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Commuting to work, how much is too much?


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How many of you commute to work? How long of a commute do you think is too much to handle? I might have a commute of one hour each way next year in order to go to work and graduate school. Has anyone done that before? My normal commute now is about 15 minutes, the most I've ever done on a regular basis is 25.

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Are you driving? I commute 1.5 hours each way but I take public transit and I actually don't mind it at all since I can just sit back and read a book/relax/listen to music. If I was driving I'd probably go nuts with a 1.5 hour commute. Maybe you should try out the commute a few times to see how you feel about it?

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Depends. I am used to 1 hr to 1.5 hour commute. geographically my job and schools are not far, but I live in NYC and take the subway/ buses which cn take a while due to traffic/ making local stops. It doesn't bother me because I listen to music on my MP3 player.

 

Highway driving taking that long? that's different. i don't think i could handle that.

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My commute just went from 30 minutes to 1 hour when our company moved it's offices. It is definitely no fun. It isn't to the intolerable level quite yet but when the weather is bad the commute is 90-120 minutes one way. THAT is intolerable for me.

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My commute just went from 30 minutes to 1 hour when our company moved it's offices. It is definitely no fun. It isn't to the intolerable level quite yet but when the weather is bad the commute is 90-120 minutes one way. THAT is intolerable for me.

 

Yah, that does sound intolerable. Do you travel on the interstate? My route would be all backroad highways.

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Backroad highways might be ok. If it is steady driving and not stop and go it is much easier to handle. My drive used to be 30 minutes along the river, scenic roads, etc. Now it is 60 minutes of stop and go on the interstate. It is really not much fun. I'm right about at the limit of what I think I can put up with now.

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At an hour I can probably tolerate it. If it is regularly 90+ minutes then I will probably explore other options like telecommuting or ask to be transferred to another office.

 

But every person is different. Some people don't mind it at all. I'm just not one of those people

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No, 90 minutes on a bus/subway/train is much different than driving, but then again, I despise driving. People in this area do not know how to drive! And traffic is always atrocious, which means what should be 90 minutes may become two hours. I do live in a major metropolitan area so that makes a difference. Again, I really think you need to test it out a few times...maybe try it for three days in a row? My best friend commutes about that much time to school and she said the first few weeks weren't too bad but now it is really grating on her.

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2 hours a day for 10 months. So 20 working days per month (approximately) makes 200 working days. Mulitiply by 2 hours, that's 400 hours total, roughly. Thats basically a solid 16 days (and nights) given over only to driving. Formidable!

I wouldn't do it, unless I had to, and then I'd invest in some talking books. What a waste of time and fuel etc though. Something wrong with this.

 

At least it's for a limited time, and it will give you time to think.

 

People do that though, and worse!

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I live in L.A., there ARE no short commutes here. I work in Pasadena for my first job and have to drive about 20 miles to work to get there. THEN, when that job is done, I commute about 35 miles to the other side of town for the second job. I work 6 days a week and 3 of them are like this. Thank God I was born in L.A. and we love our cars and driving here. I love to drive, so this doesn't bother me much. I just get tired by the end of the week.

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Since I was basically on call 24/7 during my career I made sure I lived close to work - my commute was either a 35 minute walk or 25 minutes by public transportation. That was the longest and I mostly walked so I could multitask -get my exercise and when I got a blackberry, keep in touch with people. The most I ever commuted was a bit over an hour each way by public transportation when I was in my mid-20s but the hours were typically 9-530 so it wasn't so bad.

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Well my dad used to commute 50 minutes one way. He did it because he liked living in the country but worked in the city. He just said it was his time to relax. He had to drive because the type of job he had (meeting with people on a daily basis all over the city).

 

For me I hate commuting. I go about 30 minutes and that's long enough. I especially liked when my commute was 10 minutes. It was great. An hour is tough, but if you like music it can be fun but rush hour traffic would suck to have to drive too long in. Currently I commute to school almost 1 1/2 hours one way. I take a bus and it's express. I have study time or nap time depending on what I feel up to doing. I could make the trip in hour by car but then I'd have to pay to park and that's too expensive. Currently I have a semester long bus pass, but honestly I prefer to drive it's so much faster and I can listen to loud music. But for now I'm on the bus.

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I have about a 25-30 minute commute now and that is just about my limit. What would make it better for me would be to upgrade my car stereo to one where I can plug in my Ipod and listen to podcasts, audio books, etc. I get really mentally bored in traffic.

 

yes, music is a must for any long commute. by the way, snowfox, depeche mode is one of my fave bands

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by the way, snowfox, depeche mode is one of my fave bands

 

they are truly awesome. Its good to know there are some younger folks who like them....its a sign that there is substance to their music. I was in high school when they first started out. I remember being 16 years old, driving to the store just so I could buy their new album Black Celebration, and then putting the cassette tape in to listen to on my way home. Its still one of my favorites. My favorite song is

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I commute to school and work, with it being about half an hour to both places. That also depends on traffic though, as I have to take the freeway to get there and it can get really backed up. I definitely think for any long drive, music is a must. Having a good play list is great and can help to relive stress.

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