Commuting - how much can you take?

[secretanchitman]

school is 20-30 minutes from me, and work is exactly 7 minutes.

i can commute up to 1:00-1:15 if needed. ive done it before and thats where podcasts come in handy (they usually hover around the 1 hour mark too).

 

[Cheesemoo]

10, could possibly handle 15

 

[CountZero]

My commute now is right around 1 hour depending on traffic and it sucks and I've only been doing it for a month. Used to be like ~15 minutes which was great. Thankfully I can (and do) work from home occasionally.

So an hour for driving but I could do 1.5 or even a little longer by public transit. Just a lot less stressful unless you have a strict schedule to keep.

 

[InflatableBuddha]

Currently 20 min by transit, which is great since I get to do some reading on the way.

Previously did an hour by transit to a job downtown, which was fine because I got to read/listen to music for longer.

Optimally, as long as it's under 30 minutes by transit, that's fine. I hate driving in rush hour so I'll do anything to avoid it.

 

[Sumguy]

It took me 25-30 minutes to drive to my high school every day. They gave priority to freshmen for school buses, and since there were about 800 students in every grade level that meant you were SOL after the first year.

I actually didn't mind it that much. I'd imagine I could handle 45mins one way.

 

[Imp]

Commute is 1-1.5 hours by public transit, around 40 minutes by car. I don't really like it.

My last 4 jobs were all near where I lived, and ranged from 30-45 minute walks. By public transit, they were about 20-30 minutes. Not to mention there was stuff I could do after work in those areas within walking distance. It takes 5 minutes alone to walk out of the parking lot where I work.

 

[shortylickens]

At half an hour I start to question why the hell I'm doing it. If its 45 minutes then it better be a meandering stroll through the country, not gridlock on a highway. 1 hour I would not do.

I feel very sorry for folks who take 1 hour trips to work every day for 30 years. That would drive me insane. I'd be a shell of a human being at the end. I hate driving, and I especially hate it with all the crazy assholes these days.

 

[Pantlegz]

I love my 5 minuet drive to work. it's awesome, way better than the 30 I was doing. That said, I think 30-45min is the most I could commute without a substantial pay increase(2x+)

 

[Jeraden]

I've been doing about a 45min commute each way for 10+ years now. You get used to it after a while.

 

[pnad]

Currently doing a 50min commute.

Not so bad as long as I don't think about actually being away from home for 10hrs a day.

Podcasts make the ride go quick.

I make it a point to NOT get frustrated and laugh at idiot drivers doing stupid stuff. I used to get all worked up and road rage on the way home and it would just ruin my night.

 

[bruceb]

When I worked in Manhattan it was about 45 minutes each way during the off hours 4PM-12M shift. Now I have only a 25 minute drive each way 18 miles.

 

[zerocool84]

You're lucky to drive 20 miles in an hour over here.

 

[BurnItDwn]

Currently I commute about 20 miles .. usually about 45 mins in the morning, and about 50 minutes in the evening, If I need to come in any earlier, then my morning commute gets a lot longer, as I currently start at 9, and miss a lot of rush hour .... When I started at 8, it was well over an hour.

Also, road construction can mean 2+ hour commutes each way when it's in the very very very wrong place .....

Worst would be when there's an unexpected snow storm in the afternoon, and the evening commute is cluttered with other people driveng 1mph blocking traffic into a horrible gridlock .... then it takes me about 3 hours to get home (about 2-3 times per year)



My "worst" normal commute would be just over 30 miles, I changed jobs from Mt Prospect to Deerfield, but still lived in Streamwood ... my commute was regularly pretty close to 90 minutes, though if I managed to avoid all the traffic, it was actually closer to about 40 minutes, thanks to the expressways ...

Anyhow ... I REALLY don't like my commute ... But, I like where I work, and I love where I live ... so I deal with it. I've dealt with worse, and usually it's under an hour, so it's pretty tolerable IMO.... I just hate traffic jams.

 

[CraigRT]

My current drive is damn close to 100 miles round trip, and around an hour each way unless traffic is good.

Already been nailed once for speeding, haven't even worked here much more than 3 months.

The officer asked why I was speeding, I said: "I drive 700k kms/week, I just want to go home" Not to mention I leave work late, so its even worse.

I can handle the hour drive when all the conditions fall into place, but if I get stuck behind a snowplow, traffic delays, etc. It really begins to annoy me!

 

[HardcoreRobot]

i used to have 25 no traffic, 45+ with traffic

then i switched to 10 getting green lights, 20 getting reds + traffic

i dont know if i could go back to those 45 min days...

another bonus of being within 5 miles (differs by person), is that is biking distance


i really dont mind driving, its a great opportunity to catch up on music/news etc. BUT, i hate traffic.

 

[Noirish]

house is one of the biggest investment in life so choose a nice area within 30 minutes driving distance.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

23 to 25 minutes is nothing. When I lived at my old house, it took me 45 to 50 minutes one way. It wasn't that I lived far away; it was the fact that I had no direct interstate route so I had to take slower, congested state roads with tons of stop lights.

Since I moved to my new place, it is a straight shoot down I-70 to downtown Indy and takes me 20 minutes or so. Much better!

 

[Engineer]

30 mins is about my limit for comfort.

:thumbsup:

 

[aigomorla]

weekday to work takes around 30-45min.

Weekend stopping by work takes 10 min.

Thats called LA traffic.

8-10 Traffic lights is nothing.

 

[Sho'Nuff]

I found my limit over the last four months, when I commuted five days a week from Boston to Portsmouth NH. 1 hour each way with no traffic. About 30% of the time, there was a huge backup on the home at the 128 exit to 93 north, which made my commute home a cool 2-2.5 hours.

Thank god that ends tomorrow.

 

[octopus41092]

I drive, 20-30 minutes to work. Not a big deal at all.

 

[kalrith]

you are going to get flamed for worrying about that short of a drive. I drove over an hour each way when i started my current job. There is also a huge thread about commute time that's still on the front page.

I agree. This is like posting a thread complaining that your wife only has sex with you 5 times a week instead of 10 like she used to.

Anyways, I think a 1-hr (or less) round-trip commute is a good goal to have. I currently commute about 50 minutes in the morning and 20 in the afternoon since I have to drop my son off at daycare in the morning. I had a 10-minute round-trip commute for a few years, which changed to a 40-minute round-trip commute after we moved, and is now a 70-minute round-trip commute.

I don't like it, but it could be worse. My brother has a 2-hour round-trip commute every day.

 

[IceBergSLiM]

take into account that you dont get paid for you commute. So if it is 2 ours per day salary is now divided by 50 not 40 hours.