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Thread: Help me with my commute please! Hampshire to London

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    Help me with my commute please! Hampshire to London

    Right hello folks,

    My job has moved to between surbiton and kingston-upon-thames in london... and I am planning to move to Basingstoke (don't ask why)...currently live in Winchester.

    I have a couple of options, trains, car, mix of train and car etc.

    Does anyone travel into london by car? This seems to be the best option at the moment on the route planners given cost and time! Every possible train route I put in seems to take much longer than the car (I need to start at 8:30 which is a bummer).

    Any suggestions please?!

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    Re: Help me with my commute please! Hampshire to London

    I live in West London and drive to Reading for work on the M4.

    This is against the normal flow of traffic and there's no way in hell I'd ever go the other way!

    I'm at Reading by 07:30 and even that early in the morning it's bumper to bumper in the other direction.

    Maybe the M3 will be different?

    Are your plans for Basingstoke fixed? I believe it's an Internet black spot and other towns in the same part of the country would give you better options on the trains.

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    Re: Help me with my commute please! Hampshire to London

    Hey thanks for the heads up.

    I am fearing the m3 as I know it can be terrible. Did not know about it being an internet black spot!?

    I want to buy a house and basingstoke is the only area I can afford for now...

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    Re: Help me with my commute please! Hampshire to London

    I'm not sure about the journey into London everyday but internet not spot Basingstoke won't be forever.

    We're one of the first towns in Hampshire to get Fibre Broadband from BT! (See HERE) They are laying cables all over the place at the moment so I'm really pleased. Basingstoke isn't such a bad place either, some parts of it are quite nice and you've got the M3/M4 corridors nearly on your doorstep (but far enough away that you can't hear it) and a direct trainlink straight into Waterloo.

    If I had to do the journey to London and back everyday I'd probably drive as well. I can't stand being on an overcrowded train on a hot summers day (I know I can but dream of one of those) I'd try to drop down onto the A31 then the A3 if I were heading to Kingston area. I've done that run before and it seemed ok.

    Is there dedicated parking for you in London then?

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    Re: Help me with my commute please! Hampshire to London

    It's not exactly London

    Car will almost certainly be faster, it's not busy enough round here for trains to benefit from the lack of traffic jams. And trains are far from cheap as well.

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    Re: Help me with my commute please! Hampshire to London

    Surbiton and Kingston-upon-thames are not London. The M3 at that time in the morning going that way is going to be a royal pain. If there's a reasonable train service, I'd use that.

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    Re: Help me with my commute please! Hampshire to London

    +1 for the train. Driving would be a worse level of hell than the train in this case - the M3 around there at that time in the morning is a rage filled car park.

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    Re: Help me with my commute please! Hampshire to London

    I wouldn't consider a daily commute to London from Winchester other than by train. ^0 minutes to Waterloo. The problem is that you then have to get out to Kingston - but at that time you would be travelling against the 'flow' so you could pick up a Waterloo/Kingston train. Otherwise look at changing further down the line.basingstoke/London will be quicker (in theory) although not all fast trains from Winchester stop at basingstoke.

    Think you need to look at one of the rail planners.

    As for driving - you are a hostage to fortune. M3 can be a real snarl up - only takes one accident....
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    Re: Help me with my commute please! Hampshire to London

    I drive up to gatwick to get to work from around southampton area (will shortly be moving further north) and i found the best thing i ever bought was a TomTom sat nav with the live traffic feeds.

    It's routed me so many times around major jams.

    The worst time for the M3 are around rush hour (surprise surprise) but like peterB said. you only need on acident.

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    Re: Help me with my commute please! Hampshire to London

    My office is in Hook (Just outside of Basingstoke) and regularly I have to get into London to go to specific client sites.

    It's not as bad as people make out.

    If you have to be there at 8:30 it may take a bit more time than normal circa 1 hour 30-1 hour 40 mins. Any possibility that you could maybe as at work to start half an hour earlier, and finish earier, or start later and finish later etc?

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    Re: Help me with my commute please! Hampshire to London

    If, for whatever reason, you can't or won't live near to your work and thus have to commute some distance through heavy traffic, then by far your best option is to get a motorbike IMO. I ought to get mine fixed really- it never got less than 60 mpg and was always 10 minutes quicker than the car on my 10 mile suburban commute from Catford to Croydon- even at 4 in the morning, when the bike's superior acceleration really told. Nowadays, thanks to my shift pattern, I rarely have to drive either direction in rush hour traffic- this week is an exception though, 9.30-5.30, I get it both ways.

    A Direct Access course is (I think) about £600-700. A perfectly capable commuter bike like a Honda CB500 can be had for a grand or less (I bought a 6 year old Kawasaki ER-5 for £800 in 2006, and probably overpaid). £100 will get you a Cordura jacket and trousers from Lidl (or budget £150-200 elsewhere); £100 a heated jacket for the cold days, £20 a waterproof oversuit, £50 for heated grips- or £20 for bar muffs- to stop your hands freezing up.

    So circa £2k for a vehicle with lower running costs than a car, which will, on a Basingstoke to west london commute, probably save you the thick end of an hour a day.

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    Re: Help me with my commute please! Hampshire to London

    I used to drive int Kensington on the M40. Used to start at 6-30am so it wasn't too bad. Biked it in the summer to save time. It was pretty soul-destroying though.

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    Re: Help me with my commute please! Hampshire to London

    Quote Originally Posted by donmezz View Post
    (I need to start at 8:30 which is a bummer).
    Why is this a bummer?
    sig removed by Zak33

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    Re: Help me with my commute please! Hampshire to London

    Quote Originally Posted by IBM View Post
    Why is this a bummer?
    Well its rush hour really. I know some folks who work shifts and find the m3 at 4am completely empty.

    There is definately mixed views here..some prefer car some swear by train...

    I think I may have to stick with the train but I may try the car for a week or so...


    Thanks for all the inputs!

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