is the long commute to work worth it?

10 minutes.

Used to have an hour drive to work. Didn't mind it much.

Don't think I could put up with it now, though. Gas prices, for one, would be a bitch.

 

The daily commute is about 15 minutes, all along the Hamakua Coast.

Take the little perks where you can....

 

Let's see. In somewhat recent history, I lived about 5 miles (10-15 minutes depending on traffic) from work. The drive was long enough to be a pain in the neck, and long enough I couldn't look at the clock, say "oh shit," jump in the car, and still not be significantly late for work.

So then, about 4 years ago, I bought a house, 1.7 miles from the office. A 5 minute drive at worst, and a 10-minute bike ride if the weather was half-decent. Copacetic. I put an average of about 25 miles a week on my car, other than completely elective driving. I buy about one tank of gas every six weeks. Everything rolls along smooth for a couple of years.

So then, some fucking numbnut in our corporate hierarchy gets the super-groovy idea it would be really great to consolidate newsroom and production facilities, so now I get to drive 25 fucking miles each way, every day, through the guts of rush-hour traffic on the way in. 45 minutes on the way in, 25 minutes at 1:30 when I come home. And now, instead of 25 miles a week, I'm putting 250 miles a week on my car, and buying a tank of gas every 8-10 days. Motherfucker.

The office 1.7 miles away is still open, and there's really no reason I couldn't go in and work there. Sometimes, in case of "emergencies," I do. But thanks to Good Ole Numbnuts, I get to piss about $6.00 of gas a fucking day out the window.

 

I'm about 10 minutes now, have been as much as 30. The 10 minutes isn't bad except when it's 20 because it's football Saturday or when it's 20 because college kids are in town and forgot how to drive over the summer.

 

1 hour and it is not too bad, work in the city but live in a lake community which makes it worthwhile, morning commute is better listening to NPR and planning the day, in the afternoon I do get anxious to get home

 

25 minutes one way.

 

About ten seconds each way. Work at home.

And I'm interested in hearing more about Dan Rydell's blanket indictment of big city folks. Are we that bad?

 

40-55 minutes depending on the traffic.

Sucks for my car and wallet, but I get to live in an area that I like and it gives me some "me" time listening to the radio, etc.

 

The distance isn't as big a deal as the time. A 60-mile commute on open roads is much better than a 15-mile commute in traffic that takes 45 minutes.

Driving isn't a problem as much as traffic is.

 

Agreed. I used to have a 30-minute commute through a beautiful mountain pass with very little traffic. Didn't mind at all. Gave me mental space to gear up for work on the way there, then a half hour to obsess on shit on the way home. By the time I got to the front door, I was generally done thinking about work and ready for my personal life.

A few years before that, I had a 20-minute commute in traffic. Loathed every second of it. These days, I'm lucky. Live 1.25 miles from work. I take my bike unless I'm late or there's some reason for me to have the car handy.

 

Reading this, I feel spoiled. My commute is about 10 minutes in a small town (live about 7 miles from the office). However, the wife lives an hour away in a different town 60 miles away. I've resisted giving up my apartment here until I can find a job there, because the hour commute would be a bitch every day (especially during basketball season). Not to mention expensive.
Reading some of the folks on here, though, maybe it's not so bad.