40 Top Tips: The ultimate guide to commuting into or around London. 1) Walk between some Tube stations, 2) Get on the right Tube carriage,......
No matter what modes of transport you use to get to and from work everyday, there are ways you can make it cheaper, more productive and more enjoyable.
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And if you really hate your commute, there are ways you can escape it or at least reduce it, too!
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If your commute is leaving you feeling frustrated, check out our list of 40 Top Tips to make it better…
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The Tube may have a reputation for being the fastest way to get around London, but sometimes it’s quicker to walk between two stops. Save time and potentially money too by working your way on two feet over ground (or even quicker by bike!). Find maps of the best walking shortcuts.
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When you take the Tube at rush hour, your position on the train can make a big difference to the length of your commute. End up at the back of the queue when you get off the train and your journey will take a whole lot longer than if you start out at the front. Using the remarkable Station Master app, you can find out not only which carriage to get in, but even which door to stand next to for the fastest interchange between Tube lines or to the surface. Read our review of this wonderful app!
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One of the best kept secrets in rail travel, did you know that you can save money on your train fare by buying packs of carnet tickets – offering deals like 10 for the price of 9? They’re not appropriate for the 5-day-a-week commuter, but if you only need to travel on 2 or 3 days a week, carnet tickets are a cheaper alternative to paying the peak time fare everyday. They’ll save you from standing in the queue at the ticket office too. Find out how to get them for your line.
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Parking at railway stations can be eye-wateringly expensive – although paying at all may seem like luxury if you can’t find a space in the first place! If you normally battle with the car park everyday, you can save yourself £1000s each year (and your sanity) by swapping to PLUSBUS – the scheme which provides discount bus travel to and from the station for a period that matches your train season ticket. See how much you could save!
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Think the idea of being paid to shop is too good to be true? Think again. No matter how you commute, using cashback sites you can save money by buying all your commuting-related purchases online and getting a percentage back. By the time you factor in train tickets, books, magazine subscriptions, car insurance, laptops and tablets, you can save yourself £100s every year. Find out how to get started.
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Did you know that according to the TfL Charter you are entitled to reclaim the cost of a single journey every time your Tube journey is delayed by more than 15 minutes? As long as the delay was for reasons within TfL’s control you can make a claim, and thanks to a nifty website you can automate the entire process so you never have to fill in a form again. Check out how you can claim.
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The aromatic coffee at the station may be the fuel that gets you going in the morning, but if you tally up the total amount that caffeine and the occasional bacon roll costs you over the course of a year, you might be surprised at how much it all comes to (hint: it’s enough to help considerably towards your next holiday). There are alternative ways to get your coffee hit for less. Find out how.
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Commuters may not need sat navs, but they might find that Waze – the app that mixes Sat Nav with social media – could help them get to work quicker. By using the collective wisdom and data from thousands of users it can dynamically re-route you in real-time to get you to your destination avoiding the jams and delays. Read our review of this incredible tool.
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The idea of sharing your lift into work with a neighbour is an old one, but thanks to sites like Liftshare.com, the process has been brought into the digital age. Offer a seat in your car to others heading in the same direction, or find a driver willing to provide a lift. Find out how the car pool could save you £100s.
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Frustrated by your endless verticality on the Tube? Underground guru and Tube uber geek Geoff Marshall offers six top tips for getting a seat on your commute. Read his guide.
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The price of petrol and diesel only ever seems to go in one direction – that’s it: up. But thanks to two websites you can easily find the cheapest petrol in your area (or near your workplace), providing savings of £100s a year. Discover how to find your cheapest local station.
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Britain may be known around the world for its rain, but when it’s hot in the summer it’s really hot on public transport. Find out about the products and techniques that can keep you cool.
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Getting caught out on the Congestion Charge is no joke: forget to it pay for too long and the fines get pretty steep. Thankfully TfL have a nifty system for automating the entire process which also saves you money on even the normal Congestion Charge price. Get the link and all the information you need.
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The average Commuting Expert reader spends over 2 hours a day commuting (according to ourrecent survey). Tally that up over the course of a whole year and it comes to over 400 hours! Think of what you could do if you could save even a fifth of that amount. We explain how you can go about negotiating a remote working agreement to benefit from a day or two each week working from home, or getting flexible hours so you can avoid the cost and hassle of travelling at rush hour.Read the full guide.
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Ever sat staring out of the train window, or through your rain-covered car windscreen and wished you could be anywhere but there? Some people escape the commute by taking the leap to set up their own business which allows them to work from home. The idea’s a nice one, but where do you start? There’s an organisation that can help you get the skills you’ll need. See if they could help you.
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One of the single biggest determinants of whether your commute will be productive and enjoyable is whether or not you can get online. So where can you get wifi? And if you don’t yet have wifi for your journey, what are your alternatives for getting connected? Discover the answers you need to get online.
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If you’ve ever tried to park on a street in London you’ll be familiar with the experience of being confronted by a baffling array of restrictions that are different from road to road. Worst of all, sometimes you can’t even find the sign to know whether you can park in that empty space or not. If only there were an app that could highlight all the free available parking near where you are, or else suggest the nearest paid car park… Oh wait – there is! Find it here.
