"Bevan Price" wrote in message
...


Well, if the job has long term prospects, I would suggest that the least
stressful option would be to consider moving out of London and find
somewhere to live in or near Oxford. Although few places have really cheap
housing these days, Oxford should be less expensive than living in London.

My mate used to live in Didcot and worked at Blackbird Leys in Oxford - the
drive up wasn't too bad in the morning and his occasional training courses
in Willesden were apparently easy enough to get to, either by train or by
car. A suitable compromise? It's not the most exciting of spots, I grant
you, but it seems like an OK place to live and Paddington's 45 mins away
with a train about every 10 mins in the peak.

On Jan 26, 10:44 pm, "Graham Harrison"
wrote:

And if you like London "entertainments" etc., Oxford is close enough for
to make occasional day trips to London after you have finished work.

That's true. I have a son living in Oxford and working just outside and he
seems to spend evenings in London on a regular basis. He seems to
use both buses and trains, I'm not sure what his criteria are for choosing
one over the other.

If it's going to be a late one, or possibly involve an overnight stay
in the Great Wen, then the coach is quite likely the winner - the
Oxford Tube runs all night, whilst the Espress runs till pretty late
before taking a break for four hours in the midst of the night. Worth
noting that all return fares are valid the next day as well (there's a
3 month period return too). Meanwhile last train from Paddington to
Oxford is at 0022, which is still pretty good (and it's not some all
shacks stopper either).

Timetables...
http://www.oxfordtube.com/tubetimes.php
http://www.oxfordbus.co.uk/main.php?page_id=28

Price wise the coach wins at GBP16 day/next-day return (both OxTube &
Espress), until you introduce a Railcard discount which actually makes
an off-peak return by train a smidgeon cheaper (both Day & period
return) - though on both the Espress and OxTube there are 12 trip
carnet tickets priced at GBP 70/72, so that works out at either GBP 6
or just under for each single trip. Further complicating factors
include a bundled Off-peak Day Travelcard being available for a pound
extra when using a Railcard, and whether or not either the outward or
return journeys might be taking place during the weekday morning peak.

On Wed, 26 Jan 2011 16:11:21 -0800 (PST), Mizter T
wrote:
Espress), until you introduce a Railcard discount

The coaches have also offered Railcard (maybe only YP) in the past,
may still do.

Neil

--
Neil Williams, Milton Keynes, UK

On Wed, 26 Jan 2011 17:32:14 -0000
"Mizter T" wrote:
wrote:

On Wed, 26 Jan 2011 16:52:32 -0000
"Mizter T" wrote:
Embarrassed to say I overlooked this option in my reply - I think I'd sort
of taken it that the OP had half-settled on the move to Oxford so I only
really considered the journey in the other direction.

Anyone commuting to london from oxford by coach in the rush hour needs
their
head examining. The queues on the A40 are legendary and thats before you
hit the solid central london traffic.

Once you take your comprehension classes you'll realise we were actually
talking about travelling *from* London (well Hillingdon) *to* Oxford here.

From the original post:

"The bf has said he's happy to commute from Oxford (providing we live nr
the station) to the City everyday, but I'm not sure he's thought it
through!"

Sorry , what was that you were saying about comprehension?

B2003

"Alan" wrote:
"Bevan Price" wrote in message
...
Well, if the job has long term prospects, I would suggest that the least
stressful option would be to consider moving out of London and find
somewhere to live in or near Oxford. Although few places have really cheap
housing these days, Oxford should be less expensive than living in London.

My mate used to live in Didcot and worked at Blackbird Leys in Oxford - the
drive up wasn't too bad in the morning and his occasional training courses
in Willesden were apparently easy enough to get to, either by train or by
car. A suitable compromise? It's not the most exciting of spots, I grant
you, but it seems like an OK place to live and Paddington's 45 mins away
with a train about every 10 mins in the peak.


Didcot is an absolutely disgusting 'chav town'. It certainly isn't
somewhere that professional people would choose to live.

The train service is good but the park and ride facility is poor. The
car park is distant from the station; in adverse weather, the exposed
walking route between the two is unpleasant. The car park quickly
fills up from the station end in the morning peak making the walk even
longer.

Avoid.

On 26 Jan, 16:57, wrote:
On Wed, 26 Jan 2011 16:52:32 -0000

"Mizter T" wrote:
Embarrassed to say I overlooked this option in my reply - I think I'd sort
of taken it that the OP had half-settled on the move to Oxford so I only
really considered the journey in the other direction.

Anyone commuting to london from oxford by coach in the rush hour needs their
head examining. The queues on the A40 are legendary and thats before you
hit the solid central london traffic.

Coaches should be left to skint students.

B2003


Perhaps we should have a team of shrinks on every Oxford Tube/Espress
coach into London then? Most users seem to be commuters not students.

In any case we were talking about going in the opposite direction, ie
London to Oxford in the morning.

