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Commute distance/time vs. losing ones mind

Just wondering for those of you monkeys that commute what is your average distance/time spent on the road and whether or not you think its worth it? I currently walk to work and its only about a 1/2 mile but the job is sucking the life out of me. I have applied for a job that would fit me perfect and I would enjoy (also happens to pay more). Only thing is it would require me to make a 1 hr commute of about 50 miles each way.
 

hooples3

Fuggetaboutit!
Mar 14, 2005
5,245
0
Brooklyn
1 hour doesnt seem so bad for a commute to work..especially if its not in traffic... there are times it takes me 1 hr just to get into NYC.. and its 6 miles away!!!
 

TreeSaw

Mama Monkey
Oct 30, 2003
17,669
1,847
Dancin' over rocks n' roots!
I work 34 miles from home...about a 50-55 minute commute. It sucks and will probably suck even more once the baby is born. I love teaching and like my kids and the flexibility I have with my schedule, but I would love to get a job closer to home!
 

jacksonpt

Turbo Monkey
Jul 22, 2002
6,791
59
Vestal, NY
Are we talking commute time on a bike, or in a car?

Drive time is about 20 minutes each way.

ride to work is about 10 miles, 35 minutes or so. Ride home from work is 10 miles and just a hair over an hour. For me, it's totally worth it (like you said... the losing my mind factor). Unfortunately, the hour ride home is hard on the family/scheduling (kinds at daycare and all that other family crisis stuff), so I don't get to ride to work very often. But yes, it's absolutely worth it.

On a side note, in a perfect world, I don't think I'd ride to work every day... but 3 days a week would probably work out very well.

On another side note... in the past I've commuted over an hour by car each way. I kind of enjoyed the drive... gave me a chance to wake up and kind of wade into the day a bit before getting to work, and gave me a chance to wind down before getting home and having to deal with family stuff. What I hated was losing 2 hours of my day every day.
 

Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
54,232
20,015
Sleazattle
Where is the new job, I'd just consider moving. Witht the commute the job will steal an extra 10 hour/week of your life.
 

PonySoldier

Monkey
May 5, 2004
823
0
Woodland Park Colorado
In good weather 45-50 minutes, on the bus an hour and as far as I am concerned its worth it, not because of the job but rather where I live....Coming home to Elk and/or Mule Deer bedded in the yard is nice..or Bears ambling around...or the Coyotes yelping and singing at dawn and dusk..or the Foxes on the deck looking in the door.....:thumb:
 

Andy_B

Monkey
Jul 21, 2004
679
0
whereabouts unknown
17 miles 35min to 1 hour totally dependent on who farted when the woke up... W/Snow or Rain, Hour + every-time....

If you can pull 50mph avg. And the cost of gas is not going to kill you.
 

Skookum

bikey's is cool
Jul 26, 2002
10,184
0
in a bear cave
My commute is where the job is. My average commute is about 45 minutes, but sometimes if there is a job a ways away we get 50 extra bucks and/or a ferry ticket. But it's still not worth it in my book, since this involves sometimes 2 to 3 hours on the road one way.

Time is money, and i'm not talkin about just the currency. You have to weigh what's important enough to take time away from you. For me these longer commute jobs don't last too long, a few months tops.

An hour commute doesn't seem too long to me. A half hour is a hell of a lot better, but an hour isn't too bad.
 

antimony

M.N.F. Beer Wench
Nov 21, 2005
1,019
2
North Carolina
splat said:
when ever I'm looking for Job, it is an important criteria , that the Commute be no more than 30 min ( by car , under normal conditions ) and that I can ride my bike there too .
:stupid: (minus the bike)
 

douglas

Chocolate Milk Doug
May 15, 2002
9,887
6
Shut up and Ride
about 23-25 miles depending on my route

via car = 30-35 minutes, via bike 1:15-1:25

I use to have 5 mile commute, I am pretty annoyed by all the extra miles I am putting on my truck now (its 12,000 miles per year more)
 

Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
54,232
20,015
Sleazattle
When I'm not flying across the country on a regular basis my commute is less than 5 miles. The job could be better better but waking up at 7:40 and being at work by 8:00 kicks ass.
 

stosh

Darth Bailer
Jul 20, 2001
22,238
393
NY
I spend approx 45min on the road. Depending on the day sometimes I lose my mind by the minute 30.

