A commute from Delaware to Virginia (via Maryland and D.C.)

[cpzilliacus]

WTOP Radio: Commuter Idle: A 3-hour trek through 4 'states'

[jwolfer]

I can not see a commuting like that on an indefinite basis..  I commuted 100 miles each way for  3 years while I was getting my Doctorate in Chiropractic.  We didn't move because my wife had a good job she liked, we had family to help take care of kids etc.  But I knew it was not forever. 


I would bet if they sat down and looked that budget the money spent on the mega commute would allow them to live closer.. and he mentioned church, you can find another one similar in the new town. Maybe visit Delaware on the weekends or he could stay a few nites near work in a motel, rent a room or a small apartment.

I think most of us on here like to drive but spending 3 hours a day in a car going to and from work get to be old.  I did enjoy finding every possible route between Jacksonville and Port Orange.  But when you get up at 5AM to get to class by 730AM and then have classes and clinics until almost 8PM... that hour and 20 minute drive home is torture, especially in early winter when it gets dark before 6.

During this time of my life is when I became a regular coffee drinker and got to know all the different herbal stimulants sold at convenience stores... This is when I discovered that a pill called "stamina RX" keeps you up in more than one way.  I thought it was just a regular energy pill, it was on the rack with other energy pills... about 30 minutes later I felt 15 again.

[formulanone]

100 miles doesn't sound too bad, but if it's 3 hours each way, and an aircraft is not involved...that would get old very quickly. At least a train and buss takes away some of the mechanical wear and tear, as well as the mental stamina required.

I've done a few 75-mile daily drives to come home every night; but that's because it's nice to come home once in a while. Since my usual routine is to fly out every Monday and then flying home Thursday/Friday night, I'll put up with it. That's my limit, really.

But certainly not 3 hours each way, every day. It would really have to be a great job, like porn star or backup insane millionaire.

[Mapmikey]

I can not see a commuting like that on an indefinite basis..  I commuted 100 miles each way for  3 years while I was getting my Doctorate in Chiropractic.  We didn't move because my wife had a good job she liked, we had family to help take care of kids etc.  But I knew it was not forever. 


I would bet if they sat down and looked that budget the money spent on the mega commute would allow them to live closer.. and he mentioned church, you can find another one similar in the new town. Maybe visit Delaware on the weekends or he could stay a few nites near work in a motel, rent a room or a small apartment.

The economic argument may not be as clear cut as one might think.  I drive 62 miles each way to work 4 10-hr days a week and have done so for about 15 years.  I leave my house at 4:50 and get home anywhere from 6-7:30 depending on weather/accidents, etc.

I bought my house in Fredericksburg before the market took off here and was able to refi for 15 years when I got my present job.  So my house is paid off next year.  I could have moved much closer starting about 10 years ago, but that would have required obtaining a mortgage in the $300k range.

Suppose I got 30 mpg and the avg gas ran $2.50 over the last 15 yrs = around $2000/yr = $30000 total.  So far, I've only bought 2 cars in the 15 yrs (and I certainly would have bought 1 living in close anyway) and will need #3 in a year or two.  Let's say that is $40000 total for the extra cars.

So I have spent $70000 in 180 months = $389 per month.  (This assumes zero gas costs had I moved closer which would only be possible if I bought a $1M home)

My current mortgage + $389 per month is barely 1/3 of what the mortgage would've been had I moved.

So I am able to take the $ that would've gone to the larger mortgage and invest all of it into retirement accounts so that I might be able to retire the moment I reach 30 years service at age 49.  Had I gotten the huge mortgage, there would be no big retirement savings and I might have to wait many more years to retire.

Does it cost me some time as I get stuck in traffic?  Sure.  Of course most of my co-workers live a third of my distance or closer but their commutes are still 45 min to an hour.  It is a trade-off worth doing to retire way earlier than I would've been able to.


Mapmikey

[Alex]

I commuted 50 miles each way from Orlando to DeLand, Florida during 2008. Even with devising a route that used back roads (into Lake County) to avoid I-4 and its traffic, it still was draining. Definitely would not voluntarily enter that scenario again.

[agentsteel53]

work 4 10-hr days a week

I'm surprised this isn't significantly more universal. 

[Alex]

work 4 10-hr days a week

I'm surprised this isn't significantly more universal.

I worked that schedule when I had the 50-mile commute. This was during the time when gas prices reached $4 on a national scale, so the schedule was even more beneficial.

[1995hoo]

Today WTOP had a woman who commutes 3.5 hours from Hagerstown–goes to bed at 9:00 and gets up at 2:30 AM. Man, I have trouble waking up at 7:00 after going to bed around 11:30.


(Edited several days later to fix a typo)

[formulanone]

work 4 10-hr days a week

I'm surprised this isn't significantly more universal. 

