Commuting Against the Flow - A3 London-Guildford

[MadProfessor]

Dear PHers

Thinking about taking a job in Guildford at the University but we live in SE5 with no desire to move in the short to medium term at least. So I'll need to commute and I'm considering whether it's worthwhile commuting by car. Door-to-door by public transport takes 1:20/1:30 each way and a season ticket looks to cost £3,400.

I would never consider commuting in to London but I wonder how bad the traffic is going in the opposite direction and whether I may be able to save time and money but using the car.

[Gruber]

What time are you travelling? And do you have a route in mind? A3 all the way?

On the way out, it might get a bit slow around the Kingston bypass (around the A240/243 exits) and the again around the M25. But assuming you leave home at 7ish, I'd have thought it would be do-able in 1hr 20mins, give or take.

On the way back in, it'll slow down for the M25 and then expect a queue back down into Wandsworth.

ETA: plus, of course, traffic into and around Guildford town centre...

Edited by Gruber on Monday 22 April 22:20

[MadProfessor]

Thanks Gruber.

The A3 looks the simplest option but happy to accept any alternatives. I live about 2 miles from the A3 but didn't know whether it was better to head straight along A202 to A3 at Oval and down the A3 the whole way or whether it was better to head down the A23 or A24 South to join the A3 south of Wimbledon.

If it takes around the same amount of time then I may well just use the trains as they've always been empty (even at rush "hour") and at least I can do some work or read the paper.

In terms of timing I can leave pretty much any time from 6:30 to 9:00 really and again on the way back providing I do a full day. So I could leave early both ways if that makes any difference. I also work at home a fair amount, at least 2 days per week plus meetings/events off site.

[Gruber]

I'd guess it'll be a fair bit quicker if you leave at 6.30. Maybe an hour door to door?

Traffic back into town might still be heavy - school runs and so on - but I'd always choose my own space / radio / odours in the car over sharing with others on a train...

[JimmyJam]

I travel out every day on A3 from Wimbledon to M25. There is rarely enough traffic to slow you down other than the odd accident. The main bulk of traffic will be from Wandsworth in

[jke11y]

My other half commutes from W14 out every day to Basingstoke via A316/M3 ; not your route, but the going against the traffic is the same.

She is about 1h door to door both ways and rarely has any real holdups. Doing it the other way I reckon would be 2h door to door.

[Salgar]

Buy a motorbike.

[Hoofy]

There may be a queue as you approach Guildford, too.

[kingston12]

Gruber said:

What time are you travelling? And do you have a route in mind? A3 all the way?

On the way out, it might get a bit slow around the Kingston bypass (around the A240/243 exits) and the again around the M25. But assuming you leave home at 7ish, I'd have thought it would be do-able in 1hr 20mins, give or take.

On the way back in, it'll slow down for the M25 and then expect a queue back down into Wandsworth.

ETA: plus, of course, traffic into and around Guildford town centre...

Edited by Gruber on Monday 22 April 22:20

I agree, it will be the way back that is worse. I used to travel from Guildford to Kingston in the evening and found that there was normally a large queue just before Tolworth where the A3 is cleverly reduced from 3 lanes to 2 at the same time that another road joins (similar to the Wandsworth one further up). I used to come off at Esher Common, but this is not really an option of the OP as he needs to get much further up.

My journey in was fine most days, but any incident on the A3 or M25 would cause major delays.