Daily commute - Ascot to Bank

[jessica33]

I've been offered another job, this time about 3-4 minutes from Bank tube station.

Route would therefore be

Ascot -> Waterloo = 60 minutes
Waterloo -> Bank = 3-4 minutes not including queuing and things like that

So you're probably looking around 1hr 20 minutes to get from Station to office.

Any thoughts?

I've done this quite a few times for interviews, and obviously been to Waterloo 100s of times, but usually for leisure, days out, theatre, drinking, etc... not every single day.

The hours are 8am - 5pm. So I would likely miss the very peak morning rush, and I believe I would get a seat going out.

My own experience on South Western Trains are that the seats are really uncomfortable. No arm rests, stupidly thin, barely any table space. Plus this line has about 10 stops to get to Waterloo. A service with only 1-2 stops would be far more bearable.

Any thoughts on this... trying to work out if I'd be horrifically miserable doing this every single day, or if it would be fine.

 

[30907]

I think you may be slightly underestimating the travel time via Bank, but I'll leave it to regular users to comment. That apart, not sure it's much different from Syon Lane.
To get a service with only 1-2 stops though means one of:
working locally
moving much closer to London
moving to a town on a main line like Reading or Woking.
(or moving to Airedale and working in Leeds )

 

[jessica33]

I think you may be slightly underestimating the travel time via Bank, but I'll leave it to regular users to comment. That apart, not sure it's much different from Syon Lane.
To get a service with only 1-2 stops though means one of:
working locally
moving much closer to London
moving to a town on a main line like Reading or Woking.
(or moving to Airedale and working in Leeds )

Thanks for that.

In regards to Bank... the tube itself is 4 minutes I think, I used this yesterday at around 9am and it wasn't too bad but possibly quieter than peak peak times. Coming back I was on the tube about 430 and again it wasn't too bad but still early.

I know other places like Farnbrough, Didcot, even Cambridge have trains which stop only 2-3 times. Annoying there's no real alternative where I am

 

[FenMan]

I don't know how firm the start and end times are. To arrive comfortably before 8am, get set up to start the day etc, would entail catching the 06:10 from Ascot.

If your employer is ok with an 8:15am start the 06:40 and 06:46 departures come into play. Although the journey is slow, the main benefit for Ascot commuters is the service frequency at peak times - a fast train isn't much good if the service is 2tph and you just miss one. There are five departures from Waterloo to Ascot between 17:00 and 18:00.

 

[MikeWh]

Be careful what season ticket you ask for. The Any Permitted one is valid either via Staines, or via Reading into Paddington. It costs significantly more because of this. There is also an "AAA Windsor" version for a little bit more than the "Via Staines" one that will probably be what you want.

The weekly travelcard via Staines is £21.60 more than the weekly season via Staines to Waterloo. This means it is only just cheaper than using Oyster or contactless for the W&C line to Bank. It becomes less of a problem if you get monthly or longer tickets. However, depending on whether time or money is more important, there is an alternative to using the W&C. Go up the escalator to Waterloo East and take the next train to London Bridge, then cross to P2/3 for the next train to Cannon Street. That is all covered by a ticket to London Terminals. Cannon Street is just 1-2 minutes walk from the Walbrook entrance of Bank station. If there are some days when you just want to use the W&C then a single using contactless/Oyster is £2.40.

 

[jessica33]

I don't know how firm the start and end times are. To arrive comfortably before 8am, get set up to start the day etc, would entail catching the 06:10 from Ascot.

If your employer is ok with an 8:15am start the 06:40 and 06:46 departures come into play. Although the journey is slow, the main benefit for Ascot commuters is the service frequency at peak times - a fast train isn't much good if the service is 2tph and you just miss one. There are five departures from Waterloo to Ascot between 17:00 and 18:00.

I think they're flexible, the core business hours run alongside the London Stock Exchange, which is 0800-1630. But one guy did say he used to start at 10 as he doesn't like mornings. I'm going to check to see if it's an issue if I get in after 8. I doubt it will be as this is a decent company and a good job, so it's unlikely they'll say "we want you in bang on 8am".

Be careful what season ticket you ask for. The Any Permitted one is valid either via Staines, or via Reading into Paddington. It costs significantly more because of this. There is also an "AAA Windsor" version for a little bit more than the "Via Staines" one that will probably be what you want.

The weekly travelcard via Staines is £21.60 more than the weekly season via Staines to Waterloo. This means it is only just cheaper than using Oyster or contactless for the W&C line to Bank. It becomes less of a problem if you get monthly or longer tickets. However, depending on whether time or money is more important, there is an alternative to using the W&C. Go up the escalator to Waterloo East and take the next train to London Bridge, then cross to P2/3 for the next train to Cannon Street. That is all covered by a ticket to London Terminals. Cannon Street is just 1-2 minutes walk from the Walbrook entrance of Bank station. If there are some days when you just want to use the W&C then a single using contactless/Oyster is £2.40.

Thanks for that, I did consider going to Waterloo East->London Bridge and then walking.

The office is on Fenchurch Street. According to Google maps that is a 16 minute walk. I know however, there is also a short walk (3-4 minutes) from Platform 20 at Waterloo->Waterloo East. It's probably the same amount of time going via Bank, or possibly a bit longer but only by a few minutes.

 

[maniacmartin]

Hi Jessica. I also work on Fenchurch Street in a company whose primary business hours follow the LSE trading hours. Several of my colleagues commute into Waterloo and this is what they have to say:

If you want to travel on the Waterloo & City line without it being totally like a sardine can, you should aim to arrive in the office by 07:45 as any later and it starts to get really busy.