I think it's due to a lack of "coverage", but I've rather preferred four day weeks at some jobs I've had.

Florida's Division of Drivers Licenses uses the four-day work week, interestingly.

[hbelkins]

Did a 90-mile one-way commute for about five months several years ago. It wore me out and it was definitely not good on the car. Tried to go to bed at 9 each night and got up at 5 each morning. Ugh.

I would not even think about doing that now, especially with all the deer that like to roam on the roadways between sundown and sunup.

[Mapmikey]

Today WTOP had a woman who commutes 3.5 hours from Hagerstown—goes to be at 9:00 and gets up at 2:30 AM. Man, I have trouble waking up at 7:00 after going to bed around 11:30.

If she drove to Shady Grove Metro and parked there she'd shave hours off of that.   Though there might be a reasonable rationale for it, she is definitely choosing to do it the hard way...

I had a co-worker who lived outside Hagerstown and had to be at work at 6 like this lady.  It took him an hour to drive here (Bethesda) most days.

Mapmikey

[1995hoo]

Today WTOP had a woman who commutes 3.5 hours from Hagerstown–goes to be at 9:00 and gets up at 2:30 AM. Man, I have trouble waking up at 7:00 after going to bed around 11:30.

If she drove to Shady Grove Metro and parked there she'd shave hours off of that.   Though there might be a reasonable rationale for it, she is definitely choosing to do it the hard way...

I had a co-worker who lived outside Hagerstown and had to be at work at 6 like this lady.  It took him an hour to drive here (Bethesda) most days.

Mapmikey

The report said she drives to a park-and-ride somewhere near Hagerstown and rides a bus to Shady Grove.

Edited to add: The story is online now. Seems the commuter bus leaves at 4:15, but she gets there at 2:45 to get a "prime seat" on the bus. Also, I stand corrected–she doesn't get up at 2:30. She leaves her house at 2:30. So she gets up even earlier!

Man, I remember about 14 years ago my brother worked retail loss prevention and had to show up at the store at 1:30 AM the day after Thanksgiving and I thought that was awful, but at least that was just a one-day thing.

[agentsteel53]

I think it's due to a lack of "coverage",

you mean for customer-oriented businesses?

I would imagine that for jobs like mine, where I do not directly interact with customers, and am instead expected to get particular tasks done by particular deadlines, a 4/10 option would not be a hindrance to productivity.

[formulanone]

I think it's due to a lack of "coverage",

you mean for customer-oriented businesses?

Yes, probably just the retail and customer service sectors. I could see whereby manufacturing might not get the best out of a worker by increasing the length of the shift. For workplaces with 16-24 hour production cycles, the 8-and-8 (or 8-8-8) hour shifts work out nicer than two 10-hour blocks, some sort of overlapping blocks, et al.

I've preferred the four x 10-hour-day in some cases; you work a little longer, and either get a longer weekend, or you get a day off in between to take care of things you couldn't normally do Monday through Friday. The downside is that you have no little to no spare time when you get home from work, and unless schools go to a similar schedule, there would be less time spent with children after school. Would more service related industries modify themselves to becoming open for 20-24 hours, so as to pick up more late-night customers?

Some jobs probably aren't meant for longer shifts; surgeons and airline pilots, for example. But there's lots of sectors that would probably find it helpful, and put less strain on employees...then again, there's also jobs that put emphasis/requirement on working 5 ten-hour days, which probably would strain most people, or make many workers less comfortable with the idea (especially as many workplaces/companies in the U.S. offer a pretty crummy vacation schedule to those without a long tenure).

I think a lot of things in American society revolve around the concept of a 8 hour work schedule. Things like TV/entertainment schedules would be adjusted, although that's changing to an on-demand or repetition-based format. I'd imagine unions would have their say, as well.

In the transportation scheme of things, it would probably lighten the overall traffic numbers, but also make the peak/rush traffic hours a little more packed. The later scenario would depend on how commuters deal with preferring to work an hour later or earlier to combat the rush. I suppose it would essentially even out.

On the other hand, I've tried to figure out how we could get an 8-day week, but the numbers just don't add up right.

[cpzilliacus]

Today WTOP had a woman who commutes 3.5 hours from Hagerstown–goes to be at 9:00 and gets up at 2:30 AM. Man, I have trouble waking up at 7:00 after going to bed around 11:30.

That can be brutal, especially in the winter.

The pass that I-70 takes crossing the Blue Ridge (a/k/a South Mountain) at the Washington County/Frederick County  border is high enough (even though it's not nearly as high as some others, even in the East, even in Maryland) to have snow and ice when other parts of the highway system do not, and it's a pretty steep and curving descent eastbound from the crest of the ridge to the interchange at Md. 17 (Myersville). 

