I have a 25 minute bike ride in to work and a 35 minute return (570 foot elevation difference at the ends). I really wish the hill(s) were the other direction as the uphill at the end of the day nearly kills me.
Ive been lurking on the dope for years. Took this to get me to post. I’m currently 12 months into an 1:15 commute. 75 mile drive each way. Before this i commuted 1:40 each way for 4 years. I felt like it sucked the life out of me.
All these posts helped me realize why I love living in Iowa. I live on the opposite end of Dsm from my office and max (in crappy weather, during “rush hour”*) it takes me 30 minutes.
*We call it rush hour cause its a common phrase, but its more like rush half-hour.
My previous job entailed a daily commute of nearly four hours. Travelling by bus, then train then a Melbourne tram, the official travelling time was 1.75 hours in the mornings and > 2 hours of an evening, depending on what time I left work.
Of course, that was assuming that all the individual transit-providers were running on time… especially in hot weather, the trains have a funny habit of not operating at all, leaving a very long wait for replacement buses and then an even longer journey ahead. Waiting on a crowded station with 100,000 other commuters in upwards of 40c heat is a fun pastime, I tell’s ya. 
It now takes me 2.3 seconds to ‘walk’ to work…from my kitchen to my office. 
I used to commute 2 hours each way by public transportation.
I rode the subway for 45 -50 mins,
Switched to the commuter train and rode for another 45-50
And then got off and switched to a bus for 20.
And that 2 hours was without wait times at train and bus stations. They can add up to over an hour per day too.
It was terrible. It left little time for anything else and meant that I couldn’t work much overtime.
My husband has a long commute (about 90 minutes in normal traffic). This is to trade for my short commute (5 minutes if I hit the traffic lights wrong).
By the time he gets home, I have done some cleaning and dinner is almost ready. If we lived somewhere in the middle, none of that would happen.
And now that we are getting our kids, I work close to the school in case there are problems (and I can walk them there in the morning).
Okay, I live in Hamilton and work in Burlington, and my commute is generally like this:
MORNING:
- Hamilton city bus into downtown Burlington (30 minutes)
- Burlington bus to the vicinity of my office (5-10 minutes)
- Walk from the bus stop (5 minutes.)
Sometimes I’ll replace the later 2 steps with 2 different Burlington buses that take 20 minutes total, but drop me right across the street from the office.
AFTERNOON:
- Walk from office to downtown Burlington (35 minutes)
- Hamilton bus home (30 minutes)
Might use either a short-walk single bus route or a double-bus route to get downtown instead of walking, especially if the weather is sucky.
In terms of how I feel - I’m comfortable with the routine and variants, even like my commute most of the time. It would only be 15 minutes or so each way if I got a car, but this way I get some exercise, and I can use the time on the bus to entertain myself or work on my writing. (I have a remarkable collection of MP3 players, pocket video players, PDAs, netbooks, and one alphasmart, any of which might get used on the bus on a particular day - and the audio players also go on while I’m walking.)
I have to say that I’m not a social bus rider - I’m happiest when I’m off in my own little world, and do get pissed off when somebody is yakking to a friend/cell phone loud enough that I can’t drown them out - or even when somebody insists on talking to me even when they can see that I’m trying not to listen.
Thanks all for your great experiences - it seems that it really just depends on how you take it
I asked because I’m possibly moving somewhere where I’ll be looking at a 45-minute commute each way every day - fortunately it’s primarily on one commuter rail line. It doesn’t seem so bad compared to some others’ experiences, but I’m still not looking forward to it
Again, thanks!
My 24 mile commute takes 45 minutes (each way). Most of that is sitting in the slow moving street traffic at either end. I listen to talk radio, it passes the time.
You get used to it. (Both.)
wiggles eyebrows
I used to do ~40 minutes no traffic by car, no or low traffic. When I took the bus, it would add about 30 uncomfortable minutes each way. I didn’t think I minded until I changed to a 10 minute by car commute (15 by bus). I’m much, much, much happier now. The long commute was slowly leeching my spirit away.
I like long drives (all of my vacations this year have been me, in the car), but commuting isn’t the same thing as driving.
My longest commute was to college and then work in Boston for about 13 years. The 16-mile bus trip to/from Haymarket Square took 60 minutes. Car to rapid transit station and then via subway took an hour. By car it took 45 (for 2 years, to the mega parking deck above the Haymarket Square bus/subway depot). For the last 4 years it takes 2 minutes to drive the 1.2 miles to work.
Mine doesn’t seem so bad compared to some of yours…
I drive 24.5 miles one way. In the morning I go in early and take the toll road. It takes 35 minutes and $2.25. In the afternoon, I take surface roads, and it usually takes me 50 minutes to get home. On a bad day, it could be 1-1/4 hours. But it’s free! Except for gas money. 