Pls help - recommend cities/towns?

Hello all!  

First - I've found this board very helpful & have spent hours quietly reading.  Now its time to quit lurking!

I'm investigating a possible corporate transfer from Indiana... but am having a hard time narrowing down places to look for an apartment (flat... whatever... )

Background:  I'll be working in Uxbridge, East of London.  My hours will be normal business hours.  My husband's company, conveniently, just opened a UK office as well and he has been given the "OK" to work from their office (very nice - maintaining his income/happiness is very important to make this work!).  The thing is, his office is in Hove, near Brighton, and his hours will have to overlap with the Indy staff more - he'll be working maybe 11am - 8pm.

I'm not sure if we can affort two cars, so one of us will be on public transport.  It has been suggested that he take a train, and I should drive.. but I'm not sure.

What would you suggest?  Who should get the car?  Any suggestions for towns on the south side with easy highway access + train station?  If you think two cars would be the only way to go - please say so.  I can always ask the company for a larger car allowance!

Thanks - I appreciate the help with my "research."   Let me know if you need additional info.

~JessA

Background:  I'll be working in Uxbridge, East of London.  

Hi Jess... i just wanted to try to help you with this minor (?) correction.... Uxbridge is definitely not east of London.  It's in Middlesex, which is definitely west and slightly north of Central London.  There is a tube station in Uxbridge, which is served at peak hours only, I believe.
Wish i could help more, but im not familiar with that side of town.  Good luck.

I put your question to my husband who is definitely a whiz at transportation systems. He responded:

Off the top of my head ...

* The only Uxbridge that I know of is to the West of London.

* Public transport to Hove is good from the London direction, and runs into the evening.
* The Uxbridge to the West of London is a dog of a commute by road, but there's a good
public transport infrastructure into London.

I would recommend AGAINST using a car if at all possible for Uxbridge in the rush hour;
close to the M25 which becomes a car park, close to Heathrow.  Can take an hour to
cover 15 miles if you're unlucky.

Big question I would ask - how convenient for railway / tube stations are the two offices?
That's likely to be a huge factor.    For example - if the Uxbridge place is right by the tube
I would recommend "x", but if it's 2 miles fromthe station on an infrequent bus route, "x"
might be out.

Further question - budget / type of area they're looking for.  If cost was no object then
get a flat near Victoria station and both commute by public transport.  If they're not
millionaires, we had best think of something else ;-)

He's said you're welcome to talk with him directly if you'd like more information. Hope this helps!

Whoops!  You're correct - I meant to say West.  After a few hours of trying to read train time tables to Brighton, my head was a little scrambled!

I'll check out public transportation in both areas - do you know of a reliable web page that lists everything?  I found the tube.com & some others for just trains, but just want something more comprehensive.... I found this page: http://www.upmystreet.com/ [nofollow] ... would you say the information is reliable?  

As for cost - I'm not sure yet.  I'm going over for a week (May 21-May 28 ) to investigate.  My boss has reported that the company will "make this happen" so I know I'll get some assistance... I just don't know what would be an appropriate amount.

Thanks all for the advice - please keep it coming!

Public transport services (and roads) tend to run along corridors
of requirement - which in the South East of England means they
mostly radiate out from central London like the spokes of a wheel.
Almost everything starts from (or passes through) Central London;
for inner areas there's the tube (or Underground), for the outer
suburbs there are local trains, and for places further out there
are express trains.   Because they stop so many times, you'll
find that the tube journey from London to Uxbridge takes almost
as long as the train journey from London to Hove.

If you want to do something off a radial ... either you're looking
for the exceptional piece of public transport (there are a few),
or you are forced to go in and out of "town".  Your combined
journey falls into this category.

Connections between different types of transport (e.g. bus and
train, or local train and tube) are sometimes good, but intergrated
transport planners are poor-to-nonexistant.  I don't know of any
site I can type in a "from" and "to" postcode and have it come up
with an integrated journey plan.

If you go to
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/info/fs_info.htm
you'll find a link to "maps";  have a look at the "London and South East" and
"London Connections" maps, which together will show you all the rail routes
between Uxbridge and Hove (and possible living-places between).

There's a bus map you can download for north west london via
http://www.londontransport.co.uk/buses/buses_map.shtml
and that just goes out as far as Uxbridge.

