Commuting from Sheffield

[lashford 10]

hello sheffield people, hope you're all well.

 

i have a bit of a query on commuting. looking for a job and wondering where the furthest distance to spread my net would be in terms of having not too bad a commute (i live in broomhill).

 

i dont have a car, but am open to the possibility of getting one. does anyone have first hand experience of getting to nottingham, leeds, manchester or bradford i.e. at peak times would it take under an hour?

 

what about public transport? i am thinking a return to any of those places 5 days a week might add up a bit cost wise (or can you get cheaper season ticket type deals?), though then again, petrol costs an arm and a leg too.

 

cheers.

[sanman 10]

Hi

 

I worked in Bolton for 2 years, pig of a journey that took about 1 1/2 hours M1 & M62. Its do-able but wouldn't recommend it. I currently work at Alderley Edge not far from Manchester Airport. This journey takes me about 1 1/4 hours, it's quite good as I don't have to travel on any major roads.

 

Cheers

 

Mark

[Cyclone 10]

nottingham and leeds are doable, manchester is a terrible drive, bradford is too far. Don't know about trains, I try to avoid using them.

[Norbo 10]

I have commuted to both Manchester and Nottingham in recent years and I cannot recommend doing either by car - it's a total nightmare at rush hour.

 

Use the train instead - you can read a book, have a drink, chat with fellow commuters! Then again you can do all that in your car too as you will be stationary for most of the journey anyway.

It's far far less stressful travelling on the train than being stuck on the M1 or M60 or wherever. And far more environmentally friendly.

 

Expect packed trains though, especially on Friday evenings. Oh yes, and sometimes they are late!

[Agent Orange 11]

I'd opt for public transport if I was you as I know 3 of the places you mentioned are a right nightmare to get to in rush hour. Besides, Sheffield has got decent rail links with Manchester, Leeds and Nottingham all of which are around the hour mark to get to on the train. If you have a gander on the link below you should be able to work out how often these services are etc

 

http://www.networkrail.co.uk

 

I hope this is some help.

 

Mart.

[lashford 10]

hi,

 

thanks for the feedback so far. did a bit of rooting around. a train season ticket sheffield to the following places cost (and approx journey time);

 

leeds- £1572 (50 mins)

nottingham- £1792 (50 mins)

bradford £1640 (1 hr 20)

manc £2216 (1 hr)

 

add a half hour walk to the station in sheff (for me at any rate), and up to another half hour at the other end thats about a 2 hour commute each way.

 

car is worse for environment, and i can see petrol costing a fiver a day. over the year thats maybe £1200. plus insurance, tax, actually buying a car, possible parking/breaking into/staying sober issues. and it would seem the commute may not even be that much shorter?

[sock 10]

My dad used to commute between Sheffield (Totley) and Manchester, the drive took just under an hour in the rush hour which is less than most people will say because the best thing to do is to drive over the Snake Pass (a hellish road!) to Glossop (pretty much the first town you get to on the Manchester side) and get the train into Manchester centre from there. The train took about 20-30 minutes and I'm sure it can't be that expensive.

[Norbo 10]

Originally posted by sock

My dad used to commute between Sheffield (Totley) and Manchester, the drive took just under an hour in the rush hour which is less than most people will say because the best thing to do is to drive over the Snake Pass (a hellish road!) to Glossop (pretty much the first town you get to on the Manchester side) and get the train into Manchester centre from there. The train took about 20-30 minutes and I'm sure it can't be that expensive.

Now that's a good idea. Best of both worlds that way. The Snake Pass is the best bit of the drive to Manchester and rarely busy - unless you get stuck in a long queue behind a slow lorry or something. The real traffic problem is after Glossop.

[smellie1 10]

You can get a monthly pass for your rail travel. It includes free tram travel as well. In 2000 it cost £47.50 per month. However wierd things happen to the trains between Leeds and Sheffield, i.e. they leave Leeds (according to travel information staff) but then don't turn up at Sheffield. In a 3 month period of commuting I had 2 trains turn up on time.

I also commuted to Leicester for 5 months and that's not bad at all. 90 minutes each way straight down M1. It's very tiring though. I had to give it up cos I was getting nightmares about motorways!

Good Luck!

[Captain_Scarlet 10]

birmingham, Lincoln, Leeds, Donny, Mancs, Derby, Notts, Kingston/Hull, York... Cities where commuting by train is very doable.

[JoeP 11]

UNtil recently was commuting to Leeds daily.

 

The train service varies between OK and pathetic. If you can't get a Virgin Express (45 minutes) then you end up on one of the little Arriva trains which tend to be less than salubrious and slow.

 

They go through all the little places between Sheffield and Leeds and so the 'local' trains can take an hour to an hour and ten minutes. The worst trip I had by train from Leeds took 5 hours - I was traumatised...:-)

 

Best commute for Leeds is definitely the National Express (altogether now with the Divine Comedy song) which costs GBP 5.50 return. Takes about 45 minutes off peak, and a bit longer at Peak. Goes from Sheffield Interchange to Leeds Bus Station, which is just about in the centre of Leeds.

 

Cheers

 

Joe

[Andy C 86]

A little bit of news to add here. From December the SRA has agreed to provide funding for an additional train between Sheffield and Leeds each hour, calling only at Meadowhall, Barnsley and Wakefield, to be operated by Arriva Trains Northern. I expect the journey time will be about 55 minutes. This coupled with the hourly Virgin train means 2 fast trains per hour and 2 slow trains per hour.