Hi, as a recently passed (Class 2) driver, I’d like some advice about commute times.
Early days, but not having much luck finding a decent job in the S Wales area. But there’s plentiful jobs in the Bristol/Avonmouth area (50 min drive each way). Got a call from an agency in the Bristol area, turned them down. Now having second thoughts.
Question: In your opinion/experience, do you think a daily 100 min commute + a Class 2 multidrop work is sustainable for 2 years? (After 2 years, I hope to move up to Class 1, hopefully)
Thank you
EDIT: What would your maximum be for daily work? 30 mins each way?
The government would expect you to travel unto 90 min each way per day ( that might be public transport mind ) although it depends on time of travel on how long some journey will take you
It really depends on what the commute is like. I currently do 40 minutes each way but it’s through lovely Cotswold countryside, not too much traffic so it’s a great way to start/finish the day. If I had to put up with the chaos of a motorway during rush-hour then it might be a different thing…
Used to do a 50 mile round trip everyday didn’t bother me, now I do a 4 mile round trip & if I get held up I complain. Couldn’t go back to a long commute.
Nearly two hours a day would be too much for me, especially as you are probably looking at £75 a week in petrol alone for your car without all the other wear and tear on tyres etc.
With the time and money factored in you’d probably be better off renting a bedsit in Avonmouth for the week rather than commuting, although the ideal scenario would be to find someone willing to give you nights out all week, because then not only would you be saving the time and money, you’d be getting £100+ a week tax-free in night-out money.
This is going to be an interesting situation in a few years time, when anything with an engine is banned from everywhere and you’re compelled to fork out summat like £30k+ for some battery powered junk with a shelf life of 7 years before it needs another couple of U2s, that’ll be £10,200 sir + VAT, oh and your rectifier thingy has gone so another £7,300 + VAT, how would sir like to pay from his £11 an hour agency stint?
Always assuming that battery junk can make it to work and back on a winter’s day and the grid hasn’t gone down .
Yep as above replies, 30 minutes is enough for me on day work, but i know drivers who travel a lot further than that but once a week for the right tramping jobs.
Totally depends on the commute and the time of day you have to commute.
Going from South Wales to Avonmouth is really not that bad if you can get passed the Cardiff and the tunnels early enough in the morning and then not come back again until early evening.
I currently drive 25 miles each way daily but 24 miles of that is motorway and only 2 sets of traffic lights in the whole drive, if it was 25 miles of A/B roads I wouldn’t even think about it…
Why not just try it and see
Only one thing in life that you have…Time, it is how your life is measured and it is done like that to facilitate your work ethos and make it all so much more acceptable.
I look at time as summers I have left and I might have another 15-20 if I am lucky, so not many, but when I started out I only had 75-80 and that is not that many in the grand scheme, the measurement of time in minutes and seconds, hours, days even, is all an illusion to make you feel as though you have a lot of it, you don`t.
More than 10 minutes spent getting to a place of work is you wasting your life and if you are OK with that, then so be it…But I have a feeling that when you are breathing your last, you may well regret it…Time is priceless, treat it as such and your life will be more rewarding.
Being at trucker you normally miss morning rush hours, but you really need to think about what time your going to be commuting home & what roads are involved. Believe me, the last thing you want to be doing after a long day on the road is joining 60 minutes of nose to tail traffic trying to get home, it will drive you insane and it’s such a chronic waste of your time when your probably already working too many hours.
If your really thinking of a job, do a dummy run and try getting back at 4/5pm on a weekday in term time. If the experience gives you any doubts, swerve.
I’m at my maximum commute time where I am now for semi tramping, I.e some weeks no nights out, but most weeks 2-3 nights out.
I have 3 ways I can get to and from the yard. 2 are 15 miles and the other is 8 straight through town. I choose the one that’s likely to have the least amount of traffic for the time of day. All take around 30 minutes.
This is the issue with throwing up houses willy nilly it forces people to commute to get to work. I know someone that lived up in the wilds of linconshire he used to come down to Maidstone in kent for 4 days work as a supervisor in a warehouse. He used to stay in a b&b how the hell he afforded that I never managed to work out as most b&b’s around here cost 70+ quid a night.
I guess it all depends on what is around you and whats on offer else where. One word of warning there are a lot of agencies that will waste your time and think nothing of it. They trawl the internet looking for peoples cv’s then call you up making it sound like you have been specially selected 9/10 times the job doesn’t exist or they haven’t actually got the job they have just seen it online like you.
Couldn’t go back to a long commute.
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