There's a bus map for the Brighton area at
http://www.buses.co.uk/fares/welcome.htm

I don't think you'll want to use the buses for long distance parts of
the commute; there are some bus lanes around BUT they tend to get caught
in the traffic.   You might like to search for the Jetlink bus (route
numbers like 707 and 747) which I think runs Brighton, Gatwick,
Heathrow, Luton ... and Uxbridge is close to Heathrow.  Not sure if
there's an Uxbridge stop as it carries on to Luton - I doubt it.

I have travelled around a bit;  could be more specific in helping if
I knew ... (a) More detail of "Uxbridge".  Could be spread over quite
an area.  Do you have a postcode for the office?  Does "Stockley Park"
ring any bells - big office area that's not REALLY Uxbridge  (b)
Ditto for Hove, though not such a big area.  (c) Which of you enjoys
a long commute ;-)

By the way - as I recall, Uxbridge tube station does have
services all day.  The underground map shows two lines going
there; I think the "Metropolitain" runs from about 6 in the
morning until midnight ... but perhaps the Picadilly is only
at peak times; outside rush hour, simply change at Rayner's
Lane.

Thank you GrahamE!!!  I'll check out the web pages this evening.

In response to your questions:

(a) Stockley Park - that's exactly it!
(b) Husband's office is: Basin Road North, Hove, East Sussex, BN41 1WR
(c) We're flexible.  This is only a year assignment, so we've agreed to be flexible and if something isn't ideal - that's ok.  But, I think hubby should have the shorter/easier commute since he'll be working the odd hours.

Just a little more background info on the situation:  Its a relatively small company and I'm only the second person to consider a move to UK.  The first was an Executive VP, and I'm no where near that level of pay/importance.    So, there really aren't any company resources to rely on... hence my trip over at the end of the month... I'm supposed to research living & transportation arangements so I can say what my pay/allowances should be.  Which is nice - I like having that much input... but such an open-ended search is making it hard to get started.

We currently live in one of the cheaper apartment complexes, in one of the nicer parts of Indianapolis, in Fishers to be exact.    We like that set up... not downtown, not "exclusively expensive", but close to shopping, resturants, etc.  We both commute about 45min - 1 hr each way.  We're just average as far as living standards - I'm in HR, hubby is Web Developer.

 ~JessA

For 'Hove' - Portslade station is in walking distance to BN41 1WR
For Stockley Park - Hayes & Harlington station, then 6 minutes by bus:
http://www.trainlink.co.uk/time.htm

For trains to both, have a play with
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/planmyjourney/time_table/journey_requirements.asp

Try starting stations (i.e. places you could live near):
       East Croydon
       Crawley
       Redhill
       Three Bridges

Despite my earlier thoughts, it may be easier/quicker for you to drive;
Stockely Park to the M25 isn't too dreadful (can anyone else comment?):
http://www.theaa.com/travelwatch/inc/planner_places_redirect.jsp

For Redhill, I got 39 minutes (but two warnings of roads that get busy)
for driving to Stockley Park, and 54 minutes by train to Portslade

..... But, I think hubby should have the shorter/easier commute since he'll be working the odd hours. ....

For what it's worth, having lived in SW London for 15 years and commuting occasionally to Stockley Park and Brighton, I'd suggest that it would be easier for your husband to have the longer commute if he's driving as he will be outside the rush hour, but the shorter one if he is taking the train, as trains outside the rush hour are less frequent.

I'm not sure what your housing needs are, nor who will be paying the cost, but somewhere near Clapham in South London would make a straight-forward commute by train for your husband, but driving from there would be horrible for you.  

Further out, SW, from London would work better for you if you drive, but get progressively worse for your husband as he would have to come back into London to change for a train to Brighton.

The further around the outskirts of SW London, towards the south you move, the worse your commute will be if you drive as the M25 west-bound south of London reaches close to grid-lock every day.  If you take the train/tube from anywhere other than West London to Stockley Park you'll have a "double commute" to do, into and out of London each way to and from work.  You'll be very lucky if you can do it in less than an hour and a half.

I fear that all compromises will cause at least one of you to have a very long work day!  I'd guess that the aggregate commute time for both of you would be at very least 2½ hours in the morning and the evening no matter where you choose to live between Brighton and Stockley Park.  :-/

Hello Mr_Val, thanks for the input!!

I'm still not sure I'm reading the maps correctly - Clapham also has a tube station? (though would it be Clapham High Street, Clapham Common, Clapham South or Clapham North?  Too many Claphams!!   )  

It appears that might be an OK place to start...

For me, could be: Tube most of the way, then bus to office park.  Just found their web page!  http://www.stockleypark.co.uk/

For him, could be: Train most of the way, then bus/possibly walk the rest of the way?

