cycle lane then for periods of the year (e.g. "February") you're actually making things worse, not better. Sorry, but that is as ridiculous as saying you will drive even though 10% of the time traffic will be so bad that you will be seriously late to work. Non-trivial rain occurs as commuter time well under 10% of the time. It isn't that hard to get good cycling raingear either. Look at Cambridge Oh, do we really have to? Is there an unwritten law that every thread on this newsgroup will get to Cambridge or business class air travel eventually? The poor (well, not poor if considering commuting to London from there) original poster was asking about travel to and from Oxford, not Cambridge. |
Oxford to London commute
In article ,
(Mark) wrote: On Friday, 13 October 2017 14:37:45 UTC+1, wrote: In article , (Someone Somewhere) wrote: On 13/10/2017 02:32, wrote: In article , (GeorgeK) wrote: Thank you all for your replies. My wife doesn't drive but we are willing to live on the suburbs of Oxford provided that she can take at least the bus to work which is at the city center. We are mainly interested in living near a city with certain amenities (restaurants, bars, shopping street, etc). The idea of staying at Headington doesn't sound bad as it seems to be less than 30min from the city center by bus. From your replies, it seems that the 6th zone (Ickenham, Hillington or Rickmansworth) is the closest I can get by car to London before being stuck in the jam. When I checked the commute from Didcot to London by train it wasn't faster (or cheaper) compared to Oxford. You reckon that Didcot would be more convenient though? Has you wife actually looked at the cycling option? Oxford is only second to Cambridge for UK cycle commuting and up to 5 miles is an easy cycle commute. My wife doesn't drive and regularly cycles to her job 2.5-3 miles away as I did when working even though I drive. The problem with relying on cyclng is that it's lovely when the weather is, and when it isn't it's bloody horrible. I live on what is allegedly one of the busiest cycle routes in the UK and it's incredibly noticeable how usage drops when the weather is less than clement. Because of this I'd seriously argue that a modal shift to cycling is impossible - you still have to dimension the transport infrastructure for those bad days, and if you've just taken a chunk out of it to accomodate the cycle lane then for periods of the year (e.g. "February") you're actually making things worse, not better. Sorry, but that is as ridiculous as saying you will drive even though 10% of the time traffic will be so bad that you will be seriously late to work. Non-trivial rain occurs as commuter time well under 10% of the time. It isn't that hard to get good cycling raingear either. Look at Cambridge Oh, do we really have to? Is there an unwritten law that every thread on this newsgroup will get to Cambridge or business class air travel eventually? The poor (well, not poor if considering commuting to London from there) original poster was asking about travel to and from Oxford, not Cambridge. That's because Cambridge is the one UK place with cycling to work levels similar to those in the Netherlands and Oxford is one of the next closest, along with parts of central London where this Cambridge cyclist also cycles. -- Colin Rosenstiel |
Oxford to London commute
On 13/10/2017 18:55, wrote:
In article , (Someone Somewhere) wrote: On 13/10/2017 14:37, wrote: In article , (Someone Somewhere) wrote: On 13/10/2017 02:32, wrote: In article , (GeorgeK) wrote: Thank you all for your replies. My wife doesn't drive but we are willing to live on the suburbs of Oxford provided that she can take at least the bus to work which is at the city center. We are mainly interested in living near a city with certain amenities (restaurants, bars, shopping street, etc). The idea of staying at Headington doesn't sound bad as it seems to be less than 30min from the city center by bus. From your replies, it seems that the 6th zone (Ickenham, Hillington or Rickmansworth) is the closest I can get by car to London before being stuck in the jam. When I checked the commute from Didcot to London by train it wasn't faster (or cheaper) compared to Oxford. You reckon that Didcot would be more convenient though? Has you wife actually looked at the cycling option? Oxford is only second to Cambridge for UK cycle commuting and up to 5 miles is an easy cycle commute. My wife doesn't drive and regularly cycles to her job 2.5-3 miles away as I did when working even though I drive. The problem with relying on cyclng is that it's lovely when the weather is, and when it isn't it's bloody horrible. I live on what is allegedly one of the busiest cycle routes in the UK and it's incredibly noticeable how usage drops when the weather is less than clement. Because of this I'd seriously argue that a modal shift to cycling is impossible - you still have to dimension the transport infrastructure for those bad days, and if you've just taken a chunk out of it to accomodate the cycle lane then for periods of the year (e.g. "February") you're actually making things worse, not better. Sorry, but that is as ridiculous as saying you will drive even though 10% of the time traffic will be so bad that you will be seriously late to work. No it's not - it's observational that during poor weather (or winter) the number of cyclists reduces dramatically. Do you dispute this? Have you got the traffic counts? There appears to be much more traffic. While a bit of that is cyclists using their cars but the main effect is because cars are driving slower due to the conditions. I mentioned a reduction in cyclists - not necessarily an increase in cars - we have other modes of transport in London where people have observed an increase in passengers during inclement weather. Believe me, you don't want to go down the route of insisting I cite evidence, otherwise you may find yourself asked for similar on each and every contentious point you ever make. Non-trivial rain occurs as commuter time well under 10% of the time. It isn't that hard to get good cycling raingear either. That's not the point, the point is cyclists seem fickle about the weather but presumably will still make their journey which presumably will be via tube / trian / taxi / uber / car. Ones like contributors to this thread maybe. How many of you ever cycle? Even since I retired I cycle regularly in central London. Sometimes it rains too. Fortunately reality is becoming more apparent in places where cycling is properly supported. Does it matter who cycles or not? I work from home overlooking CS3 between Tower Hill and Canary Wharf. It is absolutely obvious that the number of cyclists drops during bad weather. You appear to be so blinkered about cycling to the point of implying I am lying about what I see - is that really your intention? |
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