August 11, 2011 at 6:16 am
Todd Townley (8/11/2011)
I work in the city (northern Metro Detroit) but get to live in my vacation home (10 acre farm in a rural area 50 miles north of Detroit).I’ve always been able to arrange my time so I manage to avoid rush hour. Current position (six years) is 48 miles one-way, and I can consistently do this in 60 minutes or less. Due to my position in life (late 40’s, kids out of the house, wife working) and a focus on some career development, I’m working 5:30 am – 6:00 pm M-F (my choice) plus the commute. This beats the traffic in and follows the traffic home.
I’m driving a 2000 Ford Focus. Had 69,000 miles when I bought it 5.5 years ago. Now has 232,000 miles. (Just keep changing that oil!) Gets 30-32 MPG, so it is currently costing me about $11/day just in gas. (Would love to get a turbo diesel when this gets replaced.)
Telecommuting is not an option for regular work hours, but is an option for anytime outside regular hours.
The commute in is usually spent catching up on news (radio). The commute home is “unwind” time, listening to music, books-on-tape (mp3), running errands, etc.
Home time is spent enjoying the stars, walking the dog, raising apples and grapes and chickens, enjoying the silence and fresh air, smelling fresh-cut hay, occasionally getting snowed in, and regaling city-dwelling co-workers with stories about well problems, using tractors, splitting wood and heating the house with a wood stove, no cable TV, etc. No neighbors closer than 500 feet away. Also – no home-owner’s association or subdivision rules!
Yup, we talk the same language. My city slicker colleages take expensive weekend breaks away to see the stars and hear jackal calls while I get the same by just traveling home a bit longer every day. 🙂
We can taste the difference between city tap water and fresh water pumped from a well. 😉
Gave up on hobby tunnel farming because of the attention time it required and is now raising pecan trees to boost my pension in later years. Amuse my co-workers with my antics in bush fire fighting, how to erect cattle proof fences and why I always come to work on Mondays with abused hands..
DSF
August 11, 2011 at 6:18 am
I've been in Atlanta my entire post-collegiate career (30 yrs) and I've had everything from a "35 mile across the city center" commute to a "stumble into the home office" commute. The 35 miler was my first job and convinced me to always try to find work that was near home. The home office commute was my last job where I was a consultant on a team with members in 3 states. That gig lasted 9.5 years and allowed me time with my kids while they were growing up that I never would have had the option for if I was working a "real" job. I've been very fortunate. I remember while growing up in the D.C. suburbs, my dad would catch the Metro bus a block away and ride it into the Pentagon while he told me of co-workers who drove in from Front Royal, a 75 mile trip from the Shennandoahs. I love the mountains, but that just seemed crazy to me back then and I still wonder about the trade-offs in gas, family time and after-work time with co-workers.
Now I drive ~20 minutes to downtown and while shorter would be nice, my route puts me past the grocery stores etc. that I would have to otherwise make a special trip to hit.
August 11, 2011 at 6:20 am
I live in a county in Minnesota that doesn't have many jobs, so my options are few. My wife did the right thing and had a job before moving here. She is 10 minutes from her job. I have been anywhere from 1 1/2 hours to 20 minutes. The hour and 1/2 was too much. I had no time for anything else. But I knew it was temporary.
Currently I'm 1 hour, 3 times a week and yes it is worth it. We love our 3 acres. Living in a rural area requires some trips to the city for supplies anyway. Audio books and podcasts pass the time and make it useful.
August 11, 2011 at 6:26 am
If you count the time I spent working as a consultant, my commute could be anywhere form 5 minute to 8 hours, and I got home maybe every second weekend...
For the last 10 years, I have had steady employement for a company that's about a 25 minute drive in light traffic. I find this to be perfectly acceptable.
August 11, 2011 at 6:34 am
Fortunately for me my commuting time is about 30 minutes and 20 when schools are in recess. Also this is due to the fact that I leave home at 7:00am the latest and I am able to adjust the working schedule at work. Living in a city like Miami, it’s hard to have a commuting time of 30 minutes or less with this city kind traffic (HELL). Commuting time is one of the factors to consider when looking for job, when you have one, when not, you will consider even going to a different city, state, etc .to be able to work. Some people have to commute more than the 30 minutes Andy’s rule, because of the opportunities they had found. Moreover those that have to commute over an hour might be getting at their jobs kind of tired of this commuting time, and the time to start being productive is dramatically affected by this commuting time. Telecommuting should be the answer, but how well accepted is this practice. This might be part of another discussion. In the mean time drive safely, never drive when you are sleepy, and if you are sleepy, put in practice the POWER NAP, stop in a secure place, and rest and get home safe.
August 11, 2011 at 6:34 am
My first job after college was in the city and because I lived in the burbs (and refuse to drive in the city) I had about a two hour commute that included a car, bus, train, subway and a short walk. Needless to say, I absolutely hated it. I stuck with that for a little less then a year and a half before a little over a month of unemployment and my current job.
For my current job, the drive in is a little less then 45 minutes. The ride home is usually 45 minutes to hour. For now, I'm satisfied with the commute because I absolutely love my job. 😀 I have the option to work from home if the weather is bad or I have something personal to take care of.
