Commuting - how much can you take?

[Jeff7]

30-40 minutes is about what I'd tolerate, and it's what I had for awhile.

I'm spoiled now though, it's about 5 minutes each way, maybe 7-8 if the traffic or weather is really bad.

It does add up to quite a bit of your life spent sitting in your car.

 

[AreaCode707]

The commute I'm speaking of is Mill Creek to Everett... they're close, but you have to take a lot of city streets.

Boeing?

 

[KillerCharlie]

Boeing?

Why else would someone actually want to work in Everett?

The area just north/northeast of the factory is actually kind of nice, but I just don't want to live in Everett. I'm in Mukilteo now and it's awesome, but house prices are extremely high. I like the feel of the upper eastside (bothell, mill creek) more - it's more suburban and open feeling.

 

[goog40]

Used to be about 50 minutes in traffic to work and an hour+ coming back through heavier traffic all on the freeway. Solved that by moving across the street from the office.

It ultimately came down to saving money (living at home, which I didn't really mind besides the commute) versus spending some money and reclaiming a nice chunk of free time each day.

 

[zinfamous]

I took walk+ train + bus + walk for ~1 hours in, 1.5 hours out for 2 straight years.

no problem with that really, but I'd hate doing that driving, especially in traffic (This kind of traffic....holly hell)

for that, it's around 20 minutes tops, for me. ...which is one of the reasons I moved into a heavy PT city for several years. I hated traffic, even in a po-dunk town.



3rd town now: I walk 15 minutes in, 15 minutes out. (though soon to be bike: 5 minutes in/out?)

 

[SearchMaster]

I'll take a long, traffic-free commute over a shorter, traffic-filled commute every time.

I used to live 5 miles from my office but it was in a heavy area...if I left the office at the wrong time, it could take 45 minutes (I should have walked or biked, oh well). I currently have a 45 mile commute each way, but I come in early and leave early enough to avoid traffic as much as possible, so the time tends to be about an hour each way.

My commutes have been 0 (wfh), 3, 5, 35, and 45 miles. I don't mind my 45 mile commute really, I rather enjoy the alone time. As long as there's no traffic.

 

[GT1999]

I drive 25, but I tend to leave around 4:30 instead of 5 which helps it from going to around 40 minutes during rush hour.

Recent construction of a big tollway helped, because before it was almost always 40 minutes.

I'd say 45 is about my max, once you get to an hour you start to go totally nuts.

 

[dabuddha]

My commute is about 2-2.5 hours each way. So 20 minutes would be awesome for me

 

[bignateyk]

I know a guy who drives from the countryside outside of York down to DC every day. I think it's > 2 hours each way. I think i'd probably off myself after about a week of doing that.

My commute is 10 minutes through stoplights each way.

 

[JimmiG]

I'm studying in another city, but right now I'm doing practical training at an ISP in my city. It's about 25 minutes on the transit bus, and about 16-20mins on the way back (less people getting on). It's the maximum "comfortable" amount of time I can spend commuting. It's short enough that I don't need a magazine, mp3 player or similar to help pass the time.

When I go to school it's about 1.5 hours each way

-15min on the bus to the train station
-Wait 10mins for the train, then 27 min on train #1
-Wait 3 min for train #2, then ride on it for 23 mins
-10 minutes walking

Repeat in reverse in the afternoon. Works fine though. I load my mp3 player with music and audio books. But it wouldn't be acceptable in the long run - I'm only doing it for another year or so, while studying. Then I'll either look for work closer to where I live or move.

 

[Phoenix86]

0 traffic, it's 45 minutes, of course there's never 0 traffic...

Reality, 1 hour on the way in, 1.5 on the way home. Unless there's a wreck, or 3 drops of rain on the road. 3 hours one way was the worst I have had.

This is kinda over my "limit", if I could find a job closer to home I would take it in a heart beat. Not interested in moving.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

I've been doing 1-1.5 hours (one way, so 2-3 hours a day) for 2-3 years. It's too far.

I bought my home ~6 years ago, at that time I was about 5 minutes from work. 5 days after closing the company announced a huge buyout, which would've moved me out of state. There were no local jobs I was interested in, and ultimately realized I was going to have to deal with a long commute or move.


Personally, I won't buy another place unless I'm >75% sure that my job will be stable for 5-10 years. It's much much easier to move if you're renting.

 

[Gibson486]

i used to commute 45 minutes each way with no traffic. What sucks is that there usually was traffic. 45 minutes lots of times turned into 1.5 hours. What I ended up doing was leaving home earlier and leaving work later. It sucked balls.

 

[EMPshockwave82]

Used to walk 10 minutes, that changed to driving 25 minutes which changed to driving 70 minutes.

I hate my life now and want to go back to walking 10 minutes

 

[Kntx]

From locking my front door to sitting down at my desk is about 20 minutes. Walk, subway, walk.

 

[Proprioceptive]

Dang... I used to have a 45 minute commute to work. And I walked. I lost quite a bit of wait, though.

 

[Kirby]

45 mins to an hour, with at least 30 minutes on the interstate.

 

[JD50]

Really? You're worried about an extra 3-5 minutes? Seriously?

 

[JD50]

Dang... I used to have a 45 minute commute to work. And I walked. I lost quite a bit of wait, though.

How did you lose so much wait?

 

[Proprioceptive]

How did you lose so much wait?

woops! I guess that it did improve my patience

 

[mmntech]

My commute now to college is about 20-30 each way minutes where as my part time job is about 5 minutes away from home.

Back when I was in university, my commute was an hour each way, though half of that was by bus.

 

[purbeast0]

i used to drive 25 mins to work on the highway, 35 or so on the way back back roads. no traffic either way.

now i have a 1 minute walk to the train and don't even have to go above ground when i get to my job. takes about 40-50 minutes total depending on when the trains get there (i switch once).

i like taking the train actually. all i do is watch tv shows on my ipod.

since i started my new job i've watched all of Rome, Survivor season 1 again, and I started Dexter this past week from the beginning.

i also tossed in a few episodes of family guy and salute your shorts!

but honestly i wouldn't be able to take any more than 30 minutes in traffic, 45 with no traffic. not sure how much i could take on a train, it's nice though not to have to worry bout traffic or wiping the snow off my car.

 

[Eli]

I'm currently 5 minutes(1.7 miles) from work. It's nice, but I would happily go up to half an hour under the right circumstances, and might even consider an hour.

My longest commute was an hour, and it did kinda start to wear on me after a while.

When I was a courier, I suppose you could say I commuted all day. Drove 3,000 to 7,000 miles a week. That was insanity.. But it paid well.

 

[FoBoT]

What's your tolerance?

i drive 100 miles round trip, about one hour each way, unless i get behind a major accident

all but 4 miles is highway and kansas city has a very short "rush hour" if you know what route to take at the right time

have been doing this for 6 years
currently am not burned out on it, although the gas cost and wear/tear/vehicle costs do suck

barring getting fired and foreclosed on, will likely continue this situation for the next 7+ years until after the youngest child is graduated from high school

^_^

 

[hanoverphist]

i live 11 miles from my work, but since my kids go to school in a different district i drop them off every morning. turns my 11 mile trip into about 23 one way. takes me about an hour to get to work in the morning, and about 45 min to get home with all the different stops.

i think if it was a straight shot and no stops, anything over 30 min would drive me crazy