Andy, works in Derby city centre

“I love my Smarter Travel because… it saves me a fortune each week!”

I live in Sheffield and started my job in the centre of Derby in February 2012. I toyed with the idea of driving the 32 miles each way every day but soon discovered that the traffic on the M1 was unpredictable and often led to hold ups and delays. I knew there must be a better way!

I am lucky in a way as my employer encourages home working, and as I live around one mile from Sheffield train station and had an old bike in the shed, I decided to completely change the way I thought about ‘the commute‘.

Andy FI now work from home two or three days a week which is great as it means I can cut the travel time out of my day completely and get stuck straight into work. I find that I get loads of work done at home as there are no distractions and I can focus on what I’m supposed to be doing.

On the days when I do have to visit the office, I cycle the one mile to the train station from home and jump on the next train to Derby. As I only travel on the train a couple of times a  week, it’s cheaper for me to get a daily return than it is to get a season ticket. I tend to start a bit later and by travelling after 9.30am, it means I can use an off-peak return, saving me even more money.

It was costing me well over £100 per week to do the 350 miles per week by car. I now spend around £25 each week on train travel – saving approximately £3600 a year to spend on things for me. Working from home saves me around two hours of travelling each day too, so that’s six more hours a week, or 288 hours each year extra free time!