If you live near a large town or city in the UK, you have to add “… depending on the traffic” when you tell someone when you will be arriving, and that is irrespective of whether you use car or public transportation.
This morning I had to go from our village into Wokingham, a short distance of less than 3 miles/5 km and I was again reminded of how bad traffic is at the wrong time of day. The wrong time of day is unfortunately quite along time. Almost all of those 3 miles were spent starting and stopping and crawling along at a snails pace. I am usually able to work from home so that traffic doesn’t affect me, but it is not always possible to avoid. If I’m going into London by car, I usually have to double the amount of time that my Sat Nav/GPS tells me it will take. Taking the train isn’t always possible. If I arrive at the train station car park later than 9:30 it will be full, so even if I want to take the train it won’t be possible. Sometimes it seems like they’ve just given up on even attempting to improve the transport infrastructure in the UK.
I survive by living outside the M25 (a motorway encircling all of London, some call it the UK’s biggest car park), often working from home and not having too many meetings in London.
In series 10, episode 5 of Top Gear, they made a race across London by bicycle, boat, public transportation and of course a car. According to my Sat Nav, the distance they travelled is 16.5 miles/26.5 km. Again according to the Sat Nav, it should take 53 minutes by car and 1 hour 18 minutes by bike. I suggest you see the episode yourself, it is 22 minutes long and I won’t spoil the fun by telling you who was first.