Though there is an express bus run by the Maryland Transit Administration that runs from Hagerstown to Frederick and then on to the Shady Grove terminal stop on the  Metrorail Red Line, and then on to Rock Spring Park (the office park in North Bethesda where Marriott and Lockheed Martin have their main offices).

[cpzilliacus]

This is in California, but is has relevance in terms of distance covered (though IMO the taxpayers should not be funding it).

Taxpayers Foot The Bill For Top LA County Chief's Commute To And From NorCal

[1995hoo]

I didn't hear today's installment on WTOP (cleaning up the kitchen preparing for an appliance delivery today), but I found it online:

Woman lives in West Chester, PA. She commutes to DC and her husband commutes to New York.

[jeffandnicole]

I didn't hear today's installment on WTOP (cleaning up the kitchen preparing for an appliance delivery today), but I found it online:

Woman lives in West Chester, PA. She commutes to DC and her husband commutes to New York.

She made it onto the office with 3 minutes to spare, and she calls it a good day.  So how often is she late getting into the office??

[cpzilliacus]

I didn't hear today's installment on WTOP (cleaning up the kitchen preparing for an appliance delivery today), but I found it online:

Woman lives in West Chester, PA. She commutes to DC and her husband commutes to New York.

She made it onto the office with 3 minutes to spare, and she calls it a good day.  So how often is she late getting into the office??

Good question.  The MARC Penn Line is usually considered the most-reliable of the three commuter rail lines run by the Maryland Transit  Administration.  It runs entirely on Amtrak's N.E. Corridor and usually uses electric locomotives, which can accelerate faster than the Diesel units in the MARC fleet.

And I suppose that early in the morning, the  trip from West Chester, Penna. to Perryville, Md. (via U.S. 202 and I-95) is not that bad (Google maps says it is about 50 miles one-way).

[1995hoo]

The guy from Delaware "won" the contest. His prize? They provide a limo for one day's commute and he gets $1000 in gas money.

[jwolfer]

I think it's due to a lack of "coverage",

you mean for customer-oriented businesses?

Yes, probably just the retail and customer service sectors. I could see whereby manufacturing might not get the best out of a worker by increasing the length of the shift. For workplaces with 16-24 hour production cycles, the 8-and-8 (or 8-8-8) hour shifts work out nicer than two 10-hour blocks, some sort of overlapping blocks, et al.

I've preferred the four x 10-hour-day in some cases; you work a little longer, and either get a longer weekend, or you get a day off in between to take care of things you couldn't normally do Monday through Friday. The downside is that you have no little to no spare time when you get home from work, and unless schools go to a similar schedule, there would be less time spent with children after school. Would more service related industries modify themselves to becoming open for 20-24 hours, so as to pick up more late-night customers?

Some jobs probably aren't meant for longer shifts; surgeons and airline pilots, for example. But there's lots of sectors that would probably find it helpful, and put less strain on employees...then again, there's also jobs that put emphasis/requirement on working 5 ten-hour days, which probably would strain most people, or make many workers less comfortable with the idea (especially as many workplaces/companies in the U.S. offer a pretty crummy vacation schedule to those without a long tenure).

I think a lot of things in American society revolve around the concept of a 8 hour work schedule. Things like TV/entertainment schedules would be adjusted, although that's changing to an on-demand or repetition-based format. I'd imagine unions would have their say, as well.

In the transportation scheme of things, it would probably lighten the overall traffic numbers, but also make the peak/rush traffic hours a little more packed. The later scenario would depend on how commuters deal with preferring to work an hour later or earlier to combat the rush. I suppose it would essentially even out.

On the other hand, I've tried to figure out how we could get an 8-day week, but the numbers just don't add up right.

Some Surgeries last longer than 12 hours.  Most nurses in hospitals are on 12 hour shifts... 3x12 is considered full-time.

I worked 4x10s and it was great!  The people who commuted far appreciated 1 less day a week of travel

[agentsteel53]

The people who commuted far appreciated 1 less day a week of travel

I'd be hopping with excitement over three-day weekends.  I could basically drive 1000 miles out, explore for a day, drive 1000 miles back, as opposed to having a ~600 mile range right now for a two-day weekend.

hell, if I could, I'd work 14-13-13.

[mtfallsmikey]

I've been doing a 1 1/2 hr./each way commute from Winchester to Reston for over 15 yrs. now. I get up at 3:15, work 5:30-2:00, go home. Yes it gets old. I've seen everything from bears to mattresses in the road. Have 8 (?) confirmed deer kills in 3 different cars. But, I do it for the money.

[agentsteel53]

I probably wouldn't mind having an hour-and-half commute each way if traffic actually moved.  it's having to deal with heavy traffic, inattentive drivers, and the existential pain of knowing that you're averaging 27mph on the freeway that is really sapping.