Very often however I question why I commute this far.
Thats 1.5 usable hours a day I waste.
 
stosh said:
I spend approx 45min on the road. Depending on the day sometimes I lose my mind by the minute 30.

Very often however I question why I commute this far.
Thats 1.5 usable hours a day I waste.
Im afraid of losing 2 hours a day of my life driving to work but now i feel like I walk 20 minutes to waste 8 hours of my life everyday. I guess there are a lot of things to weigh in the decision but I keep coming back to wasting away for the next 27 years in a field I have no interest in.
 

narlus

Eastcoast Softcore
Staff member
Nov 7, 2001
24,658
63
behind the viewfinder
stosh said:
Very often however I question why I commute this far. Thats 1.5 usable hours a day I waste.
:stupid:

i'm pretty lucky... i live about 10 miles from work so it takes me about 20 min by car and 30-35 min by bike. for a one hour commute each way, i'd lose a decent amount of usable time per day (either riding after work, working out, playing w/ the kids, etc).

and as westy noted, it's great to be able to wake up @ 7AM each morning. :thumb:
 

Atomic Dog

doesn't have a custom title yet.
Oct 22, 2002
1,207
1,340
In the basement at Weekly World News
I'm doing about 75 miles each way right now, but it's all uncrowded highway driving. For me, rush hour is getting stuck behind onion and potato trucks during the harvest season.

It started wearing thin pretty quickly, until I got satellite radio for a distraction. Now I don't notice it much. Monday's drive home did suck, though. Icy roads bumped my drive time to over 2 hours. :dead:
 

stosh

Darth Bailer
Jul 20, 2001
22,238
393
NY
narlus said:
:stupid:

i'm pretty lucky... i live about 10 miles from work so it takes me about 20 min by car and 30-35 min by bike. for a one hour commute each way, i'd lose a decent amount of usable time per day (either riding after work, working out, playing w/ the kids, etc).

and as westy noted, it's great to be able to wake up @ 7AM each morning. :thumb:
Yeah I wake up at 7am becuase my boss won't let me come to work any earlier than 8:30am.

My boss doesn't show up to work till 11am most days and he only lives 4miles from our office.
 
Apr 9, 2004
516
8
Mount Carmel,PA
When I am in Pa. I drive 70 miles one way so I can live where I ride and work at a decent salry. It is about a 1 hour 10 min commute.

Now that I am in Kentucky, I live in Indiana and work in Louisville 17 miles,but it takes me 1 hour to get home and 45 min to work.
 

GravityFreakTJ

leg shavin roadie
Jul 14, 2003
2,947
0
at a road race near you
I uderstand what your talking about.In my job I cover a 10 county territory so ALOT of driving is just part of the job.I'm hoping that i can keep on sinking all my extra $$$ on the house paymentsand have it payed off soon.Then its time to make a change.50k + miles a year gets old :dead:
 

GravityFreakTJ

leg shavin roadie
Jul 14, 2003
2,947
0
at a road race near you
teamkranzelbike said:
When I am in Pa. I drive 70 miles one way so I can live where I ride and work at a decent salry. It is about a 1 hour 10 min commute.

Now that I am in Kentucky, I live in Indiana and work in Louisville 17 miles,but it takes me 1 hour to get home and 45 min to work.
You come in across the Kennedy or Sherman Minton Bridge?The Kennedy can be a friggin nightmare.
 

stosh

Darth Bailer
Jul 20, 2001
22,238
393
NY
teamkranzelbike said:
When I am in Pa. I drive 70 miles one way so I can live where I ride and work at a decent salry. It is about a 1 hour 10 min commute.

Now that I am in Kentucky, I live in Indiana and work in Louisville 17 miles,but it takes me 1 hour to get home and 45 min to work.
HOLY FAWK, you're from Mtn Carmel! My family is from Frackville!!!
 