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A lot of Tube stations may now have been wifi enabled, but the trains themselves aren’t connected, leaving your browsing options limited when you’re underground. It’s the same problem for rail commuters who find their line beset by endless reception blackspots. But there is a brilliant and simple app that allows you to find interesting articles on the web when you do have a connection and enjoy reading them later when there’s no signal. Discover the joy of this free tool.
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They say that law and order is what makes society civilised, and ensures harmony between individuals. There are rules to the Underground too, and it’s worth pondering the questions of Tube etiquette so that everyone gets along… Join the debate.
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Does it drive you to distraction when a fellow commuter is talking on the phone, or listening to loud music for the duration of your journey? We have a top tip that will leave you able to relax in pleasant silence for the rest of your journey. Find out how to create your own quiet carriage.
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London has the best cabbies in the world, but in such a big city it’s not always easy to hail one, and once you’re inside one, paying by cash can seem a little outdated in our credit card society. Solve both problems with the Hailo and GetTaxi apps. You can also read about what’s happening for London taxis in this article.
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Commuters sometimes have very legitimate things to complain about, but are put off making a formal complaint because of not knowing which of the baffling array of transport service providers to send it to. Taking all the hassle out of the process and fighting your corner is FixMyTransport.Head over to their website to find out more.
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Wouldn’t it be nice if you could turn your commute from wasted time into productive time? By putting your commute to work you can arrive at the office feeling prepared, and get home in the evening feeling like you can actually afford to relax and unwind. Here’s the guide to getting things done on the move.
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If working extra hours for your company during your commute doesn’t appeal, why not do something that’s just for you and use the time to study or learn a new skill? With the typical commuter spending hundreds of hours every year in transit, there’s plenty of time to master a new art. Find out the different ways you can indulge in the love of learning. And if learning a new skill isn’t enough, you can complete formal qualifications like degrees, masters and MBAs on the go too!
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It’s stating the obvious to say that where you live is the biggest single determinant of what your commute will be like, but how then do you make this most important of decisions? What are your options if you need a house of a certain size (and for a certain price) within a specific distance of your workplace. Here are some tools that will help. (Oh – and there’s another cool tool here.)
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When you’re thinking about where to live, how do you factor in the impact it will have on your family and the schools you want your kids to go to? The Head of one of the UK’s leading independent schools offers you this guide.
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Tube stations can be baffling places, and the signs to guide passengers don’t always take you the most direct route. To help you, Tube guru Geoff Marshall has created 3D maps of every station in Zone 1 (and many more besides). Check them out and get your copies here.
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Everyone likes a bit of a bargain, and here at Commuting Expert we’ve got vouchers that can save you money on virtually every aspect of your commute from books to laptops, and from clothes to motoring accessories. Browse the full list and bag the best deals.
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The way you drive can have a massive impact on your fuel efficiency, and therefore how much you’ll end up paying at the pump. Read our full guide on all the ways you can save money on your motoring.
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Even for the London veteran, navigating our country’s great capital can be a baffling experience when you have to get between two or more unfamiliar points. Thankfully there’s an app that can show you all the different options for getting around via taxi, bus, tube, bike or walking. Best of all it’s free! Find out how it can help you.
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British transport companies are getting better and better at publishing live data about their services, and you can follow the progress of almost any mode of transport via Twitter. The only downside: having to see endless updates about services you’re not actually on. If you just want to use them when you need the information without following them constantly, you can view the twitter feeds for road, rail, tube DLR and buses on CommutingExpert.com.
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If you have a train season ticket and forget it one day, you can end up having to do a lot of form-filling and sometimes have to pay a fine, too. Save yourself the hassle and memorise your season ticket number. Experience from our readers suggests that by quoting your season ticket number you can prove you have a valid ticket!
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Another way to make your commute feel like useful – and potentially enjoyable – time, why not do some online shopping? The major challenge is that many retailers still don’t have a decent mobile-optimised website, making shopping via your smartphone difficult. Find the list of the top 10 mobile-optimised shopping websites here.
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Most commuters these days carry more computing power than NASA used for some space missions. All those devices add up to a significant cost, but the good news is that you can make money back by trading them in. Find out how to get the most cash for your unwanted gadgets.
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Around £100 million is sitting on dormant Oyster cards. If you’ve got cards that are just accumulating dust in a drawer, why not cash them in and spend the money to off-set the cost of your current commute? Find out how to get your refund.
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Life is full of mundane tasks that you’d rather not perform. They take up loads of time and prevent you from doing things that matter more in your professional and personal life. Discover the potential of using personal outsourcing to get someone else to take care of the tedious tasks whilst you commute so you can focus on the important stuff. Here’s how.
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Commuting can be a stressful enough experience by itself, let alone when you have to factor in the needs of your children. Do you use a nursery near home or work? Do you take them on your commute? Read about the techniques and services that can help you make a choice that works for you and your child.
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There’s only so much you can listen to the radio before the inane banter drives you slightly crazy. Why not find a little escapism and use your commuting time to plough through your favourite works of fiction and non-fiction? Thanks to online services like Audible, the best-narrated works are just a click away… Find out more.
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Sometimes the single greatest improvement you can make to the quality of your commute is to change your mode of transport. From car to bus, from Tube to bike – it can save you money, make your commute greener, and help you stay fit at the same time. Discover your options with our guide.
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With over 700,000 people commuting into London by train every weekday, you’ll be pleased to hear that there are some techniques for commuting for less by rail. Find out all the hints and tips in money-saving special guide.
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