10 mins

20 mins

30 mins

40 mins

50 mins

1 hr

70 mins

80 mins

90 mins

100 mins

110 mins

120 mins

10 mins

20 mins

30 mins

40 mins

50 mins

1 hr

10 m

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£949.00

£323,577

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Petersfield

£346.00

£997.09

£525,000

£680.00

£582,093

£997.09£384.00

Cambridge

Grantham

Leesburg,VirginiaGaithersburg,Maryland

$2.3m

£334,383

£108.00

£662.09

£778,144£415,811

£270.00

£749.09

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HK$6,845

HK$6,371

HK$1,280

HK$340

HK$370

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$589,000

$399,900

$1.7m

$1.2m

$474,900

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Falls Church,Virginia

Alexandria,

Virginia

Sevenoaks

St Albans

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Happy Valley

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Key

Travel

Darker shades –average prime pricesLighter shades –average mid-range prices

Monthly cost of rail journey

Monthly cost of car journey(includes fuel and parking)

Average prime and mid-range propertyprices indicated by shading below

Distance fromcity centre (miles)00

Source: FT research

FT | Saturday March 12 / Sunday March 13 2011WEEKEND

HOUSE&HOMEProperty Architecture Interiors Gardens

Commuting:best of bothworlds?

Island Living Special From Skye to the Mediterranean and Grand Cayman

Washington DCIn the dark ages, I was pinioned in thestraitjacket of train timetables from EastCroydon and West Dulwich in London.Housing economics meant living where itwas affordable and taking cheap dayreturns. I remember saying never againand, with luck, have managed it. From theUpper East Side, Hirakawacho, Georgetownand Islington, I’ve never been more than ashort walk, bus, tube or lazy drive awayfrom work.

But I still feel the pain of the commuterbecause I hear about it morning and nighton the radio – on WTOP in Washington, orWINS in New York. The transport and placenames are like a drum roll, always the same– the LIRR, Amtrak, Marc, the NorthernLine, the M23, I-66, the Outer Loop, theOccoquan, the Lincoln Tunnel and the BQE.If they are, like Adlestrop, just names, to bevisited only in extremis, sometimes theyhave faces, like my wife’s assistant who,caught in a rush-hour snowstorm lastmonth, took 12 hours to drive the 40 milesback to her exurban Washington home.

Indeed, the nation’s capital, last in base-ball, is a perennial contender, along withLos Angeles, for the prize of the worstcommuter traffic in the US (public trans-

port use is up, though still spotty in itsreach). But it is a price that people seemwilling to pay for living the suburbandream – and the nightmares so exquisitelyexplored in the novels of John Updike,Richard Ford and Richard Yates – oraccept because there is no affordable alter-native. Life is all about trade-offs.

Leesburg, Virginia, is about as typical asthey come. Its population is about 40,000, itsits about 40 miles west of Washington andboasts a pleasant 18th-century downtown,with new housing developments, shoppingmalls and golf courses all around. Themedian home price is just $321,000, while$2.3m will buy a five-bedroom, 7,700 sq ftMcMansion. But the average one-way com-mute into the big city will be at least anhour by road, which is the only real option;83 per cent of its citizens will drive it alone,10 per cent use a car pool and the rest takethe bus or work from home. Those figuresare not far off the national average.

Even places such as elegant Greenwichin Connecticut, population 62,000, 35 milesfrom New York City, differ only in degree.The median home price is higher ($1.65m)while the current average listing pricestands at a more representative $3.82m. Ithas excellent train services, 35-40 minutes

into Manhattan and a monthly seasonticket of $237, but 64 per cent still drive italone and only six per cent share a ride,with around 18 per cent using public trans-port. With petrol approaching $4 a gallonat 20 miles per gallon, and tolls to be added($8 into Manhattan, over $5 each way onthe highway to Leesburg), costs do mount.

The suburban expansion of the past 60years has created employment opportuni-ties closer to home, theoretically cuttingcommuting.

Just this month, a new toll highwayopened, linking two Maryland suburbancounties without going anywhere near thecity itself. Telecommuting also growsapace. But the magnet of the big citiesremains unchallenged; 1.5m people stillcommute into New York every day: over 20per cent of the residents of Long Island andthe Lower Hudson Valley work in it. Wash-ington’s daily influx is 400,000 – 80 per centof its resident population.

Maybe the escape each evening to thegreen grass of home makes it worthwhile – ifyou are not in traffic crossing the Occoquan.

Jurek Martin is an FT columnist andformer FT Washington bureau chief andforeign editor

Big cities continue toexert a hold overworking lives but noteveryone enjoys the highoctane thrills of urbanliving. Here, and onpage 11, four FT writersexamine the pros andcons of commuting.

The chart explorescommuting times anddistances againstlocation and averageproperty prices in fourmajor cities.

Graphic:Natalie CrokerData compiled by: IzabellaScott

LondonOn weekday mornings Grant Clemencewakes up in the heart of the Hertfordshirecountryside, lets his golden retriever outinto the six acres of land surrounding hishome, and takes in the idyllic surround-ings. Within an hour of leaving his househe can be sitting at his desk in the City ofLondon where he works as a banker.

Six weeks ago Grant and his wife Char-lotte sold their townhouse in Tufnell Park,north London, with its four bedrooms and40ft garden, and moved to the village ofBishop’s Stortford, where they bought aseven-bedroom property with a cottage inthe grounds. Apart from the rural location,the selling point was that it is just a fewminutes’ drive to the station, from wherethe fast train reaches London’s LiverpoolStreet in just 37 minutes.

“We are starting a family and I wantedmore outside space,” says Charlotte, adesigner who takes vintage pieces of furni-ture and transforms them into one-offpieces. “I also needed a showroom for mywork.” The couple sold their London housefor £1.2m and bought a property in thecountryside for £1.7m.

Continued on page 11