Commute times across London (Wimbledon / Reading, Wimbledon / Windsor)

June 28, 2006 3:55 PM

Any experience with real-world commute times between Wimbledon and Windsor (UK) and Wimbledon Reading? Car or train?

Hi all, I'm looking at places of work in Windsor and Reading -- anyone got any experience with regular travel times for Wimbledon <> Reading and Wimbledon <> Windsor?

Seems to me actually more or less the same -- around 1h15m by car if you average 10mph anywhere you're not on a motorway.

posted by kiwi.es to Travel & Transportation around London, England (9 answers total)

I can only speak for the train. But Wimbledon isn't on the main line between Waterloo and Reading/Windsor.

If you were taking the train from Wimbledon to Reading/Windsor, you'd need to get it around the Teddington loop to Twickenham first, or back to Clapham Junction.

Wimbledon -> Twickenham is 25min, Twickenham -> Reading is 1hr and Twickenham -> Windsor is 30min (approx). That's not including wait times to change at Twickenham.

Map-related goodness [PDF]
posted by randomination at 2:27 AM on June 29, 2006

I've done Kingston->Reading and there are many ways to do it. One of which goes via Wimbledon... These are not at peak times though.

Car: takes just under an hour off peak.

Train:

• The Teddington loop way randonination mentions above, which takes a while (the loop trains are not very frequent and don't seem to be timed well with respect to the Reading trains - both times I did this route there was over 20 minutes on Twickenham station waiting for a connection). The Waterloo->Reading trains you pick up in Twickenham have a repuation for being somewhat unreliable.
• Into town and out again. The Paddington->Reading service is regular and fast (~25 mins). Getting to Paddington is a tube job - Obviously you can get the district line all the way from Wimbledon, which takes a long time, but you might get a seat. It's probably quicker to go into Waterloo on a fast train then get the bakerloo line. The district line is not the most reliable of tube services.

I'd probably choose district line and then Paddington train with some reading matter.

I have a friend who does Richmond->Reading by car as a standard commute - if you want drop me an email and I'll check the peak time details with him.
posted by handee at 2:47 AM on June 29, 2006

As I recall there is a direct Reading - Clapham Junction train.Then bus to Wimbledon.
posted by Dr.Pill at 3:18 AM on June 29, 2006

Best answer: Or! You could go Wimbledon -> East Putney by tube, then 200 yards walk to Putney station then direct train to Windsor or change at Richmond for Reading.

I wouldn't recommend the bus during peak times.
posted by randomination at 3:38 AM on June 29, 2006

I commuted between Wimbledon and Andover (hampshire) every day by car for 6 months. I managed to pull an 8-4 shift, which meant leaving the house at 6.30am every day. If I reached the M25 any later than 7am, it would be almost snarled up for the 5 mile journey between the A3 and the M3. The M4 to reading is another 5 - 10 miles on and you'd be doing that in rush hour, slow, snarled traffic.

I eventually got wise and managed to follow the A3 further down, through farnham, then out to the M3. You could plan a similar route using A3, A25, A322 then A4 - which aa route planner estimates at 1 hour 23 to reading. I used to spend 1 hour 15 per day doing my route, which got old real quick.

Advice - not something I would reccomend long term, you may wish to relocate. I did!
posted by triv at 5:40 AM on June 29, 2006

What the others have said. Work often takes me to Reading: I tend to go South London -> Paddington (25 mins) -> Reading (25 mins). So you can do it in an hour with transfers. Pretty easy to get seats on both legs.

The Reading -> Clapham / Waterloo train is an option but takes an awful lot longer - up to 80 minutes at peak times. You're better off getting to Paddington and going from there.
posted by blag at 6:59 AM on June 29, 2006

One other thing: If you're visiting tech companies (MS, Oracle) in Reading, their campuses are about 5-10 minutes walk from the train station.
posted by blag at 7:02 AM on June 29, 2006

Ummm.... if its the tech campuses (and I work on one of them) - then its a lot longer than 5 or 10 minutes walk, but there is a free shuttle bus to Thames Valley Park where MS, Oracle etc are.
posted by mattr at 8:45 AM on June 29, 2006

Response by poster: Thanks everyone for your time, suggestions and offers of further help. Conclusion: Wimbledon to Thames Valley sucks.

cheers!
posted by kiwi.es at 9:33 AM on June 29, 2006