Paging FOAK; commute to Paddington route and parking

So... currently considering whether I take a role in Paddington.

This would mean a round trip of about 220miles; including almost 100
miles on the M4.

I don't 'get' trains- at least not the ones in the UK, like them
elsewhere but there's no fucking way I'm paying £7,328 for an annual
season ticket for the 'privillege' of standing on a train from London to
Bath.

I'm guessing my route is M4/A4/Holland Road(A3220)/ Holland Park Ave
(A40) / Pembridge Road (A4206) and then find somewhere to park.

So... I'm guessing that the trusty K series bikes would be fine; my only
reservation is they're a bit wide for filtering. Failing this I guess
the Pan's a possibility but I don't think it's any narrower. I'll need
the full luggage on (probably).

Anyone got a better route and... anyone know what parking's going to be
like around Paddington around 9-9:30 ish? (and where...)

 

There are a few bike parks bang next to the station. No idea how full
they get, nor how early.

 

There's a Masterpark car park in Bell street, just north of the
Marylebone flyover that if I remember right hasbike parking spaces, it
may not be free, but it's under cover and more secure than on street
parking.
That's a hell of a daily commute 'though !

 

http://www.parkingforbikes.com/ might be of use, for the 'where' at
least.

--
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You fucking mad! That's going to take 2 hours a day sewerly.

 

I think if I were doing that every day I'd use the bike from Bath to
Reading then get the train from there. Probably a hell of a lot cheaper
for a season ticket than from Bath, & only 30 minutes from Reading to
Paddington with no parking hassles.

--
Krusty
www.MuddyStuff.co.uk
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'02 MV Senna '03 Tiger 955i '96 Tiger '79 Fantic Hiro 250

 

Ouch. And I think my 120 mile roundtrip is bad. If I were you I'd do the
trip once during commuting hours before agreeing to take the job in
London. You'll be pretty much losing *all* free time during the week
that way.

Fair enough. You might have to keep it as a backup option though for
when the weather gets really grotty. That's at least what I do. Going
into London by car is not an option if you want to actually spend time
in the office before you have to leave again.

I'd say the K is fine - I've been using both the 1150GS and the current
1150RT in London (but topbox only) without any issues. Yes, you
sometimes can't squeeze through gaps the scooter boyz can get through
but it's not that big of a problem.

Keep in mind that you'll be servicing bikes like it's going out of
fashion though - the RT has to go for a service pretty much every second
month so with your mileage you'll probably be looking at a service a
month.

If it's anything like the City, most parking bays will be full before
8am.

 

Yep, when I went out that way (twice earlier this year) it was about an
hour from the City to get to the M25.

 

Could you change to more flexible hours ?
If you could start at 10ish and leave at 6ish you should miss the worst
packed trains, but check the timetable. This should also give you
cheaper fares.

OTOH 7328 a year is 610/month which should rent you a cheap crashpad somewhere
within tube distance of work then you only need to commute weekly.

 

Well I plan to do the 'trial trip' but it's my current role that's
relocating and given my current 'deal', the economic conditions and my
personal position I kind of think I need to stay with my current crowd.
Well, at least until they start offering me a reasonable inducement to
go... hopefully around five and a bit years time.

After 12 years with one job I guess I'm institutionalised but the 1/50th
final salary pension and potential retirement at 50 (enhanced if I'm
made redundant) makes it hard to say "no".

Well, my current acceptable deal is three days a week in the office,
maybe one day in Dusseldorf and one or two days at home. Arguing with my
director over this. Shouting in reality. I'm pretty sure he'll
acquiesce eventually.

So I figure it's somewhere around 6-800 miles a week which suggests
servicing it once every 7 weeks or so. Shouldn't be a problem, I can
service a K in an hour or so. A little more to do the valves but I've
given up checking those any more frequently than once every 20k.

****.

Maybe the hours become 8 to 4:30...

 

wrote in message

Yes. But I don't want to start late and finish later. Much of my work
involves dealing with people on 'the mainland' who are already an hour
ahead of us. Starting at 10 would mean 11 their time; doesn't really
work.

Well to get cheaper trains I'd have to leave after 9AM which means
getting into the office at about 11:00 which is way too late.

**** that. London's not somewhere I'd do on a budget. Anyway, I *like*
living in the west country. In any case there's no way I'm doing five
days a week in London, 3 days max.

 

Ah yes, I can see that. That said, once you add up how much of your cash
is going in the tank and to the tyre shop, your perspective may change a
little.

That wouldn't be too bad as long as they're playing along. A lot of
companies are suddenly tightening up on the "working from home" bit,
presumably because it has always made management uncomfortable but they
couldn't do anything about it while people could walk out and get
another job.

Fair enough, 600/700 miles a week is what I do at the moment and that is
bearable. You've got backup bikes already so that shouldn't be an issue,
either - I certainly wouldn't do such a commute without having at least
two working bikes available at any time.

That'll make finding a parking bay a lot easier for sure, plus you'll
probably just about manage to get out before the big rush.

 

The suggestion of bike to Reading and train to Padd makes more sense and
the train ticket shouldn't be too much more than the parking and fuel
costs.

I wonder what the cost of a first class season Padd-Reading is?

 

Well... standard class it's 3328, first class it's 6444.

In both cases. Ouch.

But, to compare let's assume Reading-Paddington's an extra 40 miles each
way so that's 80 miles x 3 days a week x 44 weeks a year, about 10k
miles.

So that's two front tyres and three rears, two services and about 364
gallons of petrol. Hmm... 300+100+1,500. Call it two grand.

I'm still struggling to see how it makes financial sense. Maybe after a
few shit journeys my attitude might change.

 

It may not make financial sense, but the time[1] & stress saved would
make it worthwhile imo. Give both a go & see what works for you I guess.

[1] At least 1.5 hours a day I'd guess.

--
Krusty
www.MuddyStuff.co.uk
Off-Road Classifieds

'02 MV Senna '03 Tiger 955i '96 Tiger '79 Fantic Hiro 250

 

Depending on whereabouts in London you go, you won't incur parking costs
but might have to be there at stupid o'clock.

That's a very good point - I do still enjoy biking but I don't get my
bikes out that often. Not to mention that the fairly crappy weather this
summer didn't exactly provided additional motivation.

 

Seems to me that a B&B 2 or 3 nights a week is your best bet by far, if you
can negotiate it down that way. You recall I lived in Oxford when I was
with BT. A couple of days each week in London. It's a bitch of a commute
in rush hour, even by bike as filtering is so limited and the chances of an
"off" are pretty high.

But in the current climate you wouldn't want to let that job go.

 

Do you have any evidence for this?

My place is becoming more supportive of home working.

 

as has ours due to the relocation of the company in Q1 next year.
we're going to have 90% of the department working from home 2-3 days
per week.

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And I work for a company that've been doing it for years. Most of our
staff now work from home or as mobile workers for a fair percentage of
time. It's been so widely deployed that many of our offices have more
hot-desks than permanently allocated ones.