I might consider moving closer to my job in a few years when I finish my Master's degree, but that would really depend on what else I have going on in my life.
August 11, 2011 at 6:42 am
First job out of college was 1h 5m because I didn't want to move from my rural home. Since it was work on a mainframe that I didn't like (hey, it was a job) I started looking after a year or so. About 3.5y later I finally found a job where they were leaving mini computer for PCs. It was only 45m but a pay cut that was mostly recovered after the first year.
For me I think an hour is about the most I would want to do. Even listening to audio books will get old with a drive like that!
BTW my first commute above was 67 miles and the second 41 miles. Be sure you account for cost of driving (and not just the gas) when considering a job closer to home.
August 11, 2011 at 6:47 am
I live in Houston. There isn't any public transportation to speak of... When I took my current job, I knew that it would be a 25 mile commute to get to work. I asked for (and received) special permission to come in early and leave early so that I could avoid the rush-hour crush of traffic. I arrive at work at around 7:00 am and the inbound commute takes me about 30 minutes. I leave at around 4:20-ish and as long as I am on the road before 4:30, my commute time home is about 35 minutes...but if I leave work after 4:30, then the commute time is typically about 1 hour 15 minutes! (See why I choose to come in early and leave early?) 😀
Whenever I look for employment, the commute is a BIG concern. If the salary/wage scale is high enough, I'd put up with a 1 hour commute, but if the wages are average, then I probably wouldn't consider any position that takes longer than an hour.
My philosophy is: "I work to support my leisure life." If you take away my leisure life (or a good portion of it due to long commutes) then what is the point of working there?
August 11, 2011 at 6:50 am
I have pretty much the same limits on commute. Thirty minutes is pushing it for me. I currently drive twenty minutes to work, and it is tolerable. My previous job was a five minute commute. When determining to accept a job offer or not, I do factor in commute, and not just for fuel costs weighed against increased income, either. A longer commute would be awful for my morale and by extension, my productivity. This is especially true when I already perform a decent amount of after-hours work (who doesn't in this field?). There needs to be a balance between work and family, and commute absolutely must factor into that balance, for me anyway.
August 11, 2011 at 6:54 am
The longest commute I've had was about 1hr 45min, but I only did that twice a week. I stayed with my brother who was about 35 minutes away.
On average I've probably had 25 minutes each way my whole career. Until 2 months ago I walked across the street for 4 years, that was very nice.
Since I have children at home I wouldn't want a commute of more than 45 minutes and would prefer 30 minutes or less. I'll take less money for the time. My current commute in good weather is about 30 minutes in and 35 minutes home. I haven't done the commute in bad weather yet, but that will make it close to an hour each way. I just pray for good days.
At this point in my life I would not stay in a job that required a more than 45 minute commute without getting compensated with telecommute options and flexible working hours. I'd take a job with a long commute to pay the bills, but, unless this was a great job, I'd be looking the whole time.
If I didn't have kids at home the time of the commute wouldn't matter as much as long as there was good traffic flow. I hate being in traffic, especially stopped.
Jack Corbett
Consultant - Straight Path Solutions
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August 11, 2011 at 7:00 am
I've been fortunate to find work within 10-15 minutes of home. At one time while unemployed with a young family, I interviewed for a position with a comute 1.5 hours each way, but that didn't pan out. At this stage in my life, I don't think I want more than 15 minutes.
August 11, 2011 at 7:03 am
30 minutes max by pedal bike. Otherwise forget it.
August 11, 2011 at 7:33 am
25-35 minute highway drive from my lake home to north Milwaukee(my only home, unlike my neighbors who have other lake homes). Was supossed to be a 20 min side road commute to a different city but the company's plan to move got axed due to the economy about 4 weeks after I took the job, about 3 years ago. Lender is probably kicking itself for not giving out the loan.
Furthest I drove was 45min, which was fine for a temporary job.
August 11, 2011 at 7:55 am
Good topic and an interesting question, Andy. For me, the issue is one of money. What can I afford? I have a 1990 Ford Escort which tends to over heat. I simply cannot drive it to work - it won't make it. My wife needs the even older 1987 Toyota minivan that we have, to get the kids around, etc. Therefore, I'm forced to take public transit. The place I worke for relocated a couple of years ago, that for me makes the commute much longer. However, it only negatively impacts me; everyone else's commute has gotten shorter. When we first moved there my commute was an hour and a half, each way. A change in bus schedules has shorted that to about an hour. I don't like my commute, and have spoken to my boss about telecommuting, but his boss is dead set against it. I've talked about this at length when Steve brought up the topic about a week or so ago, so I won't repeat that here.
Rod
August 11, 2011 at 8:06 am
When I started at one position my commute was an hour and a half one way including a ferry ride. I don't think I'll ever get much below 30 minutes because I like living a little further out of the city. Fortunately there isn't much of a suburb around the city I live near (the city itself is around 30,000) so I don't have to go that far out.
Right now I have close to an hour commute but that's because I carpool in with my wife and hang out with her for a while at the bus stop then take the bus in the rest of the way. Once she quits the commute will either be shorter or involve a bike ride (or both).
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