On Thu, 27 Jan 2011 10:41:00 -0000
"Mizter T" wrote:
Below is Paul Terry's reply - the OP says she doesn't think she could hack
the commute from London to Oxford as she doesn't live near Paddington, and
blah blah pendant pedant blah blah ...

Yaaaaaaawwwwnnnnnn ....

B2003

On Thu, 27 Jan 2011 02:52:32 -0800 (PST)
George wrote:
Perhaps we should have a team of shrinks on every Oxford Tube/Espress
coach into London then? Most users seem to be commuters not students.

No doubt including you otherwise how would you know?

I doubt they travel all the way into central london unless they like
sitting in traffic jams. Sometimes paying extra for the train really
is worth it.

B2003

On Jan 27, 9:31*pm, Paul Corfield wrote:

On Thu, 27 Jan 2011 11:00:34 +0000 (UTC), wrote:

On Thu, 27 Jan 2011 02:52:32 -0800 (PST)
George wrote:
Perhaps we should have a team of shrinks on every Oxford Tube/Espress
coach into London then? Most users seem to be commuters not students.

No doubt including you otherwise how would you know?

Well George does get around but not sure he's done London - Oxford or
even Oxford - London on a regular basis.

I doubt they travel all the way into central london unless they like
sitting in traffic jams. Sometimes paying extra for the train really
is worth it.

If people don't commute then I wonder why Stagecoach - not exactly known
for unnecessary largesse - provide wifi, free newspapers and breakfast
on board morning departures from Oxford to London. *They also offer
season tickets and will combine them with a London Travelcard for
regular travellers. I don't see that being a regular student purchase.

Far be it for me to correct an esteemed poster such as yourself...
well, actually I'm afraid that's exactly what I'm going to have to do!
The free breakfast unfortunately got dropped sometime last year (I
think) - the free newspapers remain (Independent only - but I dunno if
there was ever any choice?), as of course does the free wifi (the
competing Espress has that these days too) - see http://
www.oxfordtube.com/benefits.html.

I dunno about arrangements in the past for a combo Oxford Tube and
London Travelcard season ticket, but if that was once on offer it
ain't any more these days - but of course, these days most regular
commuters coming in to London on the Oxford Tube/Espress would in all
likelihood find Oyster PAYG more suitable for their onward LU journey
across London

Though none of that undermines you underlying point - the £1,160
annual or £2,120 biennial season tickets offered by Oxford Tube aren't
likely to be a regular student purchase (though I guess a postgrad or
two might have bought them).


While I don't disagree with you that train commuting may be more viable
or that the M40 / A40 might resemble hell in the rush hour that doesn't
mean people do not use the coaches. * Oxford - London is a rare example
of coaches having really grown the market for travel and where
competition does seem to keep both operators on their toes. *I'm not
sure that First Great Western care one jot because they're there to run
the franchise the government has specified come what may.

Agree with the essence of all that. I think, looking at the respective
coach and rail fares, it's possible to detect a subtle degree of
acknowledgement on the part of FGW to the existence of the coach
services in the way the rail fares are priced.

One interesting question that springs to mind (and I'm sure it's not
original) is whether or not the existence of the coach services might
have actually held back the development of the train service from
Oxford to London - on the one hand I can see an argument that it might
have done so (e.g. there would otherwise have been a greater clamour
for a better train service), whilst on the other hand one can
postulate that it wouldn't really have made much if any difference.

However I think one can certainly make an argument about the impact of
the coach link on Oxford - these ultra-frequent services have no doubt
been a factor when it comes to people making decisions about where to
live and work... which is where this thread began! (Though I rather
suspect we've all managed to scare off the OP!)

A couple of final thoughts... one (again hardly original) is to wonder
whether (and if so how) the new Chiltern Railways link from London to
Oxford might affect the viability of the coach services (some way off,
but ultimately I doubt it'd present a major challenge to the business
model). Second thought is to wonder whether the positive impression of
a really decent coach service might have rubbed off on a few of the
Oxbridge alumni who have (and yet will) go on to assume positions of
influence later in life, and whether there might be any 'Oxford Tube
effect' in the decisions they might help mould and make. Though
perhaps their memory is just of puking out the door at Lewknor Turn.

On 27 Jan, 11:00, wrote:
On Thu, 27 Jan 2011 02:52:32 -0800 (PST)

George wrote:
Perhaps we should have a team of shrinks on every Oxford Tube/Espress
coach into London then? Most users seem to be commuters not students.

No doubt including you otherwise how would you know?

I doubt they travel all the way into central london unless they like
sitting in traffic jams. Sometimes paying extra for the train really
is worth it.

B2003


Well I was at Marble Arch around 18.00 the other day and most Oxford
Tubes heading out of town did look rather full, perhaps they were all
just very well dressed mature students on board? Likewise there are a
lot of 'mature students' commuting into Central London by coach from
North Kent, these services have the added bonus of serving Canary
Wharf en route.