When I was living in the Sydney suburb of Liverpool, and working in inner-city Alexandria, it was only 25 minutes door-to-door if I drove. But by public transport, it was a thirty minute walk to the station, an hour on the train, and another thirty minute walk at the other end. And the same in reverse going home. Four hours commuting a day sucked. I’ve got it down to about two and a half total now, still involving lots of walking, but I don’t mind that.
My dad used to walk half an hour to the bus, half an hour on the bus, then an eighty kilometre train trip. He did that every day for ten years - and seemed not to mind.
The most extreme example I’ve read of is the London policeman who was sick of the city and its high prices, so he sold his flat and installed his young family in a house he bought on a large rural property in the South Island of New Zealand. His flexible rostering arrangements alow him to work his arse off seven days a week for about three months (crashing on a mate’s sofa), then flying to New Zealand for a few weeks, several times a year. He reckons, even with the airfares, he’s saving money.
I seem to recall an article in the Boston Globe (from the late 1980s?) that investigated the question with regard to commuting to Boston. The rules were that you had to do the commute at least 4 days a week, and have been doing it for at least (IIRC) 8 months.
The winner was a guy who drove 3 hours and 20 minutes each way, 5 days a week. He claimed to be a devotee of some eastern religion or cult that allowed him to face this sort of thing with equanimity.
It’s very common for people to have long commutes where I work, because they have to move to the back of beyond to afford a big house. I’d rather live in an apartment for a while than spend 3-4 hours a day on the road. My commute is 5 minutes and I can drop the kids off at school on the way. We just hired someone who commutes to the San Diego area from Anaheim. As one of my co-workers put it “I give him 6 months.”
I commute 59.5 miles each way, 5 days a week. It’s almost all freeway so it takes me about an hour to get to work and an hour and a half home. My longest commute was 87 miles one way… I did that for 10 months before I got transferred a bit closer to home.
Northwest Florida to Spokane, Washington. Better than 2000 miles each way.
But to be fair, I’m a consultant. And, I only did the round trip once a week. But nevertheless, my trip to the job site IS a commute, even if it isn’t every day.
I have a Boston area nominee for the coolest commute. I used to work in Lexington, MA which is fairly close to Hansom AFB (with a large civilian airport). One of our Vice Presidents was a gruff, stocky old guy that was a former fighter pilot. He lived in Maine and flew himself to Massachusetts to work every day in his own private plane. He had cars at both airports and it worked out just fine. During bad weather however, he had to drive the whole way.
My worst regular daily commute was a bit over 100 miles each way across the top of Toronto (Toronto to Bowmanville for work at Darlington Nuclear Generating Station, then Bowmanville to Waterloo in the evening to attend grad school, and then Waterloo to Toronto at night to bed). On weekends I drove north from Toronto to Sudbury to visit my ailing mother (240 miles each way). It sucked.
Now my regular daily commute is 3 miles each way in Thunder Bay. Once a month I drive to a satellite office for a day, which is 500 miles each way, but it is a very beautiful drive along the rugged north shore of Lake Superior, so I quite enjoy it. As a bonus, if I can arrange it so that I will be out there on a Friday, I can stay over rather than hustle back the same day for work the next morning. (As it happens, I am heading out there tomorrow morning.)
For a year and a half, I commuted daily from suburban Phoenix to Tucson. 97 miles each way, one hour and 50 minutes on average. I took a back route with little traffic & headaches, so it didn’t seem as bad as it sounds. The morning drive was especially a breeze. The only time I minded it was when I had to work late and got home just in time to hit the sack and do it again the next day. I think I did surprisingly well managing the monotony of it all but I never realized how truly sucktastic it was until I didn’t have to do it anymore. Never again.
Now my commute is about 24 miles and 30-35 minutes, plus I carpool with my wife.
Well, when I am at the location where I work it is only a 7 minute walk to the office. But in order to get to my work location it takes ~1.5 days. According to Google Earth, the distance one way door to door is 8759.38 miles, or 8,283,501.09 smoots (don’t ask me what a smoot is, but Google Earth has it as a measurement so it must be important to someone). It involves 2 cars, 2 buses, and 4 planes. Luckily I only have to do it every 4-5 weeks.
My grandfather worked for the U. S. Forest Service from 1911 to 1913. He rode a horse 12-18 hours a day, every day except for 11/2 days off a month. I have no idea how many miles he rode every day, but on his day and a half off, he rode (same horse) from Bozeman to Missoula Montana to court my grandmother. He’d shoot a pheasant or a couple grouse as his contribution to the one meal my great grandparents fed him. He arrived, he sat in the porch swing with grandma until dinner was ready. They ate, then he sat with great grandpa, smoking while the women did the dishes. Then back to the porch swing for another hour, then back on the horse and back to Bozeman.
The courting distance is about 160 miles. It kinda puts our commutes in a better perspective
My husband does 4/12 hours on Friday nights/ Saturday mornings and Sunday afternoons, and has done for two years now. It’s getting very stale.
Distance wise it’s not too far, about 350km but over half the distance is through winding mountain roads and over three passes, so it is very tedious driving.
It is an incredibly expensive way of living, made worse by our just imposed on Monday, totally unwarned of TEN PERCENT PAY CUT.
Mine was about 3 hours each way at its longest - before I got a car. A little over an hour on the bus, an hour and a half train ride, and about 30 minutes in walking. When I got my car I trimmed a precious 30 minutes off each way, bringing it town to a much more manageable (!) five hours a day.
I did it for about a year and a half before the reality of having almost no free time got to be too much for me (among other reasons) and went on hiatus.
I used to live in Las Vegas & commute to New York to go to work. Fortunately it was only once a week or so. About 2300 statute miles including the drive to/from my residence at each end. I’d get up at 430am and be in NYC by 1:30pm Vegas time, so that’s 9-ish hours one way, more like 10 to 10/1-2 if I was going to my NYC pad instead of directly to work.
The longest daily commute I’ve had is the one I’m doing now, about 25 miles / 22 minutes one way. Fortunately it’s pure freeway and negligible traffic.
One way, about 25 miles. It takes about 35 minutes on a 2 lane state highway. And It takes me across the continental divide at 11,500 feet. Bit dicy in the winter, but you get used to it.
