Drive Times

[pricciar]

I was reading the newspaper vs. radio thread over in the Great Debates and saw that PapaBear said that he is driving 1 hour and half to and from work. It got me to thinking, how long do most people drive to and from work?
I drive about 10 minutes to get to work, its a nice drive without much traffic, I feel lucky. I could take a half hour or forty five minute commute, but, I couldn't take one that was that long if that longness involved lots of traffic jams. In fact, on fridays I take the long way home to avoid the southbound heathens. It adds about 10 minutes to my normal trip, but its worth it to avoid that crazy traffic jams the 101 always has at that time.

How about everyone else?

pat

[Holly]

No matter what the traffic, 5 minutes.

[pricciar]

Holly, when I first read your post I figured you worked at home. But, then remembering other posts I realized you were a nurse. Got the idea that you had a hospital in your living room.
Funny random thought.


pat

[AuntiePam]

17 miles, 2 stop signs, nice scenery, lots of road kill, an occasional deer, no traffic but pretty soon, I'll have to stop when meeting the school bus.

Now in the winter -- ice, slush, fog, snow, the random whiteout that makes you feel like your car is wrapped in a blanket. (I know, why risk it, but if I'm AT work, you can be damned sure I'm gonna try to get home.)

I worked with folks in Seattle who had a two hour commute -- one way.

[Ringo]

We moved our office in February from one side of the freeway to the other; total increase in commute distance ~1/4 mile. But just having to get past that freeway upped drive time from 15 to 25 minutes.

[Dirty Devil]

About two hours each way (I take a commuter bus). Five days a week. Crazy? Maybe. But it does allow me a lot of reading time.

[gary horaczek]

It takes me about 2 hours a day to go 70 km. (42 miles) that's both ways. By 6am the traffic towards Toronto is bumper to bumper already. I don't even want to discuss how bad it is from 3 to 7 pm. My boss travels about 3 hours a day to go 100 km.(60 miles) both ways.

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garyh

[MrKnowItAll]

15 minutes. I have 4 to 6 stop lights depending on the route. The 4 stop light route adds about 5 stop signs, but it's usually quicker on the mornings when the drivers seem to be particularly stupid. The stop signs are in a residential area where the traffic is considerably lighter.

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Carpe hoc!

[topolino]

It takes me 30 minutes either way but it's mostly highway. When I was in college, I drove 45 minutes either way but, again, mostly highway. I'm used to driving this much so when I move, it's going to be really weird. I'll be living in a city with restaurants and a big bookstore within walking distance. Gonna be strange!

[Kat]

20-30 minutes, depending on whether I hit red or green lights and on how the construction is going. And there's always construction somewhere on one or both of the possible routes. Funny thing is, right now, the with-construction route has been taking less time than the no-construction route.

[Drain Bead]

40 minutes, but I have to take two different buses to get there. If I drove, it would take somewhere between 10-20, depending on traffic.

[jayron 32]

I work exactly 1 block and across the street from where I live. I estimate that my commute (by foot) is about 500 yards and takes less than 5 minutes. And it pays really good too. I'm just waiting for this karma to come around and smack me in the ass, but right now I'm enjoying the moment.

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Jason R Remy

"No amount of legislation can solve America's problems."
-- Jimmy Carter (1980)

[Byzantine]

Zip since I work at home (rub it in, rub it in!). When I worked downtown it was 2 miles and I often jogged (we had a shower there).

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The moon looks on many flowers, the flowers on but one moon.

[rjk]

A little over an hour on the bus, or even less if the connections work.

And, like Dirty Devil, I get lots of reading done.



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Bob the Random Expert
"If we don't have the answer, we'll make one up."

[cmkeller]

I used to have a 35-minute commute to work, and a 45-minute one heading home. Over the year and a half that I worked in that place (Uniondale, Long Island...I live in lower Manhattan), that gradually grew to 1 hour and 1-1/2 hours, respectively, until my constant lateness got me fired.

Now I work within the city limits, and it's a steady 45-minute subway ride to and from. And I love not having to drive.

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Chaim Mattis Keller
ckeller@schicktech.com

"Sherlock Holmes once said that once you have eliminated the
impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be
the answer. I, however, do not like to eliminate the impossible.
The impossible often has a kind of integrity to it that the merely improbable lacks."
-- Douglas Adams's Dirk Gently, Holistic Detective

[Falcon]

Let's see...used to be a 40-mile commute one way. Took anywhere from an hour to 2 1/2 hours. (I love DC traffic, really.) Thank GOD I have flex-time at my office. Finally moved last year to 10 miles away. Now it takes anywhere from 25 minutes to an hour. Which is an improvement.

