What would be the maximum distance you would consider driving to a job every day?
And how might this vary from place to place - are people in large cities prepared to drive further?
Do congestion woes limit the potential willing-to-travel distance in fast-growing areas?
The longest commute I know of personally is from Fulton, NY to Webster, NY - around 55 miles and a minimum of an hour travel time. Even with the minimal congestion and rural nature of the NY 104 corridor, that's much too long of a commute for my liking. I like diversions and side-trips, so I wouldn't appreciate traveling that far.
I have found that the attractiveness of a particular job declines if the regular commute exceeds a half-hour each way.
Here's how my actual commutes have been:
Job 0 (high school): 35 minutes, daily, by bus
Job 1 (college): lived upstairs from job
Job 2: 16 minutes, mostly on rural 2-lane road
Job 3: 35 minutes (mostly light rail) for 6 months; 10 minute walk therafter
Job 4: 20 minutes by bus for 4 years; then 35 minutes by express bus
Job 5a: 30 minutes, mostly ex-urban 2 lane roads
5b: 50 minutes, mostly I-91/I-84 through Hartford (that sucked, so...)
5c: like 5b 3 days/week; telecommute 2 days/week
5c: 80% telecommute; 20% 2-3 hours mostly on MassPike
5d: 75% telecommute; 25% mostly air travel
5e (current): telecommute 3 weeks/month; drive 4¾ hours + border + traffic each way to work in office 1 week/month.
3 and 5a were probably my favorite, although my current situation has some unique appeal.
I once had a job that had me on the road about 60,000-80,000 miles and 120-150 nights a year. The job wasn't all that great but being able to travel all that open country and being to try every road under the sun was an absolute blast. The longest drive to a job site was 730 something miles away out in Texas. I generally would spend the start of the week in the office and travel out to the furthest location by Wednesday. From there I would chain about 4-6 sites on the way back home. For a home unit/job site/whatever you call it commute I'm cool with anything up 40 minutes so long as it doesn't involve much freeway
Probably 60 minute although my longest commute to school was 20 minutes in elementary school so I can't say for certainty yet.
Quote from: MikeTheActuary on February 16, 2018, 08:55:17 PM
I have found that the attractiveness of a particular job declines if the regular commute exceeds a half-hour each way.
Here's how my actual commutes have been:
Job 0 (high school): 35 minutes, daily, by bus
Job 1 (college): lived upstairs from job
Job 2: 16 minutes, mostly on rural 2-lane road
Job 3: 35 minutes (mostly light rail) for 6 months; 10 minute walk therafter
Job 4: 20 minutes by bus for 4 years; then 35 minutes by express bus
Job 5a: 30 minutes, mostly ex-urban 2 lane roads
5b: 50 minutes, mostly I-91/I-84 through Hartford (that sucked, so...)
5c: like 5b 3 days/week; telecommute 2 days/week
5c: 80% telecommute; 20% 2-3 hours mostly on MassPike
5d: 75% telecommute; 25% mostly air travel
5e (current): telecommute 3 weeks/month; drive 4¾ hours + border + traffic each way to work in office 1 week/month.
3 and 5a were probably my favorite, although my current situation has some unique appeal.
Can you elaborate on 5e? 4.75 hrs one way per day (albeit every 4 weeks)?
My current commute is about an hour each way. Not that much in terms of mileage, though, since it involves going into the most densely populated urban center in the country where foot traffic is pretty congested.
I don't doubt part of it is where you grow up and what you're used to seeing. I grew up here in Fairfax County living outside the Beltway, and 45 minutes to get downtown to work doesn't seem like a long trip to me. My current commute (most days via the subway) takes about an hour once I account for the ten-minute walk from the subway to the office. I know several people in their 20s who think a 20-minute commute from Arlington sounds insanely long, though.
Longest commute I ever had distance-wise was 30 miles each way in the summer of 1996. I lived in my apartment at Duke and commuted to a job north of Raleigh off Millbrook Road, usually via the Durham Freeway to I-40 to Wade Avenue to the Beltline to Wake Forest Road. The distance might sound long to some people, but it typically took me half an hour because traffic there is lighter than it is in the DC area and it therefore didn't feel like a taxing commute to me. (Raleigh is also a little odd in that peak-direction traffic on I-40 is the reverse of many other places, or at least it was back then–outbound heavier than inbound because so many people headed to the Research Triangle Park to work.) That was also a situation where I was not about to move for just three months since I was going to live in that apartment again the following academic year. Wouldn't make sense to move just for a shorter commute (even if I could have afforded to do so, which I couldn't–gas was cheaper than rent).
