Normally on a day without heavy traffic it takes me 30-40 minutes to get to work. Today it took me 1:45. Last week there was a day that took 2 hours. It just depends on the traffic and I only know 2 routes to get to work, and when one of them backs up, the other does as well. I suppose I should look at Google Maps and find another alternate route to learn…
But how am I supposed to plan what time to leave the house when my commute is so friggin variable? I mean I’m supposed to be at work at 9:30am… what time do I leave the house? Normally I leave at 8:30 and do ok. Today I left at 8:15 and I was late. What the fuck.
I have a hundred mile drive down a highway that at one point this summer had no fewer than 7 construction delays, as in one way traffic at a time only. My normal commute is 1:45, but it was sometimes taking me 2:30, yes one way.
Thankfully the one lane delays are now down to two, with a small reduced speed zone elsewhere. By the end of October it should be over with: till next summer.
Damn. I love my commute. Twelve to fifteen minutes driving back roads as the sun completes rising. Usually some deer or turkey along the way. Once every year or two I see a black bear.
I only live two miles from work, so I can’t rant about the length of my commute. HOWEVER. I drive right past the State House on my way to work, and there are banners there that stretch on wires across the road that advertise whatever - library book sale, Governor’s Cup road race, charity fundraisers and whatnot. So they have to change them fairly frequently, which requires a city truck closing a lane of traffic on one of the main city surface arteries for a little while. Know when they do it?
I drive one of the major north-south arteries through town every day, and right now it’s the only one that isn’t under construction. So there is no good alternate route. I’m on the road the same time that school starts and I have to pass an elementary school, so I have to fight psycho parents swooping in to drop their kids off and all the buses. It got a little better after the high school on this street closed last year.
On top of the school traffic, I occasionally (like this morning) have to deal with farm equipment blocking the road as well. This morning I had not one but three tractors creeping down the road. I was about 10 cars back, and I couldn’t see the end of the line of backed-up traffic behind me.
The only complaint I have about my commute is that my car usually hasn’t had time to warm up by the time I get to the office in winter.
Okay, I guess the complain I really have is that there are no bike lanes or sidewalks along my commute, 'cause otherwise I would walk or ride the bike to work most days.
My walk to work normally ends in me being uncomfortably warm when I get in the office, and with darkened reaction lenses if it’s sunny outside, so I’m in the dark for a short while.
I sometimes run out of podcasts to listen to on Fridays if I’ve taken walks on my lunch break during the week.
This post has been brought to you by First World Problems Inc.
I commute from the suburbs into Washington, DC. Normally I take a county bus to Metro (the subway train) and the Metro in, transferring lines once. Takes an hour to an hour and a half (always longer in the afternoons, for reasons I don’t understand).
While train delays causing me to miss my bus (and wait another 35 minutes for the next one) are my biggest worry, a more frequent annoyance is people touching me. I have all kinds of stories. It’s almost always intentional, not incidental, and I’m not talking about super-crowded trains. Typically, I’ve gotten on early, and a later arrival decides my seat or standing spot is desirable, and consciously touches or presses against me, hoping I’ll shift away and that person can seize my spot. It’s weird. Another typical occurrence is when a hugely overweight person, possibly angry at the train’s seat sizes (which I assure you I am not responsible for!) sits beside me and then deliberately shoves against me, hard, to seize some of my own seat for themselves. Sometimes they sit on my leg; sometimes they push me over BEFORE sitting down. I feel sorry for people who don’t fit into a seat, but some of these people are NOT simply squeezing me over, they are seizing Lebensraum as ruthlessly as the Wermacht in Poland.
The only thing I can really complain about is that my commute home takes me due west, and I’m usually heading home at sunset. But it’s an easy 15 minute drive, so I’ll take it.
I commute 45 miles/45 minutes each way down a two lane highway.
I manage thanks to comedy podcasts.
What I hate, hate, hate are the drivers who don’t maintain speed in the right lane. Normally I set my cruise control for about 66 mph and the person in front of me never fails to slow down! So I pass, then they cling to my bumper. :smack:
Sailboat, my biggest complaint is the overcrowding on the trains too. But I have never encountered the bizarre behavior that you describe. I guess I should count myself lucky. Or maybe people just don’t do that here.
I do get annoyed by self-unaware backpackers though. I once had to hold onto a backpack once to keep it from hitting a girl in the face.
Mine’s cool; a 15 minute drive, though today there was a backup and it took 25 minutes. The thing that bothers me is that I’d like to take public transport, but due to the vagaries of the routing/timing, it would take nearly 3 times as long, adding about an hour a day to my commute.
Ain’t it the truth. I set my cruise at 110 KPH and will inevitably come up on slower drivers, who I pass given the first opportunity. Then they ride my bumper, pass me, and then slow back down below my pre-set speed once again. Morons.
Or, how about the ones who drive slower than you until you reach the passing lane portion of the highway (assuming you have them) and then they speed the fuck up? Idiots.
Oh man, I hate this! I just don’t know if these drivers are malicious or clueless, but it happens all the time.
Luckily, not on my commute, though. Mine is 10 minutes by bicycle or 5 by motorcycle/car. All along 25 mph residential surface streets with light traffic. Can’t really complain.
The sections of highway that are passing zones are straight with good visibility, so cautious drivers feel safer going faster on those sections. Give a cautious driver a curve, rain, blinky lights, or 100 other things and they will go 10 or 15 under the limit.
Point taken, but I specifically was talking about 2 lane highways where one direction becomes two lanes for an interval, making the road 3 lanes wide overall.