[tommytwotone]

Alright, I'm going to be moving up to Sheff shortly and I'm looking at potential places to work.

I'm aware that the AA website might be a touch optimistic for journey times during rush hour, and that trains are not exactly that reliable so I don't really trust the trainline site either. Thought some testimony from anyone who does the trip might be better.

Any chance any of you could give me the knowledge on commuting to any of the following from Sheffield?

Manchester
Leeds
York
Macclesfield

Oh, and if it helps I'll be living in S11.

Cheers in advance...

[dave]

i don't know if this is any use but recently i had to drive from sheffield to the lakes for work which meant passing manchester at about 8:15 in the monrning. the snake was fine but then it took 1.5 hours to get from the start of glossop to the M60. nightmare.

[Dolly]

Well I used to commute from Sheff to Manc and it pissed me off no end TBH
It really depends on whereabouts in Manc you're going I reckon. There are trains from Dore station in the morning (near S11), which is where I used to go from and its only about 50 mins to Picadilly from there. If you're close to Pic then that seems a good bet. If you're in Castlefield where I was then its another 20 mins and it starts to be more of a pain. Hope that helps

[Johnny Brown]

Have done all for various periods due to access work.

As mentioned above, until Glossop is razed to the ground and replaced with a eight-lane motorway, don't commute to manchester. It will drive you totally insane. Starts getting busy at about 6:45, we used to get to site for 7:20 which made for a far more tolerable journey, then sit in a caff til 8.

Leeds, not too bad, just slow up the M1 for a n hour but nowhere near as soul destroying. Expect a crash to halt traffic and render you an hour late once a week. Think Dobbin does this daily, so can't be so bad.

York, start as for Leeds then go on for another 40mins? For me this would be too far, at least three hours a day in the car? No thanks.

Macc, no probs, nice roads over the peak, no traffic to speak of. 40 - 50 mins depending where you live in sheff. I'd be able to cope with that, have done a long stint of nice countryside commuting in the past and it can be the best bit of the day. Lots of crags to stop at on the way home. Excitement of benightment during the annual snowstorm.

[cofe]

depending on where you live in sheff, and where you might work in manc you can get the train. train is also ok to derby and stockport.

you'd be crazy to try and drive through glossop at rush hour. you can take minor roads around but i expect this would become a ballache on a daily basis. you'd still have to queue into manc when through anyway.

[Johnny Brown]

you can take minor roads around but i expect this would become a ballache on a daily basis

At rush hour they get just as busy. The queues in the MCR aren't too bad, average city traffic. Glossop is the killer. Get the train.

[AndiT]

Yeah, York is maybe an hour to hour and a half depending on traffic.

[Jim]

As mentioned above, until Glossop is razed to the ground and replaced with a eight-lane motorway, don't commute to manchester.

I think all can agree on this, Glossop is a fucking nightmare and not just for traffic

[Bubba]

Manchester
Leeds
York
Macclesfield

I've done Leeds / York

Leeds is ok - not sure what the train service is like these days but when i did it it was rubbish. Driving is ok but the traffic was v.slow past Wakefield and into Leeds centre at certain times.

York was fine on the train and ok to drive but it's a long one - about 1 1/2 hours each way.

I'd never attempt Manchester by car for the reasons others have given.

Others - Bradford is a little too far but Nottingham is ok - about an hour each way but you will need to get used to a very busy M1, especially on Fridays.

[GCW]

I'd never attempt Manchester by car for the reasons others have given.

Not Sheffield I know, but I've commuted from Preston area to central Manc for 2.5 years.  I go on the bike- 45 minutes, but I travelled in the car previously- 90 minutes on a good day.  Pretty much 30 miles if that gives you an idea.  Take heed, Manchester is a pig in the mornings and evenings and it pisses you off very quickly.

[Somebody's Fool]

nearly every city is shit to get in and out of by car - i commute to derby by train and bike, an hour door to door.

driving was similar if i could guarantee to leave work bang on 4 - but i never could and driving any time after meant 1:30 to 2:00hrs - most of it geting out of derby - or getting stuck around chesterfield.

train a lot more consistemnt than traffic - every half hour, so unless there is a major signalling fuck up, if 1 is late or cancelled don't have long to wait.

i work walking distance from station in derby 20min -but take my bike on the train (which has its own complications with space sometimes).

look at train times - i would tend to not recommend a train commute with a connection (used to work in loughborough and have to change in derby or nottingham on way home) - or where services are spaced out.

if you are working south (derby, nottingham) and you live southside of shef - a guy i know who lives in meadowhead drives to chesterfield (where you can street park for free, and ticket is a stop cheaper) to get train to derby.


soz jfw on SF's login

[dobbin]

I would love to get the train to work. You get to read or sleep, or something other than stare at the tail lights of the car in front. The only reason I dont is that I work in Pudsey, which is 10 mins on a separate train out of leeds central.