My commute nowadays, when I drive, would be about 15 miles if I took the most direct route (I don't due to traffic patterns), but it would take longer time-wise than that commute to Raleigh did.
41 mile commute, with 38 miles being all highway. About an hour each way. 1:15 home on the afternoon isn't totally unusual. Best time...35 minutes to work, accomplished once in 19 years.
My longest work commute had to be about a half hour (roughly 25 miles) mostly via rural county roads. I was living with my parents at the time.
Current commute is only five minutes (3 miles) and through one stoplight. However, some of my coworkers have 45-60+ minute commutes (my job is in Ypsilanti, and there are people commuting from Walled Lake, West Bloomfield, Grosse Pointe, Carleton, Riverview, Southgate, Brighton, Pinckney, and Flushing)
Quote from: SectorZ on February 17, 2018, 09:18:12 AMCan you elaborate on 5e? 4.75 hrs one way per day (albeit every 4 weeks)?
4.75 hours (plus border and bridge traffic) each way, one trip up, one trip back, and a couple of nights in a hotel in between.
Strictly speaking, mine's only about 12 miles.
However, I usually fill a half an hour, so depending on the routes I choose, I could burn up to 30 highway miles, even at rush hour.
My personal maximum would be around 20 miles/30 minutes. It's easy to make it longer if I want to - just leave earlier. But I wouldn't like the additional pressure associated with distances longer than that.
Quote from: MikeTheActuary on February 17, 2018, 11:22:55 AM
Quote from: SectorZ on February 17, 2018, 09:18:12 AMCan you elaborate on 5e? 4.75 hrs one way per day (albeit every 4 weeks)?
4.75 hours (plus border and bridge traffic) each way, one trip up, one trip back, and a couple of nights in a hotel in between.
That's what I thought. Good you can work from home 3 out of 4 weeks!
No job, but 5-10 minutes if I had one. Used to leaving about 15-20 minutes before school starts.
My current commute is 62 miles each way from Fredericksburg VA to Bethesda MD, 4 days a week. It encompasses 36 miles of I-95 through N. Virginia and 24 miles of the Beltway (west side). Going in I can do in a little under an hour and 90 minutes would be a good commute home in the afternoon.
Prior to the toll lanes being available for solo drivers a couple years ago, I would typically have 2 or 3 commutes home that were 2+ hours and a couple times a month there would be a 3+ hour commute. The record is 6.5 hours.
This is my 20th year of doing this commute. At most I have 8 more to go.
^I'd be interested in hearing more about the 6.5 hour commute :-o
Granted, I've got it pretty easy, but if I lost even fifteen minutes I'd go crazy. I can't even imagine reckoning in terms of hours.
My current commute is 36 miles, mostly Thruway and Northway, so it takes under 45 minutes most days, and I do it either 4 or 5 days each week. It's not bad. I've had commutes as short as a mile or two and as long as almost 120 miles each way. The longest were each for one academic year. One was 55 miles, taking 65 minutes, 4 days a week. The tough one was the 120 miles, but that took just under 2 hours most trips. I was able to limit that to 2 trips a week by staying near work 2 nights a week and having one stay home day. Both of the long ones included crossing the Berkshires on the Mass Pike, so traffic was rarely a problem and scenery was great, but weather was occasionally challenging.
My current commute doesn't involve driving at all. I go into the office twice a week via mass transit, which usually takes around 40 minutes each way. There's less stress involved with that, since I don't have to deal with traffic at all, so anything under an hour would be fine; if I were driving, I think 45 minutes would probably be my limit.
Quote from: Eth on February 17, 2018, 11:14:59 PM
My current commute doesn't involve driving at all. I go into the office twice a week via mass transit, which usually takes around 40 minutes each way. There's less stress involved with that, since I don't have to deal with traffic at all, so anything under an hour would be fine; if I were driving, I think 45 minutes would probably be my limit.
So do you completely use the MARTA, but you're part of a very small minority that uses public transit in a sunbelt city.