As a side note: does anyone else from very traffic-heavy areas get annoyed when they go somewhere and hear people complain about traffic? An example: I live in DC. When I go to visit my parents in Memphis, I continually hear about how bad the traffic is. It's not that bad! Come live with me for a week - I'll show you traffic!!!!!

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"You have to laugh at yourself, because you'd cry your eyes out if you didn't."
-Emily Saliers

[TheNerd]

'bout 5 to 10 minutes, depending on the traffic.

Of course, last year, I drove a little over an hour each way because I was working downtown and living in the suburbs.

[Gr8Kat]

About 35 minutes, give or take 5 minutes depending on traffic. I live in Dallas which is about 13 miles outside Salem; got a nice 4 lane highway almost the whole way with one stoplight. Once I hit Salem city limits, it's about 3 more miles to my office. Always strikes me as odd that it take as long to go the 3 miles through Salem as it does the 13 miles to get there.

It also strikes me as odd the way Salem-ites gripe about how intolerable the traffic is becoming in town when it's 10x worse in Portland, and 10x worse than Portland any place else. I think we've got it pretty sweet here and are just too shortsighted to realize it.

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"I hope life isn't a big joke, because I don't get it," Jack Handy

[cmkeller]

Falcon:

As a side note: does anyone else from very traffic-heavy areas get annoyed when they go somewhere and hear people complain about traffic?

No, because I've driven in cities all across North America, and I've seen bad traffic in many of them.

No one would ever consider New York City a low-traffic place. But I've been to Los Angeles and have been unable to get onto the freeway at 5 PM. I've been to the Twin Cities and crawled to the Mall of America. I've been to Boston, and I've survived the experience, but it was by no means certain that that was going to be the outcome.

Traffic sucks. Everywhere.

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Chaim Mattis Keller
ckeller@schicktech.com

"Sherlock Holmes once said that once you have eliminated the
impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be
the answer. I, however, do not like to eliminate the impossible.
The impossible often has a kind of integrity to it that the merely improbable lacks."
-- Douglas Adams's Dirk Gently, Holistic Detective

[dougie_monty]

I have worked as a data-entry operator for TBN, the religious TV network whoses offices are in Tustin, CA. I live in Gardena, 37 miles to the northwest; usually take the 405, the Garden Grove Fwy (SR 22) and I-5. Depending on when I start, the commute can take 30-40 minutes to an hour and a half. I learned that to get there by 8 a.m. requires that I get on the freeway by 6:40; then I miss most of the heavy outbound traffic on all three freeways. (The workday ends at 4 pm, so I get to head back home before 5 pm; most of the heavy traffic is going the other way at the time and it takes just about one hour--unless traffic is particularly heavy (I almost wrote "hairy") at the junction of I-5 and SR 22, in northwest Santa Ana.

[Lucky]

I'm in the same boat as jayron 32---I work less than a mile from my home at just about the best job I've ever had. Unfortunately, I'll be quitting in a few months, but it was good while it lasted.

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"I think it would be a great idea" Mohandas Ghandi's answer when asked what he thought of Western civilization

[BurnMeUp]

my commute is between 15min to 45 depending on the traffic. But I pay for the convenience.

As for the 2 hour seattle drive thing, there is a reason, if you want to afford buying a house you have to live very far from seattle. Also, if you have to drive into or out of seattle at rush hour you are gaurenteed a wait at the floating bridges.

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To deal with men by force is as impractical as to deal with nature by persuasion.

[StStella]

I'm actually pretty lucky. I commute about 20-30 minutes and it's all back, country roads. Lots of old farm houses and horses and I even get to drive over a covered bridge everday. I work in Chester County, PA, which used to be all farms and horses and now there are corporate parks sprouting up in the middle of the countryside. My building is between a horse farm and a corn field. QVC is right across the street, but it is all still really pretty and scenic- at least for the time being

[StStella]

I forgot to mention, my only pit falls on the way to work are getting stuck behind the schoolbus, a hay truck or the sr citizens who feel they must be on the road site seeing during rush hour.

[Doctor Jackson]

45 minutes to an hour (33 miles). I live east of Atlanta and work just south of the city. It's the only tolerable commute pattern left. When I worked downtown it took 1.25 - 1.5 hours to drive 25 miles.

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The overwhelming majority of people have more than the average (mean) number of legs. -- E. Grebenik