Originally Posted by Paul Corfield

On Thu, 27 Oct 2011 09:09:07 +0100, Mrs Fox
wrote:


Hello,

I am completely confused. I moved back to the UK and got a job
(finally!) in Brentwood and live in Grays but not certain if I am using
the best way of travelling. I was going to take the 269 bus but the
timing is not right as I need to start work at 8.30 and finish at 17.00.
The only other option appears to be trains to: Upminster, then Romford,
then Brentwood. Seems an awful lot of travelling and it would mean that
I have to be at the bus stop to get the bus to the train station at 6.00
to be on time for work as it's still a 30 minute walk from Brentwood
station to get to work... I would appreciate any advice

As others have pointed out this is not an easy journey despite the
geographic proximity.

Thurrock Council have a lot of information here

http://www.thurrock.gov.uk/travel/transport/

There are good timetable and map pdfs available via the site. I have
had a quick look and I'm not particularly convinced there are
convenient bus times for you but it's not clear as to quite where you
are headed in the Brentwood area. There seem to be possible options
on the 265, 269 and 565 routes.

What I had hoped to find for you was a journey on the Ensign route 81
that actually started back at Grays or nearby. They have "light"
journeys from their garage to / from Brentwood but only a couple of
off peak journeys run in service as the X81. You probably wouldn't
lose anything by dropping Ensign an email and asking if they have any
plans to run any peak hour X81 journeys. At least they'd know they
have 1 prospective passenger!

Bus fare information will only be available from the respective
operators.

Rail does look a tad involved and the x30 min headway between Romford
and Upminster isn't good if there are any delays or disrption.
Ironically Grays is covered by Oyster PAYG as is Romford / Upminster.
It has recently been announced that Brentwood will be covered from
some time in 2012 when the next franchise starts.

Timings for the trains all seem to be around 1 hour or so which is
pretty awful!

--
Paul C