I do a 90 mile one-way commute twice a week, and telecommute the remaining 3 days...although I occasionally go a third day on the long commute if the situation calls for it. Approximately half the trip is on rail transit (mileage-wise)but has a 12 minute walk at the job end, and the whole thing takes a little more than 2 hours each way, from walking out my front door to walking in the office. But once on the train, I can either work or take a nap, it beats driving in rush hour.
Quote from: webny99 on February 17, 2018, 09:34:52 PM
^I'd be interested in hearing more about the 6.5 hour commute :-o
Granted, I've got it pretty easy, but if I lost even fifteen minutes I'd go crazy. I can't even imagine reckoning in terms of hours.
Most of my co-workers live 15-20 miles out (civil servants generally can't afford Bethesda) and their commutes are not that much shorter than mine. My supervisor who lives 12 miles away actually has had a longer commute than my record from icing of streets a few years back rendered travel all but impossible...it took her 8 hours.
The 6.5 hour commute resulted from 1/4" snow which resulted in a 100 car pileup in Stafford County around lunchtime. The accident field was so large that there were pockets of cars that managed to stop without colliding amongst the wrecked vehicles. One person was killed. By the time I got down to Garrisonville on US 1, traffic was no longer moving at all. So I had to backtrack to Quantico and take a convoluted route through western Stafford County to get home. Had this detour not been necessary the commute would've been maybe 4 hours.
An unexpected commute of 8 hours? Might as well have just turned around since the day was done by the time she got there.
Some messed up decision making there.
Quote from: Rothman on February 18, 2018, 12:30:45 PM
An unexpected commute of 8 hours? Might as well have just turned around since the day was done by the time she got there.
Some messed up decision making there.
You couldn't...that was the problem (icy streets plus hills plus afternoon rush hour = gridlock). The streets iced over and nobody could treat them because there were cars everywhere preventing it.
The DC area gets hammered like this every few years...the snow/ice/rain lines are difficult to pin down because of Washington's proximity to mountains and open water. We also occasionally get a winter event that is immediately preceded by rain hard enough to render pre-treatment worthless.
I lived in the DC area. I know how it is. Just sounds like someone was overly determined to get to work, that's all.
Longest commute I've had for full-time employment was from my home in Redlands to my job just east of Ontario Airport; with city streets, it was a little under 24 miles each way (mostly I-10). WB in the mornings was rarely an issue; since I didn't start until 8:30, most of the "rush" had subsided by then. But going home at 5:30 p.m. was rarely fun; most of the time I took surface streets parallel to the freeway (there were a lot of "farmers' markets" along that stretch, and surface-street driving conveniently took me past several of them). Currently, I've got less than 2.5 miles each way to work in San Jose -- although a couple days a week I need to make a "parts run" to several electronic stores in Sunnyvale and Santa Clara -- but that's mid-morning, so the trip isn't particularly noxious.
The longest commute that I know of by any of my friends is from Tracy to Newark (he works for that city); he uses the ACE train at least three days of the week, but takes his car in if he needs to engage in other activities between work and home (most of his friends, including myself, reside either in the Fremont area or in and around San Jose). Unfortunately, that means slogging over I-580, one of the more obnoxious (in terms of both traffic and physical condition) facilities in the entire region. He's not in the best of health, and the trip really drains him; we (his friends on this side of the hill) try to help him out -- sometimes becoming essentially a "personal Uber" -- when he's over here so he won't have to bring his car, but schedules being what they are, that isn't always feasible. But he's slowly moving his life (shopping, gym, etc.) over to the Valley from his previous Milpitas area of residence, but with some serious blips in his social life (late '50's, and single for over 10 years). He's calculated his mileage from home to work (he uses CA 84 from Livermore to Fremont when driving) as 59 miles each direction; each auto commute averages about 2 hours and 25 minutes westbound in the morning and about 20-25 minutes more eastbound in the evening. I've even shown him Old Altamont Pass Road (original US 50), but he has qualms about using it in the dark. He'll likely eventually shift to an all-rail commute schedule and only come into the Bay Area on weekends -- can't blame him at all for that. 118 miles per day -- even for only 2 days a week -- can be taxing. Unfortunately, the housing economics in the area virtually dictate much of the rationale for such a commute.