Am I thinking about this correctly?

Maybe I'll just negotiate a "work from home" provision in to my relocation agreement!  

...... For me, could be: Tube most of the way, then bus to office park. .....

I'm not absolutely sure about the best way to Stockley Park from central London. IF it is on the Metropolitan line (I'm not sure of this), and if you find an apartment in Clapham then I'd say it would be easiest for both of you to take public transport to get to work.  

You'd get a train to Waterloo, then take the Jubilee or Bakerloo north/west to Bakerstreet, then take the Metropolitan line to Uxbridge.  Your husband would take a train to Brighton, possibly direct from Clapham, or does it require a change at Croydon?

BTW the travel pass for London is "zone" based - a series on concentric rings around central London, where you only pay for the zones that you use, so it doens't cost more to travel further.  I think that to get to Uxbridge you'll need all six zones, possible plus a bit extra as Uxbridge is a long way out.  Check the London Underground website and that'll tell you.  

Have fun, and good luck!

Clapham ... yep ... good thougth commute wise, Mr Val.

a) Clapham JUNCTION (technically in Battersea?) has direct trains to Portslade (or Hove) hourly; plenty of others with intermediate changes.

b) Stockley Park is just off the line out of Paddington - miles from Uxbridge itself.  Connect at Hayes and Harlington into the H50 shuttle bus for a 6 minute ride. See http://www.trainlink.co.uk

My 2p  -- though it's probably not WORTH 2p.  

My husband and I live in Peacehaven, East Sussex and he works in Fulham (London).  Peacehaven is about 3-5 miles outside of Brighton (to the East).  For my husband to get to work every day, here's how his life goes.

Wake up at 5:45.  Catch the 6:23 bus to the Brighton train station.  Catch the 7:17 train to Victoria -- hop on the tube to the Fulham station (luckily, a direct route, no changes).  That gets him in the office by 10am.   At 6p he gets the tube in the hopes of catching the 6:31p train home.  This gets him into Brighton at 7:43.  He goes to the bus stop, and is usually home by 8:15p.   Additionally:  the joy of spending his day commuting costs him £33.

He's struck a bargain with his boss -- if you travel on the train after 9, prices drop significantly, so now he catches the 9:17 train and it only costs him £18.

All this being said: I know nothing about living on London.  I only go up there to visit so I can't give you any insight.  Brighton, on the other hand, I'm pretty familiar with.  

Firstly, don't be too fooled -- house prices are exceptionally high down here.  Not as high as London... but still very high.  

Also keep in mind that as people tend to be headed TOWARDS London in the morning and away from it in the evening, it might be advantageous to live up there, so that you don't really have to commute, but if your hubby does, he's not packed in like a sardine with all the other commuters (that makes ALL the difference).  (But looking back, he works odd hours, so he won't be packed in anyway.)

If it were me, I would probably suggest somewhere like Crawley.  That way you both have to commute half way... and that's a major train stop.  Plus, Crawley has a nice little mall, a wonderful stadium-style seated movie theatre, and a bunch of restaurants. (Incl. TGIFridays)

I'm only suggesting half way, because it's terrible the way Andrew (when he had normal hours) left the house at 6:10a and wouldn't get back in the door until about 8:15pm.  It makes for a VERY long and tiring day and an exhausting week.
(BTW -- he's also a Web Developer  (programmer, not designer) and he's looking for a job closer to home if anyone has any suggestions.)  [smiley=wink3.gif]

HEY!  Maybe our husbands can switch jobs!  You can take the Fulham job, he'll take the Hove job!    Oh well... thought I'd try.

Good luck!  You have a lot to do from such a far distance.

-Lisa-

Hello Mr_Val, thanks for the input!! .....

You might also have a look to see if there is a bus service from Feltham to Stockley Park, because then you could get a train down (out of London) from Clapham Junction via Richmond, and the train would be much less crowded.

Hi JessA, here's a late response, but I haven't seen it mentioned in the previous posts, so maybe it'll help. One resource for figuring out commutes in London is the journey planner at http://www.tfl.gov.uk (Direct link is: Journey Planner
You can use the choose more options (minimize walking, only trains, fastest/shortest, etc.).  There are also links on there to sections about buses (with pdf maps), tubes, etc.

I live in SW London (Vauxhall) and I love the Clapham area, which is very large. Clapham Junction is very happening now, and I know some people who were living there and raving about the resources (restaurants/transport). I don't know much, being an American here only about a year or so, but if I can help just let me know.