I have commuted from s11 to Ls11/ls28 for 6 years now and its not that bad. Takes an average of an hour (45mins in summer, 1hr30 up to xmas). I go early and finish early though, so as to miss the peak traffic. If I wasnt on flexitime I think I would have left by now. Even to leave at 4 means an hour and a half commute (usually). My vision is coloured at the moment by the pre xmas everyone in work roads really busy syndrome so bear that in mind considering the leaving at 4 statement (and, I am not talking about the city centre).

Andy Harris is your other Sheff-Leeds commuter. I think he works in Beeston, and I know he drives for the same reasons as me.

The missus does the snake pass each day, but only has to get as far as ashton. BUt still. My commute is 41 miles, hers is 31 - she is never there before me and we set off at the same time.

[fatdoc]

leeds  / sheff for 5 years.... really got on my tits, esp wakefield area... leave woodseats 6:30 = in work 7:20... leave woodseats 6:40 = in work 8:00.

south sheff to chesterfield (well easy, against flow of traffic) to train station is a v good idea for derby / notts work...

as with the concensus above, forget manc unless you do the dore station to manc pic commute.

[slackline]

Five years from Sheffield (Station) to Manchester Oxford Road.  Wouldn't do it again, got really fed up with it after two years.  Trains were invariably over-crowded (usually two carriages, although the Manchester Airport service which turns round at Picadilly seems to have three-four carriages more recently, but I don't do the journey regularly anymore), often delayed/cancelled (in particular the train that goes through to/from Liverpool).

One option you didn't list was working in Sheffield itself, which would of course be a much easier commute (but dependent upon work availability).

[Nigel]

I'll agree with what everyone else says, its all grim but true:

Leeds - Fatdoc is spot on. Set off any later than half six, i.e. 06:31, and you will add nearly an hour to your journey. That is a fact which I have proved on many occasions. Whatever time you set off you'll still hit traffic in Wakefield, its all very galling when you think that on an empty motorway you can do Sheff-Leeds centre to centre in about 30 mins. Setting off back later than 16:00 guarantees an anal pain too. Both morning and evening involve some very stressful nose to tail 70-80mph nose to tailing even when you are moving, its not exactly sit back and relax and it wears you down.

Manchester - never consider driving. I've been held up in Glossop at all times, including near to midnight. The place is a nightmare. I set off for a 1pm meeting in Rochdale, from Sheffield, at 11:20am yesterday. I was only ten minutes late, but bear in mind you're looking at nearly a 2 hour journey there for 45 miles (and I didn't get slowed on the Snake at all). All cos of Glossop. In the middle of the day. Imagine it at rush hour! But don't live it.

Can anyone tell me what Glossop is for?

[slackline]

Can anyone tell me what Glossop is for?

It exists solely to generate congestion.

[Somebody's Fool]

I have it on good authority that Glossop was implemented by a Mr Michael Mole in 1904.  He was editor of the Tameside Guardian at the time, a paper which was losing sales to papers from more 'newsy' areas round Manchester.  Weeks after the implementation of Glossop stories were coming thick and fast, ranging from scallies sniggling to people being kicked to death on the pavements.

The paper started to see a huge increase in sales and Mr Mole was given the Freedom of Manchester the following year.  Obviously Mr Mole, being ahead of his time, had an inkling traffic would be big news a century on.

[chris]

i live in manc and pp over to sheff often. dont even entertain the idea of commuting, unless you have the highest boredom tolerance in the world, and somehow have developed a 28 hour day to leave you with some spare time.

[GCW]

"Glossop" is actually a local word, which literally translated means "brown logjam".

[SA Chris]

Can anyone tell me what Glossop is for?

GLOSSOP (n.)
A rogue blob of food. Glossops, which are generally streaming hot and highly adhesive invariably fall off your spoon and on to the surface of your host's highly polished antique-rosewood dining table. If this has not, or may not have, been noticed by the company present, swanage (q.v.) may be employed.

which leads to;

SWANAGE (pl.n.)
Swanage is the series of diversionary tactics used when trying to cover up the existence of a glossop (q.v.) and may include (a) uttering a highpitched laugh and pointing out of the window (NB. this doesn't work more that twice); (b) sneezing as loudly as possible and wiping the glossop off the table in the same movement as whipping out your handkerchief; (c) saying 'Christ! I seem to have dropped some shit on your table' (very unwise); (d) saying 'Christ, who did that?' (better) (e) pressing your elbow on the glossop itself and working your arms slowly to the edge of the table; (f) leaving the glossop where it is but moving a plate over it and putting up with sitting at an uncomfortable angle the rest of the meal; or, if the glossop is in too exposed a position, (g) leaving it there unremarked except for the occasional humorous glance.

It's all in The Meaning of Liff

http://folk.uio.no/alied/TMoL.html#anchorG