In all the jobs I have had, I believe my current commute of 20 minutes is the longest I have had, assuming I take the most direct route. I don't know if I would want a longer one.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the mean travel time to work is 26.6 minutes.
There is a lot of anecdotal evidence of people commuting 2 hours each way, but they are outliers. Only 9.1% of Americans commute more than 60 minutes each way. Even in Riverside County, CA, known for brutal commutes, the mean commuting time is 33.8 minutes, but 19.2% of its residents commute over 60 minutes each way. However 65% of Riverside County residents commute under 34 minutes each way.
It's interesting to see that the average commute time in sprawling, congested places is not really much longer than that of Manhattan, where the average commute time is 32.5 minutes. The average commute in Los Angeles County is even slightly shorter than that of residents of Manhattan.
Quote from: Rothman on February 18, 2018, 11:43:35 PM
I lived in the DC area. I know how it is. Just sounds like someone was overly determined to get to work, that's all.
The way I read the OP it was getting home from work.. I would imagine the forecast was off so it was an unexpected happening
Z981
Quote from: jwolfer on February 19, 2018, 08:57:01 AM
Quote from: Rothman on February 18, 2018, 11:43:35 PM
I lived in the DC area. I know how it is. Just sounds like someone was overly determined to get to work, that's all.
The way I read the OP it was getting home from work.. I would imagine the forecast was off so it was an unexpected happening
Z981
Was definitely going home...she made it around midnight
Quote from: Mapmikey on February 19, 2018, 01:07:31 PM
Quote from: jwolfer on February 19, 2018, 08:57:01 AM
Quote from: Rothman on February 18, 2018, 11:43:35 PM
I lived in the DC area. I know how it is. Just sounds like someone was overly determined to get to work, that's all.
The way I read the OP it was getting home from work.. I would imagine the forecast was off so it was an unexpected happening
Z981
Was definitely going home...she made it around midnight
Eesh. I suppose that makes more sense. Would have gone home earlier. :D
I think in the past they tried to be more realistic in forecasts.. now every run of the mill winter storm is given a name and the tell us it's gonna be the end of the world that Cleveland got a foot of snow...(I am waiting for summer thunderstorms in Florida to get names lol)
Same thing with hurricanes.. every single tropical storm is overblown and they show the same downed tree over and over again like it's Armageddon.
The overdramatic presentation of weather events will have a chicken little effect.
Z981
Quote from: jwolfer on February 19, 2018, 02:31:59 PM
I think in the past they tried to be more realistic in forecasts.. now every run of the mill winter storm is given a name and the tell us it's gonna be the end of the world that Cleveland got a foot of snow...(I am waiting for summer thunderstorms in Florida to get names lol)
Same thing with hurricanes.. every single tropical storm is overblown and they show the same downed tree over and over again like it's Armageddon.
The overdramatic presentation of weather events will have a chicken little effect.
Z981
About winter storms: Officially, they aren't named, at least for those in the United States. All winter storm names are unofficial, unless you consider the year/days they happened to be a name.
About hurricanes: 2017 was an abnormal year. Puerto Rico permanently lost 1/10 of its population, and Harvey was very damaging, too. (Irma was a bit overblown, but that was because the general public saw it coming much earlier than normal due to Harvey being in the news.)
When I was in 8th Grade a few years ago (the 2013-2014 School Year), I had a Literature teacher that had an extremely long commute. According to him, he drove 2 hours every day to get to my school here in Dalton, GA from his home in the rural countryside somewhat close to Blue Ridge, GA, and he had to drive 2 hours again on the way back home (which was a total daily commute time of around 4 hours). I was so shocked when he told us (the class) that - I had never heard of such a long (both in time and distance together) commute in my life for a typical occupation like a teacher. :-o
I admired him very much for that, since he would have to be very determined to make that commute every day. I thought it was so incredibly cool that he did that (because of how much driving (and seeing roads) it was), but I could see how that commute could get old pretty quick, with factors such as traffic and physical fatigue and monotony and more. :paranoid: :-D
This stands, by far, as the longest consistent commute made by anyone I personally know, and it is definitely a long one. :wow:
Utah's lieutenant governor Spencer Cox lives in Fairview UT and commutes every day to Salt Lake City, 100 miles each way.
