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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
Jason R Remy
“No amount of legislation can solve America’s problems.”
– Jimmy Carter (1980)
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.
“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
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!!!
“You have to laugh at yourself, because you’d cry your eyes out if you didn’t.”
-Emily Saliers
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.
“I hope life isn’t a big joke, because I don’t get it,” Jack Handy
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.
To deal with men by force is as impractical as to deal with nature by persuasion.
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
