Is there anyone on EF who does this? How bad is it?

We live just outside Zürich on the west side; public transport takes around an hour, whereas googlemaps reckons it's only a 30 minute drive, but I'm guessing that's without traffic. Anyone know how bad the traffic on the motorways is in rush hour? Is is quicker to go through the city and avoid the big loop north that the motorway does?

Any experiences welcome

FORGET the city thats pure madness. If you need to.go thru the gubrist tunnel add 30 min to your journey

Yes, the motorway route would be via the Gulbrist Tunnel. Looks like buses and trains are the way to go then.

If you can be at the Gubrist before 0715 your delay will be minimal. After that it builds pretty quickly.

Or leave after nine if your Job is flexi friendly.

Around 7 ish you are looking at anout 15 minutes delay but i have been there 25 minutes

I don't live in Zürich, Winterthur, or for that matter commute by car at all - so take this for what it's worth - but the OP says she's commuting from Zürich to Winterthur.

I reckon the fact she's doing it that way round, opposite the (I'm assuming) prevailing direction of traffic, might make rush hour a little more bearable for her. What do you guys think?

Not my personal experience, but one my friend is commuting Zurich (Affoltern) to Winterthur for already 5 years. Never heard him complaining...

I guess he would have switched if it was a trouble as he works in a field where it is really easy to find another job. My personal guess that the commuting time would not have been much different if he was working in zh center.

No, I'm pretty sure it's bad going out - we went to Europa Park back in April so needed to head towards Basel. There are big bottle ups there where the different autobahns split and go - Winterthur, Basel or Bern, iirc. (Hope I'm not speaking gibberish )

Where do live exactly? I am sure it will less than an hour by public transport. I commute from Thalwil to Winterthur on the S8 and that is even less than an hour. For me a no-brainer honestly. I would never do that commute by car if you have a reliable train system where you don't even have to change trains. The S8 stops in Enge, Wiedikon, HB, Oerlikon (or before that Kilchberg, Rüeschlikon etc). If you can get to Stadelhofen then it's even quicker. But by car? No thanks

I'm in a village out west of the city, nowhere near Stadelhofen or the S8. It's a ten minute walk to the nearest station, then 46 minutes by train via Zürich HB (according to zvv.ch). So while I would normally use the train for getting around, I wanted to know if googlemaps was right, as then it would be quicker and simpler to drive. Googlemaps does not, however, account for rush hour traffic and tunnels - hence me asking if anyone had experience of driving the route from west of Zürich.

I wouldn't commute by bike for sure but public transport in terms of traveling time should outperform automobile vehicles most of the time in rush hours.

From your village to somewhere around the Gubrist you'll hit incoming traffic to Zurich. Once past that you might be going against traffic. Same with the return. Winti to Dietlikon should be ok , then you'll hit everyone going to the airport, Bern etc. Sometimes the split right after Wallisellen sucks (in the direction of Zurich) if you're going on the highway toward the Gubrist.

However, there's construction around Wallisellen where the highway splits and sometimes right around Glatt Zentrum, the highway becomes as mess. There is also construction right past the Winti Toss exit, and often a big traffic jam.

I'd do a test drive at different times to see how you feel about it. Personally, I'd stick to the train though.

On a good day, the drive from Winti to Oerlikon take 20 minutes. On a bad day, it takes an hour.

It also depends on where you're going in Winti. Sometimes traffic is backed up between the Toss highway exit, all along the Zurichstrasse past the city center.