Renting in London 'cheaper than commuting from Swindon'

[whole diary]

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the Swindon Advertiser:

Workers are opting to rent additional accommodation in London over commuting from Swindon in a bid to save money.

Property website MondaytoFriday.com has said renting rooms in London can actually work out cheaper for commuters who are currently travelling to the city by train.

In January, ticket prices went up by 3.9 per cent in England, Wales and Scotland, while fares for season ticket holders have increased by an average of 4.2 per cent.

According to the National Rail website, a standard class 12-month adult season ticket from Swindon to London is now ^7,760, while a single adult ticket to Paddington is ^24.80 off-peak and ^58.50 on-peak.

Rail fare increases and crowded carriages mean commuters are increasingly considering renting accommodation near to work for just the working week.

MondaytoFriday.com says that it could save users money on most commutes. For instance, a season ticket between Swindon and London is ^7,760, compared to a rented room of ^4,200, based on the lowest price of ^350 a month.

Commuters in Swindon said they understood why people were making the decision to rent in London but thought being able to come home after work was important.

Ian Jenkins, 53, of Redhouse said: ^Rail fares seem to keep going up and up but you don^t see any changes to the service we are getting. I travel to London three or four times a week so would not consider renting a room in London but I can understand why people do if it saves them money. For me though, I like coming home to my family and being at home.^

Chris Watts, of the Fair Fares for Swindon campaign, has called for cheaper prices in Swindon for rail users because he thinks that it has a detrimental effect on the town and deters businesses from investing in Swindon. He said: ^It affects Swindon more because our prices are higher than most other places, so as a percentage increase that affects people more. I think there should be a price freeze in Swindon or even a price drop to bring us into parity to other locations in the country. It^s unfair we^re paying proportionally more than other locations in the country, and it^s affecting inward investment in the town.^

First Great Western, who run the trains through Swindon, have said that the vast majority of fares are set by the government. Speaking on January^s increase, a spokesperson said: ^This is not about individual fares, the vast majority of our fares are set by the Government. These regulated fares are governed by the BFT who give us a formula by which to calculate these fares. We don^t see that increase as a train operator. The cost of motoring went up by about 13 per cent ^ the rises that this brings in won^t come near to that.^

[ChrisB]

^58.50 expensive? It's dearer than that from Banbury, and BAN is closder than SWI^» (Swindon - next trains)....

[grahame]

At the moment, if I'm working in London for a couple of days, it's cheaper by a long way for me to find a room in a lower-rated hotel and stay there overnight than to commute daily. It's also much less wearing on me ...  my hotel will always be there on time, and if I'm a few minutes late checking in, I don't have to wait for the next service.

[bobm]

^58.50 expensive? It's dearer than that from Banbury, and BAN is closder than SWI^» (Swindon - next trains)....

The ^58.50 is an Anytime Day single - the same ticket from Banbury is ^35.10.

[BandHcommuter]

From what I can see, the price comparison does not appear to factor in the costs of weekly travel from Swindon to and from London. A return ticket in the peaks would cost over ^100 each week, so getting on for another ^5,000 each year.

I recently spent a few months living in London during the week instead of commuting. It actually cost quite a lot more, but this extra cost was more than offset by the time savings and avoidance of general commuting aggravation.

[JayMac]

It also doesn't appear to factor in the cost of the commute within London. Highly unlikely that most people will find a place to live right on top of their place of work. You're certainly not going to get somewhere for ^350 pcm in central London or near the Square Mile.

[Network SouthEast]

These press releases masquerading as news do annoy me, however, I might as well comment.

I've never been out and about in Swindon, but I suspect that you'd have a better quality of life in Swindon than you would in London. Given that Swindon is an hour away, and you usually get a seat, it could be argued it is better than an all stations stopping service from places like Hertford/Hounslow/Upminster and so on, which might take around 30/45 minutes in crowded conditions the whole way. The further you live to Central London there is a trade off between living in a complete dive or having to pay an extortionate amount in rent or mortgage.

Other costs in London are more too, such as council tax (unless Wandsworth), car insurance, parking... it all adds up.

[LiskeardRich]

If your renting "just a room" would you have cooking facilities? otherwise eating take aways monday to friday is going to get expensive.
Does the ^350 quoted cover all bills or just the room. If it is inclusive of all utilities, council tax etc then it may be a fair comparison, if you have to pay all these bills on top of the ^350 quoted it is going to be far more expensive than commuting.

[grahame]

Not quite "renting" ... but stopping in a hotel in London overnight.   My calculations from a recent trip on which I needed to be into Paddington by 09:00 and could leave at 17:30 for each of Monday and Tuesday.  Note that my journey is from beyond Swindon

Option 1. Travel up on the 07:20 each day, and return on the 17:45 using daily tickets: 304 pounds
Option 2. Travel up on the 07:20 each day, and return on the 17:45 using a season ticket: 243 pounds
Option 3. Travel up on Sunday evening, stay at hotel for 2 nights, return on 17:30 on Tuesday evening: 178 pounds 80p

I took option 3; somewhat cheaper, a chance to try out another LastMinute hotel, a saving of 4 hours and 40 minutes of travel, two (pretty basic) breakfasts included and 22 pounds of VAT^▸ (Value Added Tax) reclaimable. Cost metrics for three days would be to travel up on the first morning;  for four or five days, commuting / season ticket would be cheaper.

For a couple of days from my home, it's certainly cheaper to stay in London overnight.  That may change once room prices rise for the tourist season!

Edit to correct maths!

[Trowres]

Overlooked here is that the season ticket is a bargain compared with the peak return fare. The season ticket becomes cheaper than individual tickets at 67 annual return journeys.

[ellendune]

Overlooked here is that the season ticket is a bargain compared with the peak return fare. The season ticket becomes cheaper than individual tickets at 67 annual return journeys.

I would put it the other way round.  The anytime fare is extortionate compared to the season ticket.

[inspector_blakey]

Hmm. A GBP 350 pcm room in London is likely neither to be even remotely central nor especially salubrious (I found myself looking for accommodation in the London area six months or so ago so speak from some experience). So add in bills, the cost and time of commuting into the city on the Underground etc as others have pointed out and it starts to look like less of a good deal.

There are plenty of places outside London where the rail service into the city is sufficiently good that it's actually probably quicker to get into Central London if you live there than some outlying point on the District or Circle lines - Reading, Guildford and Woking spring to mind immediately, I'm sure there are plenty of others that could also be added to the list.

[Brucey]

Having also looked for somewhere to live in London very recently, there must be something significantly undesiderable  to cost ^350 per month.  I was even looking at places in Zone 5 or 6 and not finding anywhere at that price.  The journey to Central London would have been over one hour on a cramped suburban service.