I couldn't listen to music and read a book at the same time

 

I hate travelling by train (and will only travel by bus if no other choice). Driving to work is not too pad at the time I drive (about 7am) but two wheels of any description far more attractive!

 

My commute would be insane by car, not only would it take 50% longer, it'd cost an extortionate amount, the petrol cost alone would be roughly double the train ticket, and then you'd have to add on parking and perhaps congestion charge.

Of course, the greatest benefit of the train, is that I can sleep all the way home, something not possible in the car. Despite the pretty poor reliability record of the Metropolitan tube line, most people are polite and well behaved, the only common annoyances being people talking to each other (what is THAT all about ) , mobile phones and iPods up too loud. These are easily countered by using my walkman.

Given how stressful it is to drive anywhere in the SE during the rush hour, I'm much better off by train.

 

So long as you only have to get 1 bus or one train it's fine. But if you live in the country like me it's a bastard. What I ended up doing was driving to the main train station in town (where parking was free), walking across the road to the bus stop and getting the bus in.

But my god when I was on that bus it was so relaxing. It was an express motorway one, so I just got on with my DS in tow and played Mario Kart and Advance Wars till the bus pulled up right outside my work, which was the last stop.

So much more relaxing not to have all the stress of driving in rush hour.

Now I work a few mins from home and outside rush hours it's fantastic. Commuting by car must take years off your life.

 

I used to hate getting public transport in london at commuting time. Car was much more pleasant and convenient, even on the one occasion it took me 2 hours to drive 3 miles (the day it snowed in london).

I didn't have to worry about having my face stuffed in someone elses sweaty armpit, fight my way off at my stop, could choose my own route if traffic was bad, and had my own airconditioned space.

Much more pleasant.

 

I do all my commuting at anti social hours so I don't mind taking the car at all, in fact it's a pleasure to have the roads all to yourself at 5 am.

Lived in London for a few years and based on my experiences there I could not advocate public transport over the car, it was always rammed, hot, stinky, full of weirdos etc.

I also lived in Grenoble for some time as well and they have an integrated tram and bus service which I imagine is much like what they have up in Manchester, but on a larger scale. Now that was quite a pleasant experience, clean, on time, cheap to use, convenient.

Makes you wonder why we can't manage it over here ?

 

You only have to worry about people cutting you up, using fog lights when it's not foggy, poor lane discipline, people on mobiles crashing into you, speed cameras, box junction cameras, bus lane cameras, buses, pedestrians, white van men,, saxo drivers trying to race you and so on and so forth. Not stressful at all...

 

depends on your commute. Mine was from ealing to acton and back. Most of it was suburban roads, not main commuter routes so i never really had to worry about what you've listed.

the biggest inconvienence on my route home was the railway crossing. Time it wrong and i could be stationary for 20 minutes as a few train crossings coincided so that it wouldn't be worth them lifting the barriers in between.

 

I love travelling to work by car

"Home James, and don't spare the horses"






I wish.

 

Depends what I'm reading

If it's the usual fiction stuff that doesn't require much thought/concentration, I'm OK. If it's work stuff or something a bit more cerebral, I find myself either tuning the music out or having to turn it off.

(Currently working my way through the Patrick O'Brien series of novels about Jack Aubrey and life in the Nelsonic Royal Navy.)