I wouldn’t go to London Bridge and then to Cannon Street as the additional 2 changes will add extra time. Some of my colleagues walk the whole way from Waterloo via Southwark Bridge on fair weather days, and use Oyster Pay as you Go on the W&C line on rainy days. Apparently it’s a nice walk.

 

[jessica33]

Hi Jessica. I also work on Fenchurch Street in a company whose primary business hours follow the LSE trading hours. Several of my colleagues commute into Waterloo and this is what they have to say:

If you want to travel on the Waterloo & City line without it being totally like a sardine can, you should aim to arrive in the office by 07:45 as any later and it starts to get really busy.

I wouldn’t go to London Bridge and then to Cannon Street as the additional 2 changes will add extra time. Some of my colleagues walk the whole way from Waterloo via Southwark Bridge on fair weather days, and use Oyster Pay as you Go on the W&C line on rainy days. Apparently it’s a nice walk.

Thanks for that info. Getting in at 0745 would mean getting the 0605 train ... that's a lot earlier than I had considered. The position I've been offered for is as a team leader within an IT support office, not sure if that matters or not.

0605 train arrives at Waterloo at 0707
0632 train arrives at Waterloo at 0737

In terms of working hours what do you do. Start at 8... and when do you physically walk out of the building on a typical day? Would it be 4, 430, 5 or later?

I'm also thinking about things like going to the gym and how I could fit that in. Like most companies they have deals for gyms, like The Box, Virgin, David Lloyd.

Do you or others do that during the day? Or after work?

Having never worked in London I'm just trying to get an idea of what people typically do.

 

[maniacmartin]

(Replied by PM)

 

[westv]

Do you or others do that during the day? Or after work?

Having never worked in London I'm just trying to get an idea of what people typically do.

The Ship
The Counting House
The Crutched Friar
The Cheshire Cheese
The East India
The Winsdor
Hung Drawn and Quartered
All Bar One

etc. etc.

 

[jessica33]

The Ship
The Counting House
The Crutched Friar
The Cheshire Cheese
The East India
The Winsdor
Hung Drawn and Quartered
All Bar One

etc. etc.

I don't think I will get very fit at these types of "gyms"

However I've been to a few of those pubs before and think I'd enjoy going again!

 

[jessica33]

(Replied by PM)

Thanks Martin. I did see this last night. Will reply properly tomorrow! !

 

[jessica33]

I did a test commute today.

Time from leaving my front door to getting to potential work place near Bank was 1hr36 minutes

That was with no proper delays or issues.

I got the 0632 train out
Then Waterloo and city line across

Hard to know how sustainable that is, twice a day, 5 days a week.

 

[island]

The queues for the “drain” at Waterloo are legendary in peak times and it is not unknown to have to get the fourth or fifth train.

 

[MikeWh]

The queues for the “drain” at Waterloo are legendary in peak times and it is not unknown to have to get the fourth or fifth train.

by which time it might be quicker to go via London Bridge?

 

[sonic2009]

You could always change at Richmond, and get the District line to either Monument or Tower Hill in the AM? And coming back via Waterloo on the return?

 

[jessica33]

You could always change at Richmond, and get the District line to either Monument or Tower Hill in the AM? And coming back via Waterloo on the return?

There are 21 stops between Richmond tube and Monument

The queues for the “drain” at Waterloo are legendary in peak times and it is not unknown to have to get the fourth or fifth train.

I didn't find hardly any queues when I went. I was early. As stated, I arrived at Waterloo around 0735 HRS, and was on the tube about 10 minutes later.

When I got down there, a tube was just boarding which I missed. But around 90 seconds later a new/empty one pulled in.

 

[Hadders]

Lots of people on holiday in July even though not all of the schools have broken up yet.

A month like November when not many are on holiday or the run up to Christmas is far busier.

 

[Via Bank]

Something that might work for you if the W&C is busy/broken is to walk across the river to Embankment or Temple, and then join the District line there. If memory serves Embankment is around ten minutes, Temple around fifteen or twenty. The District will be busy, but it'll mostly be emptying out at that point with people who've come in from further west. But that will take a while, so you'd have to be on an earlier train.

Another option might be to cycle the bit from Waterloo to Cannon Street. There's a Boris bike station on Concert Hall Approach (3 mins walk); from there, you can go east on Upper Ground to Blackfriars Bridge, cross the river, and then turn left and left again to go underneath Blackfriars. Upper Thames Street will put you in spitting distance of Cannon Street. It's around 1.8 miles, which is about 15 minutes at a gentle pace, and apart from Beldevere Road and Upper Ground it's fully protected from cars, so safe and easy.

No-one can tell you what your tolerance is for a long commute, though - that's for you to decide yourself. You can always try out different options once you start and see what works and what doesn't. When I got the train into Waterloo every day, I really liked using the time to relax, read a book, play a video game, etc. But some people hate it. When I did go into Waterloo I walked to the office in Fitzrovia from there, and the walk really helped clear my head and wake me up.

 

[Doctor Fegg]

Or take a Brompton.

 

[Muzer]

Waterloo & City is nowhere near as bad as people are saying. There are queues, true, but it usually doesn't take all too long to get on a train as long as you learn the good places to stand etc.

 

[MotCO]

Is the 521 Red Arrow an option from Waterloo? It passes Cannon Street and takes around 20 minutes.