# Lying about your commute **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 24, 2005, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lying-about-your-commute/318412 "2005-08-24T13:16:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![missbunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/76d3ee/32.png) [@missbunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missbunny)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lying-about-your-commute/318412/21 "2005-08-24T18:38:18Z")
> [@Sal Ammoniac](#): > > Yesterday, for instance, I was talking to a colleague who lives in the suburbs of Boston, and whose husband works in Rhode Island. How long a commute? “45 minutes,” she says. Now, granted, if you were to go at 3:00 in the morning and speed a little, you could probably do it in 45 minutes. Depends on which suburbs of Boston and where in RI they’re going to. Taunton to Providence is very doable in 45 minutes. Salem to Westerly is not. (There are some would disagree that Taunton is a Boston suburb; being 35 miles away - but lots of people do think of it that way.) ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lying-about-your-commute/318412/22 "2005-08-24T19:41:28Z")
> [@missbunny](#): > > (There are some would disagree that Taunton is a Boston suburb; being 35 miles away - but lots of people do think of it that way.) Feh. Of course it is. I live just outside Boston and commute to southern Maine, for pity’s sake (don’t worry, only 75 miles / 1:15 each way, against the traffic). The locals are quite willing to admit that the area has become suburban Boston. There are quite a few commuters into town from there, and I really don’t want to know how bad it is. I get a good enough view across the highway barrier. ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lying-about-your-commute/318412/23 "2005-08-24T19:45:56Z")
> [@missbunny](#): > > Depends on which suburbs of Boston and where in RI they’re going to. Newton to Smithfield. It’s more than 45 minutes by my reckoning, even on Sunday. ---
**Author:** ![sj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@sj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sj2)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lying-about-your-commute/318412/24 "2005-08-24T19:49:36Z")
I gotta friend that does that too. He says it’s a 20 minute commute. Another friend works closer to home on the same route and it takes 45 minutes. For me, well, it is hell. I must crawl out of bed and make my way to my living room/home office. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lying-about-your-commute/318412/25 "2005-08-24T20:04:09Z")
Commuting times make up a big part of my decisions on where to work and live. I simply refuse to spend too much of my waking life in my car in traffic. I will do what it takes to not do that. As for lying about the times, I think people have hit the mark already here; some people exaggerate to boast about how badly they’re wasting their lives, and other people minimize to justify wasting their lives. ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lying-about-your-commute/318412/26 "2005-08-24T20:42:43Z")
Right at 2 miles for me. I can generally make it in 4 minutes if I don’t catch the one traffic light on the way. Can take as long as 8 minutes if I have to wait on a a train at the crossing. Oh, who am I lying to! It takes 9 minutes if I catch the train… ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lying-about-your-commute/318412/27 "2005-08-24T20:56:17Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#): > > Strange. Around here, long commutes almost seem to be a badge of honor, or more likely, a means or garnering sympathy. > > “Oh poor me! I have to leave the house at 5:30 to make it to my office by 8:00!” > > Oddly enough, I did have a 2 1/2 hour commute for about two months about 12 years ago. Left home at 5:30, drove 1 1/4 hours to the train station, then catch the 6:53 train for a 55-minute ride, then a 15-minute walk. Almost beat me to death, but I sure didn’t brag about it. Oh yeah, I’ve heard this around here. “I leave the house at 5:30.” “5:30?? God you’re lucky. I leave at 5:00” “5:00?? I wish, I leave at 4:30!” “4:30, that’d be heaven! I don’t even sleep!” :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lying-about-your-commute/318412/28 "2005-08-24T21:46:27Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#): > > Around here, long commutes almost seem to be a badge of honor, or more likely, a means or garnering sympathy. That’s the way it is here in the Seattle area. “Yeah, I gotta take I-5 south, through downtown, then I go across the I-90 bridge, then I take 405 south, and it’s always backed up. It’d be twenty minutes at midnight, but at 7:30 it takes me like forty-seven years. I listen to Dostoevsky books on tape every morning. Books, plural.” “Really? I take 522 eastbound over the lake, connect to 405 south, shoot west across the 520 bridge, and I wind up thirty yards from where I started. I’ve celebrated more than one birthday in a single trip.” It’s like this weird macho thing to be able to handle a hellacious commute. I’m surprised to hear about people _under_-estimating their driving times. That’s just not the way it’s done around these parts. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lying-about-your-commute/318412/29 "2005-08-24T22:00:23Z")
I’d have said the opposite. My feeling is that people here exaggerate their commuting times. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lying-about-your-commute/318412/30 "2005-08-24T23:46:15Z")
Yeah I only hear people exaggerating not low balling their commute. I know some people who don’t count their time on surface streets as part of the commute only time on the freeway. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lying-about-your-commute/318412/31 "2005-08-25T00:06:02Z")
I hear people lowballing their commute for the most part around hear. They lie about travel times to get most places actually. People that live in the city claim that everwhere else in the city is 10 -15 minutes from everywhere else in the city. I live almost 40 miles from Boston but is still a Boston suburb. Travel times can run from 45 minutes to get to the west side of Boston/Cambridge up to several hours if there is snow with accidents. ---