When I was in elementary school in Salt Lake City, there was a kid who lived in Wendover. That was 120 miles each way.
To answer the OP, I wouldn't consider any regular one way commute longer than 30 minutes anymore. At this point in my career I just don't see the need to go any further than that.
During high school my garage door to classroom commute was either 2.5 hrs (car-bus-train-train-walk) or 70-75 mins (car only). I had to do option 1 most days because it cost at least $10 for me to park anywhere near my high school vs $1.10 (with transfer) on the Pace bus/CTA trains.
My current 20+ year commute is either 7.7 or 9.2 miles depending on which way I decide to go to work and they both average right at 12-13 minutes. Because of that I usually go the 9.2 mile route as it allows higher speeds, less stop lights for me to fume at (why does it only seem go or stay red when I pull up but it goes green for the other guy as soon as he pulls up to the line, lol).
I have a 50-60 mile (depending on route) 60 minute commute 3 times a week. This is the maximum I will tolerate at this stage of my life (well, maybe 5 days a week, but it's a stretch). Back when I got my first real job, it was 35 minutes by car + 35 minutes by train + 10 minutes by taxi + waiting in between. I managed to handle that for 6 months before moving so that my commute was 10 minutes. By foot.
My longest commute was 22 miles. Roughly 30 minutes in the morning, and 35-45 in the afternoon (record was about an hour). Now I moved closer and it's 9 miles and 15 minutes in the morning, roughly 20 in the afternoon unless there's snow or an accident (record about 50 minutes).
About 6 months ago I accepted a job transfer to Oak Brook, IL. We decided to live in Munster, IN, for school and tax reasons. My commute is 37 miles, which translates to 50-55 minutes in "normal" rush hour traffic but gets well over an hour in bad weather and/or if there is an accident. It's really more than I ever imagined I'd commute for a job but the financial considerations are worth it.
My current commute back and forth to work is roughly 25 minutes or so, on about 18 miles of country road, where the biggest inconvenience is a timid grandmother who handles her minivan like it's a dump truck. I briefly had a commute of an hour each way (Louisa County to Waynesboro, VA) when I had to relocate. Previously, my commute back and forth to work was about 15 minutes through town, while my school commutes averaged about 35 minutes one way on rural highways and interstate. Occasionally there would be some cataclysm on I-64 that would stretch it out to an hour or more, even if I could get off the interstate, but US 250 is the only other convenient alternate route there.
Most of my commutes have been close - either a place I can bike to within 30 minutes and shower at, or a place I can drive to within that same time frame. The longest commute I had was 30 minutes between Lexington, Ky. and Frankfort, which often became commutes of one hour or more if there was an accident, road work and such. I had a variety of routes to choose from, but it didn't matter. It just made me tired and was part of the reason why I left my job a year later.
The shortest commute of them all has been my current job - which is a 3-minute drive up the hill. The hill is partly one reason why I haven't biked to work, which takes about 25 minutes to bike and about 50 minutes to walk. But the rent in Ithaca, Ny. is so expensive that I am considering moving to the country or another town (Watkins Glen?) and doing a 30 minute commute to save on rent.
I know a guy that travels daily from Keene, NH to Albany, NY and back (98.5 mi / 2 hr 20 min - one way).
Commutes for most of my career have been about an hour. Right now, 40 miles takes me an hour (or 75 min in heavy traffic).
Keene to Albany every day? Insanity.
Quote from: Rothman on February 27, 2018, 04:31:26 PM
Keene to Albany every day? Insanity.
And even though Vermont and New Hampshire are very small states, if you think about it, technically this person's everyday commute passes through
three different states (assuming that he does in fact travel through Vermont on his commute) -
New Hampshire, Vermont, and
New York. :-o
Quote from: adventurernumber1 on February 27, 2018, 06:16:02 PM
Quote from: Rothman on February 27, 2018, 04:31:26 PM
Keene to Albany every day? Insanity.
And even though Vermont and New Hampshire are very small states, if you think about it, technically this person's everyday commute passes through three different states (assuming that he does in fact travel through Vermont on his commute) - New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York. :-o
That one is more than I could manage since there's no good way to do it, especially in bad weather or tourist seasons. But 3-state commutes can be manageable. Live in one of the Hoosick, NY, area or Williamstown, MA, area and work in the other, and your commute wouldn't be long but would likely cut the corner on 346 and 7 through Pownal, VT.
