The commute from London to Brighton is filling me with dread – and we haven’t even moved.
I’ve tried the commute once, when we stayed with the in-laws and I decided to go straight to work from Brighton.
My journey to work is a train from Preston Park to London Bridge and then one tube ride. Transport for London’s (TfL) website told me the journey would be 1 hour 20 minutes. The train ride was absolutely fine – got a seat for the entire journey – but then I arrived to delays on my tube line. The elapsed journey took a total of 2 hours 20 minutes.
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Brighton Station (cc) jackhynes |
There is nothing more disheartening than getting up at the crack of dawn, bleary eyed, battling through a hellish tube station at the end of a long train journey, eventually making a heroic squeeze onto that overcrowded train with a feeling of achievement, only to arrive in the office at 9.05. Everyone assumes you slept in – but you were probably up before everyone else!
Here’s what I know about commuter trains between London and Brighton.
There are two train providers, First Capital Connect (formerly Thameslink and not much different except in name) and Southern.
FCC seem to have an abysmal track record in terms of service, and during the cold winter months in Nov/Dec 2009 they seem to have all but shut down their service.
I am not looking forward to the commute.