I think the ideal situation would be to commute it but go ahead and put my house on the market and keep an eye on the real estate a little closer. The riding is good in both location so thats not an issue, plenty of places to ride all over SW Virginia.
 

riverside73

Monkey
Nov 29, 2004
362
0
An hour drive would suck.....but for a job that you would like vs. a job that is "sucking the life out of you" would be a no brainer to me.

I work from home so have no drive time obviously. But if I had to go find a job right now, one factor that would weigh pretty heavily on my decision making is whether I could commute on my bike. No matter how bad or good your jpb is, it's ALWAYS better if you can ride your bike to it and home again at the end of the day!!!:)
 

Snacks

Turbo Monkey
Feb 20, 2003
3,523
0
GO! SEAHAWKS!
I commute 30 miles rt to work. It works out to about an hour on the road total for the day. It's not bad, it could be worse:)
 
riverside73 said:
An hour drive would suck.....but for a job that you would like vs. a job that is "sucking the life out of you" would be a no brainer to me.

I work from home so have no drive time obviously. But if I had to go find a job right now, one factor that would weigh pretty heavily on my decision making is whether I could commute on my bike. No matter how bad or good your jpb is, it's ALWAYS better if you can ride your bike to it and home again at the end of the day!!!:)
I dont even ride to work now, it's so close getting the bike out and locking it up is more of a hassle than just walking. To get an idea of what i mean by "sucking the life out of me", it is now 10:30 on Wednesday and I have done 0 minutes worth of actual work this week and have 0 minutes worth of work piled up, during a busy week I probably do a total of 6-7 hours of actual work, and that work is unenjoyable.
 

BigMike

BrokenbikeMike
Jul 29, 2003
8,931
0
Montgomery county MD
Pete, where in VA do you live, and where is the job you want?

I used to drive almost two hours to work in the morning, and it was all sitting in traffic. I lived in Springfield, VA, and worked at Catholic U in DC. almost 2 hours to go 25 miles :dead: It was TERRIBLE.

This past summer I worked at Kings Dominion and had about a 35 minute drive, which wasnt too bad, unless I wokd up late. I like driving though, and commute time is my alone time :thumb:
 
BigMike said:
Pete, where in VA do you live, and where is the job you want?

I used to drive almost two hours to work in the morning, and it was all sitting in traffic. I lived in Springfield, VA, and worked at Catholic U in DC. almost 2 hours to go 25 miles :dead: It was TERRIBLE.

This past summer I worked at Kings Dominion and had about a 35 minute drive, which wasnt too bad, unless I wokd up late. I like driving though, and commute time is my alone time :thumb:
I live way down in SW VA, in Wytheville... the job is just up I-81 at VA Tech in Blacksburg.
 

blt2ride

Turbo Monkey
May 25, 2005
2,333
0
Chatsworth
I work for a company who loves to move people to different offices. At one point I worked 90 miles from my house, and then I worked as close as 7 miles from home. There is really something to be said about working close to home; it makes your day seem A LOT shorter when you're not sitting in your car for 2-4 hours a day. Although, since I live in Los Angeles, our traffic is a disaster. When I worked in Downtown, which was only 30 miles from my house, I would sit in traffic for about 3 hours a day.

On the other hand, if you're not happy with your job, even if it is close to home, it's not worth it. I would be happy driving 50 miles a day, if it was a job I really enjoyed. Life's to short to work a job that kills you...
 

Echo

crooked smile
Jul 10, 2002
11,819
15
Slacking at work
My commute is about 10 minutes by car, or about 20 minutes by bike. No highway involved, no traffic EVER. Once in a while I have a school bus slow me down a bit. I used to work in the city and I don't miss that commute AT ALL.
 

riverside73

Monkey
Nov 29, 2004
362
0
caboverpete said:
I dont even ride to work now, it's so close getting the bike out and locking it up is more of a hassle than just walking. To get an idea of what i mean by "sucking the life out of me", it is now 10:30 on Wednesday and I have done 0 minutes worth of actual work this week and have 0 minutes worth of work piled up, during a busy week I probably do a total of 6-7 hours of actual work, and that work is unenjoyable.
Oh, yeah, I completely understand that. I would make sure that i was at least far enough away from home to make sure it was workth changing shoes and i could get a little bit of a work out.