Quote from: adventurernumber1 on February 27, 2018, 06:16:02 PM
Quote from: Rothman on February 27, 2018, 04:31:26 PM
Keene to Albany every day? Insanity.
And even though Vermont and New Hampshire are very small states, if you think about it, technically this person's everyday commute passes through three different states (assuming that he does in fact travel through Vermont on his commute) - New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York. :-o
I knew a guy in college who was from Penns Grove, NJ.. right near the Delaware Memorial Bridge.. his dad commuted from there to near Baltimore, MD.. 3 states every work day.. NJ, DE and MD
Z981
Quote from: adventurernumber1 on February 27, 2018, 06:16:02 PM
Quote from: Rothman on February 27, 2018, 04:31:26 PM
Keene to Albany every day? Insanity.
And even though Vermont and New Hampshire are very small states, if you think about it, technically this person's everyday commute passes through three different states (assuming that he does in fact travel through Vermont on his commute) - New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York. :-o
Since New York and New Hampshire don't border each other, unless he has an airplane or helicopter, there isn't any way he wouldn't be traveling through three (possibly even four!) states.
I commuted from MD to DC (Greenbelt to Dupont Circle) every day. Horrible. Never going back to a long commute. Ever.
Right after my stint there, I commuted from WI to MN (Superior to Duluth). Best commute I have ever had.
Also commuted from VA to DC over a summer between grad school years (Falls Church to L'Enfant Plaza) after WI. Not as bad as when I had lived in MD.
Quote from: Jim on February 27, 2018, 06:46:00 PM
Quote from: adventurernumber1 on February 27, 2018, 06:16:02 PM
Quote from: Rothman on February 27, 2018, 04:31:26 PM
Keene to Albany every day? Insanity.
And even though Vermont and New Hampshire are very small states, if you think about it, technically this person's everyday commute passes through three different states (assuming that he does in fact travel through Vermont on his commute) - New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York. :-o
That one is more than I could manage since there's no good way to do it, especially in bad weather or tourist seasons. But 3-state commutes can be manageable. Live in one of the Hoosick, NY, area or Williamstown, MA, area and work in the other, and your commute wouldn't be long but would likely cut the corner on 346 and 7 through Pownal, VT.
I live in Mystic, CT and work in Riverside, RI. But I sometimes go over the state line to Seekonk, MA to gas up (prices are lower there.) For @ five years I've had commutes from SE Connecticut to the Hartford or Providence area. I'm in financial services (and my types of jobs usually congregate around big cities) and met a woman from that area. Mystic is inconveniently located to metro areas. I may finally take the plunge and move closer to work. Mentally, I don't mind the drive, but it's physically tiring if I hit too much traffic and there's other things I'd like to do with my time.
Mine is about 30 miles each way, using mostly I-696, just north of the I-696/I-275/I-96/M-5 interchange in Novi/Farmington Hills, MI. Usually takes about 45 minutes in the AM, an hour or so PM. If it snows, I just use the surface or "mile" roads, for which you have to plan carefully. Right now, my AM commute is a little longer timewise, on account of I-696 being closed between I-94 & I-75 until November.
But if you think that's stressful, I've had coworkers (no longer here) who have commuted 70 or 80 miles, from such places as Oregon, OH (outside Toledo) or the Frankenmuth area. I couldn't handle that.
My current commute is 3.5 km, which is 10 min by car + 5 min walking from the parking, or just under 15 min by bike. I would put my maximum distance at about 40-50 km or 30 minutes of travel. More than that is a waste of time, and despite enjoying driving, I wouldn't want to spend more than an hour in the car everyday just to get to and from work.
Quote from: jon daly on May 18, 2018, 10:30:11 AM
Quote from: Jim on February 27, 2018, 06:46:00 PM
Quote from: adventurernumber1 on February 27, 2018, 06:16:02 PM
Quote from: Rothman on February 27, 2018, 04:31:26 PM
Keene to Albany every day? Insanity.
