(edit title) Rideshare from Västerås to Stockholm m-f SJ is too expensive Options

[tnj4884]

Hej!

I just got my dream job in Stockholm, but live in västerås. The commute with sj and sl would cost me 3700 sek (twice what i pay in rent!). Is there anyone who commutes. I can be flexible with the timing and I live right near the train station in västerås and work in central stockholm. I could contribute AT LEAST half of the gas and toll costs!

Thanks,
Tracy

[Kibiri]

http://www.samakning.se/
edit: I just checked VST-STO on this site (I am also in västerås) and for tomorrow there are about 40 passengers but zero cars, ohh, it is actually 3 people like you, who wants to go regularly. You should get together and buy a car

[PDX]

Yes, buy a 7-seater Volvo XC90 for practically zero cost by sharing it with other fellow commuters .

On another note, would commuting this distance by car be really worth it? You would save some money, but it could easily take double the train time (50 minutes) especially if you had to reach anywhere near central stockhom. Sitting less than two hours on a train each day is still manageable, but 3-4 hours in a car?

~~~PDX~~~

[tnj4884]

Thanks guys, yeah i checked some samåkning sites, but noone has a ride to offer. Thanks for the inpu on driving time, it makes me feel a bit better about spending almost 600US on a one hour commute. I want to SCREAM! SJ is such a ripoff. I have to pay a fortune for commute on trains that will more than like be delayed several hours at least once a month this winter! Its sooooo frustrating.

[Swinglish 1]

Yes it costs me 2960kr for SJ unlimited travel card and then the cost of tunnelbana 700+800kr it is pretty pricey you could always skip the tube costs and jump the gates like so many swedes do It takes me around two hours home to work and then two back, door to door so four hours on top of an 8hr + day get a bit much just for work!...at least on the train you get to read, do work, study Swedish? it would be tedious in a car i think?..and more stressful in my opinion! I believe you get to claim back some travel cost about 14000kr a year I believe?...cash in the bank

[Swinglish 1]

Oh and I was told if the train is delayed over say 20-30mins you can claim back for that journey too, not sure how this works but i was told by a 'lets say friend' that if you have flexi time at work you can watch the website and claim back for all the journeys to/from vasteras that were delayed???...not sure if its worth the effort but hey if it earns you a few kr back!

[PDX]

Indeed, and it is just not only a few SEK back, it is 50-100% in a lot of cases. You can view the (officially binding as of 2011) document here:
http://www.sj.se/content/1/c6/15/13/50/SJ_...b-11_webb_2.pdf

If the document above is not available anymore, search for "SJ restidsgaranti" .

With this, the SJ offering looks like a bargain during the winter time. You'd have to be mad to drive 4 hours of Västerås-Stockholm-Västerås commute in a winter storm ( and pay significant fuel and vehicle depreciation costs) with the 'restidsgaranti' when you could spend less than 2 hours sitting in a comfortable train, working/reading/sleeping or whatever you prefer .

~~~PDX~~~

[hongkongdanchang]

Tracy,

Save money and pay for just one return ticket a week. The other 5 days you can come and stay with me in central Stockholm. It will not cost you any money.

[nickoledlaird]

Tracy,
Sorry to hijack your thread but where did you end up getting a job?

Nickole

[tnj4884]

Hey guys Thanks for the tips!

Yeah, I have surrendered to the fact that the commute will be expensive. My boyfriends mom told me about the money back thing and that is a little bit of a bonus since I hear that they are quite often delayed. I am actually considering walking from T centalen to work (kungsholmen) is is about 30 minutes, so might wait till the weather gets a bit warmer. We'll see.

nickoledlaird- I got a job to at a hostel in vasastaden, but I just got a part time job with the Ekoturismforeningen taking over as project leader for a seminar series. I'm very excited and need to bust my A&* off to show them I am worth keeping on for more projects.

Swinglish - Maybe I'll see you on the train!

Thanks again guys, I move to Vasteras next weekend, so if anyone wants to get a drink in a couple weeks when I'm a bit more settled (happy hour deal since most my money will be going to SJ ). let me know!

[nickoledlaird]

I'll move to Vasteras June 2012 so let's keep in touch!