**Author:** ![fruitbat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/58f4c7/32.png) [@fruitbat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fruitbat)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lying-about-your-commute/318412/32 "2005-08-25T00:43:57Z")
I live in the DC area and commute every day from the city to Centreville, VA. I have noticed this phenomenon myself although whether they are lowballing or highballing their commute seems to vary depending on the tenor of the conversation. If I am talking to one of my coworkers who thinks I am crazy for living in the city they insist their commute from Culpeper to Fairfax is a 45 minute jaunt. At other times it is a bitchfest and that same commute becomes two hours if they are lucky. My commute is the one thing I know like the back of my hand. Traffic is so bad in the DC area that every time I leave home, or head home from work I am guessing how long it is going to take me, and whether it will be under or over my normal commute. My drive in is 53 minutes, the drive back is 71, there is no ambiguity over how long it takes me on average. The only question is how much will it vary from that average today. ---
**Author:** ![Caricci](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Caricci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caricci)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lying-about-your-commute/318412/33 "2005-08-25T00:59:39Z")
> [@missbunny](#): > > Depends on which suburbs of Boston and where in RI they’re going to. Taunton to Providence is very doable in 45 minutes. Salem to Westerly is not. > > (There are some would disagree that Taunton is a Boston suburb; being 35 miles away - but lots of people do think of it that way.) My husband did East Providence to Taunton for awhile and it was about 40 minutes. It wasn’t as bad as Barrington to Newport and they’re both in Rhode Island. You know, I have friends who go to a Boston suburb from Barrington, RI (I forget which suburb) and they do it in about 45 minutes. At any rate, they all beat Glendale, Queens to Wall Street hands down …shudder… ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lying-about-your-commute/318412/34 "2005-08-25T01:06:23Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > Oh yeah, I’ve heard this around here. > > “I leave the house at 5:30.” > “5:30?? God you’re lucky. I leave at 5:00” > “5:00?? I wish, I leave at 4:30!” > “4:30, that’d be heaven! I don’t even sleep!” > > :rolleyes: “ **WE** had to live in a Lake!!” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lying-about-your-commute/318412/35 "2005-08-25T01:14:37Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > I’ve noticed people not only do this with their commute, but also when talking about road trips they’ve taken. > > “Oh, Minneapolis to Chicago? It takes me around 5 hours.” > “Baltimore to Orlando? 12 hours.” > “Daytona Beach to Tampa? 2 hours.” I’ve done Tampa to Cincinnati in just over 12 hours, but trust me when I say it’s not a safe or healthy thing. No more than a five minute stop, just pee and change drivers. Averaged about 93 mph. It was ridiculous. It’s taken me as long as 20 hours (with the kids, not including spending the night) and more typically 14-16 hours. Daytona Beach to Tampa may have once been possible in 2 hours, but there is no freakin’ way, day or night, that you could do it right now. Too much Orlando traffic and if that doesn’t get you then the I-4 construction, which is pretty much all the way from Kissimmee to Tampa, will. Maybe they count from Orange County line to Hillsborough County line? There was a woman I worked with in Baltimore, lived somewhere near the Pennsylvannia state line, that _swore_ her drive in to Locust Point was only 15-20 minutes every day. It’s just not humany possible, unless her drive way launched straight out on to the expressway (it didn’t) and the work parking lot was a highway off ramp (it wasn’t). She was an otherwise very sweet and honest person. I truly believe she was just in denial of how much of her time she spent driving in. ---
**Author:** ![Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/angel_of_the_lord/32/2949_2.png) [@Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angel_of_the_Lord)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lying-about-your-commute/318412/36 "2005-08-25T01:28:05Z")
People think that I’m lying about my commute time when I say, “um…35-40 minutes.” They deeply underestimate the flow of traffic on I-90. Hell, if I’m going only 10 over the speed limit, the COPS out there get pissed off because I’m going too slow. But, then, I’ve seen people claim that their commute takes much longer than it actually does. I just chalk it up to their inability to use back roads. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lying-about-your-commute/318412/37 "2005-08-25T02:41:54Z")
> [@fruitbat](#): > > I live in the DC area and commute every day from the city to Centreville, VA. I have noticed this phenomenon myself although whether they are lowballing or highballing their commute seems to vary depending on the tenor of the conversation. One thing I noticed when I lived in DC was that the answer to everything is “I’ll be there in 15 minutes.” Didn’t seem to matter where they were, how far they had to go, or what time of day it was, or even if they had to take a shower first. “I’ll be there in 15 minutes.” That used to infuriate me, especially when it was someone who lives all the way up by Germantown, MD. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lying-about-your-commute/318412/38 "2005-08-25T14:43:34Z")
I’m lucky to live between 3 and 4 miles from my job. As much as I hate having a job that starts at 7:30 AM, it does make things easier on the commute. So I usually take about 10-15 minutes to get to work. But once, when I left for work an hour early it only took 8 minutes. Therefore, I tell folks the 8 minute time. I agree with **Fruitbat**. Exageration or lowballing commute times seems to be a form of one-upmanship. Some people must have the BEST commute or the WORST. If I complain about how long it takes, theirs is longer. If I brag about how fast it is, the same person suddenly has the quickest time. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lying-about-your-commute/318412.md?page=1)