And even though Vermont and New Hampshire are very small states, if you think about it, technically this person's everyday commute passes through three different states (assuming that he does in fact travel through Vermont on his commute) - New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York. :-o
That one is more than I could manage since there's no good way to do it, especially in bad weather or tourist seasons. But 3-state commutes can be manageable. Live in one of the Hoosick, NY, area or Williamstown, MA, area and work in the other, and your commute wouldn't be long but would likely cut the corner on 346 and 7 through Pownal, VT.
I live in Mystic, CT and work in Riverside, RI. But I sometimes go over the state line to Seekonk, MA to gas up (prices are lower there.) For @ five years I've had commutes from SE Connecticut to the Hartford or Providence area. I'm in financial services (and my types of jobs usually congregate around big cities) and met a woman from that area. Mystic is inconveniently located to metro areas. I may finally take the plunge and move closer to work. Mentally, I don't mind the drive, but it's physically tiring if I hit too much traffic and there's other things I'd like to do with my time.
Meant to say that distance-wise, it is about 55 miles. Timewise, it is an hour on a good day to an hour and a half on a bad one.
The longest commute I been through would be from Solano County to Sacramento when I was going to College and its an hour drive in each direction.
Also I have done a commute to the San Francisco area and its 1.5 hour commute in each direction per day from the same location.
My uncle drives every day from Winchester, VA to Romney, WV for work (about an hour). I would imagine there are plenty of people that commute from Winchester to the DC area (Winchester to Dulles Airport is just under an hour according to Google Maps)
The longest commutes I've had were around 20-25 minutes for a co-op job in Guelph and for University. I would be hesistant to take a commute longer than 30 minutes. Thankfully, the job I'm starting on Tuesday is only 10-15 minutes away. My best commute was for a co-op job in St. Catharines; it was a 3 minute walk from my apartment to my desk!
My Mom used to commute from Brampton to downtown Toronto by driving to the GO station and then taking the train to downtown. It would take 1-1.5 hours, which must have been crappy.
Job 1: 3 min drive or 5-10 min bike ride from my parents house
Job 2: About a 7 min drive from my apartment while at school, after I graduated that turned into a 60 mile drive from home. Only took stagehand shifts that could cover gas $$ and still come out with a profit (mainly concerts or big sporting events).
Internship: Only drove from school, which would be about 50 miles, took about 45-50 mins due to Sunday traffic
Job 3: 20 min drive from home mainly using 3 streets.
Job 4: Before I moved out of my parents, would be an hour in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon. Now its only 30-40 mins after living closer.
Quote from: 7/8 on May 19, 2018, 11:55:05 PM
My best commute was for a co-op job in St. Catharines; it was a 3 minute walk from my apartment to my desk!
On the other hand, I have a friend who used to commute from St. Catharines to Toronto (https://www.google.com/maps/dir/St.+Catharines,+ON,+Canada/Toronto,+ON,+Canada/@43.4053118,-79.8178752,10z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x89d35054bb6a5a4b:0x37563636c082837!2m2!1d-79.2468626!2d43.1593745!1m5!1m1!1s0x89d4cb90d7c63ba5:0x323555502ab4c477!2m2!1d-79.3831843!2d43.653226!3e0)! That would have been absolute crap, between the distance and the traffic. There's not a hope of making that trek inside of an hour, and
especially not at rush hour, when I imagine planning for two hours wouldn't have been unrealistic.
My uncle used to commute from his home College Station to work in Houston, which was about 100 miles each way. He now lives in Cypress, which is only 25 miles away.
Quote from: doorknob60 on February 23, 2018, 06:39:05 PM
My longest commute was 22 miles. Roughly 30 minutes in the morning, and 35-45 in the afternoon (record was about an hour). Now I moved closer and it's 9 miles and 15 minutes in the morning, roughly 20 in the afternoon unless there's snow or an accident (record about 50 minutes).
Update, I moved. Now it's about 4.5 miles, which takes 12-15 minutes. There's never been enough traffic to significantly affect commute times. There's even a major construction zone in the middle of it, which hasn't been a problem either. All that really matters is if I end up having to wait for certain signals or not (the main road I go on does not really have a progression system, as the roads it intersects are busier). Even though the time is nearly the same (without traffic), it feels so much faster and it's really the perfect amount of commute for me. Traveling on not-terribly-busy 2 lane 30 MPH streets instead of rush hour packed 6-8 lane freeways makes a big difference :-D