£5K/year commuting bill

evilwebby · January 2, 2018

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-40936050

Where does GOT stand on this? Sympathy with their plight, or lifestyles of the rich and not so famous?

Think I'm in both camps, if that's possible. It's a lifestyle choice that they've made, but I do also sympathize when so much of your income goes on just getting to and from work. It may take a backseat to when you are first moving to a bigger house, starting a family etc, but over time the costs catch up with you and it becomes increasingly relentless.

Also reminds me how good we have it, as I generally have a 15 min cycle commute and my wife has a 40min door to door trip against the flow of tube traffic (again, this was a lifestyle choice, so I give us some credit for it, but at the same time we are lucky we have been able to stay in the same jobs for so long).

Also I appreciate this is a scouse based forum on a (mainly) London-based problem, so views might not be wholly representative...

.....! · January 2, 2018

I worked in London for 14 years. There's inner and outer London Weighting isn't there? I had about an extra £4000ish on my wage just for that reason. It's not given as a prize for living in London. In fact I don't even know why it's paid but if you use it for travel you've lost zilch.

edit. Just looked and not everybody gets this paid.

Deleted member 28206 · January 2, 2018

Can you change the title to LONDON COMPLAIN AGAIN?

evilwebby · January 2, 2018

.....! said:
I worked in London for 14 years. There's inner and outer London Weighting isn't there? I had about an extra £4000ish on my wage just for that reason. It's not given as a prize for living in London. In fact I don't even know why it's paid but if you use it for travel you've lost zilch.

London Weighting? Maybe for some public-sector jobs, but most job will (rightly) pay you what the market rate is, and they don't care if you live next door or in Timbuktu.

I disagree that "you've lost zilch" even if you compensated by a higher London wage - travel takes up time, which is valuable to us all.

Brennan · January 2, 2018

evilwebby said:
London Weighting? Maybe for some public-sector jobs, but most job will (rightly) pay you what the market rate is, and they don't care if you live next door or in Timbuktu.

I disagree that "you've lost zilch" even if you compensated by a higher London wage - travel takes up time, which is valuable to us all.

The two most recent private companies I've worked for both offered London weighting to their sales staff who were based in London. I'd say it's fairly common.

.....! · January 2, 2018

evilwebby said:
London Weighting? Maybe for some public-sector jobs, but most job will (rightly) pay you what the market rate is, and they don't care if you live next door or in Timbuktu.

I disagree that "you've lost zilch" even if you compensated by a higher London wage - travel takes up time, which is valuable to us all.

Even if you travel inside London itself travel is a thing you either put up with or not. Most places will take a while to get to and from at rush hour irrelevant of distance. You either choose to do it or get a different job with less travel as you said with your travel arrangements. I do admit to the fact that travel is ridiculously expensive and all the profits are just funnelled abroad.

coollino · January 2, 2018

I work in London, my commute is around £7k for a 45 minute train ride. Luckily, I walk when in London.

It's a lot of money but I try not to think about it, I am getting paid around £15k more in the position I am in now as opposed to my last and it's pretty much the same job.

I moved and there are no jobs in what I do in my area, at the moment. If a local job comes up for £10k less than I am on now in my area I would go for it without any hesitation but I have just bought a house so can't be too flexible at the moment.

evilwebby · January 2, 2018

Brennan said:
The two most recent private companies I've worked for both offered London weighting to their sales staff who were based in London. I'd say it's fairly common.

So if they move out of London would they get an automatic wage cut..? (serious question)

Can't speak for specific companies or job roles, but I think the job market is more efficient than that. Over the long run people will get matched to jobs and paid roughly the worth of their product.

Brennan · January 2, 2018

evilwebby said:
So if they move out of London would they get an automatic wage cut..? (serious question)

Can't speak for specific companies or job roles, but I think the job market is more efficient than that. Over the long run people will get matched to jobs and paid roughly the worth of their product.

Yep..

evilwebby · January 2, 2018

coollino said:
I work in London, my commute is around £7k for a 45 minute train ride. Luckily, I walk when in London.

It's a lot of money but I try not to think about it, I am getting paid around £15k more in the position I am in now as opposed to my last and it's pretty much the same job.

I moved and there are no jobs in what I do in my area, at the moment. If a local job comes up for £10k less than I am on now in my area I would go for it without any hesitation but I have just bought a house so can't be too flexible at the moment.

Appreciate your views.

IMO this is one of the many undesirable effects of housing policy and how successive governments on both sides have done everything they can to keep interest rates low and house prices extortionately high.

SerenityNigh · January 2, 2018

If I keep my car 10 years then I can get close to $8k or so annual cost to commute.

Of course, I use it for recreation also.

Huyton Layne · January 2, 2018

Not really an issue. They could live in London and go broke or work somewhere else for less money and not be able to afford their nice mortgage.

orly · January 2, 2018

Layne said:
Not really an issue. They could live in London and go broke or work somewhere else for less money and not be able to afford their nice mortgage.

Only about 100 turkeys a ticket as well.

neil999 · January 2, 2018

their choice to pay it, but they should be able to expect a decent service that works

evilwebby · January 2, 2018

Not having to do a big commute is worth a lot to me, personally. No doubt I'm just a grumpy old git nowadays, but I really don't enjoy the experience on the odd occasion that I do have to go into town on public transport. Everyone just looks so glum and crushed, and the problems with personal space.. ugh.