How far do you drive to your job??

[FlyingHorse]

Walk from house to train: 12 minutes
Train ride: 27 minutes
Walk from train to work: 12 minutes
Not having to drive: priceless

I work from home a few days a week. On those days when I do go in, there's no way I'd drive. It's a 14-19 mile one-way trip depending on what route I take, but any route would take longer than the trip listed above...a lot longer...and cost $25+ to park. Train costs me $5.60 roundtrip.

 

[budbo]

I'm wondering how far you guys drive to your job. I'm looking to buy a house that about 55 minutes away from my wifes work. I'm a rep on the road so it really doesn't matter that much. It's farther away from my territory though, but I like the house. I know the gas is gonna suck.

Really no blanket answer to that one, Lots of factors come in.

Some of the things you need to look at are:

Can you afford the equivalent house closer?
To some the size of house and neighborhood are worth the Commute. I Currently live in the DC area with a 35 min drive to work, I'm Lucky I work at a base South of the Beltway and it is a nice drive on country roads. Some of my neighbors work in the Beltway and it is worth it to them to deal with the traffic when a similar house would run $2mil+ in a safe neighborhood, and for the same Money instead of 3k sq foot 4 bedroom on a big lot in a small suburb, they would be getting a 1 bedroom condo, or living in an area where it isn't safe to walk the streets day or night.

What Kind of drive? Is it 55 min on crowded highways or country roads?

Why are you looking in that area? neighborhood? Schools? Price?
You have to decide which is more important, the area/house or the drive

Is there public transportation? If I took a job up in the Beltway, I'd most likely use the Park and ride lot a mile from home and look at the bus/train as time to catch up on reading/studying

You mentioned you are looking at it and like it, what does your wife think of the drive? Sounds like she is the one that will have to live with it, is the house worth it to her? If she is stuck with a miserable drive in a house she is not in love with, it's going to suck for both of you. If she too loves the house you are probably fine.
Don't know how much you do around the house, but I can garuntee you if she is spending 2 hours on the road every day you are going to be doing more housework than you do now

 

[david_42]

Right now, about 25 feet. On the other hand, it's 6 miles to town and 35-60 miles to any city.

When I moved to Silicon Valley 15 years ago, I picked my neighborhood based on commute patterns. My commutes varied from 5 to 45 minutes. Some people I worked with had 1.5-2 hours commutes to a nice house where they never did anything except sleep.

 

[Demon]

9 miles for me. Anywhere between 15 and 20 minutes depending on lights. SWMBO works four blocks from our house.

 

[Chriso]

5 mi each way - Was burning 2 gal of gas each day on my commute with my Truck, but my little gas saver Nissan is great! Now I can drive to work and back, and the fuel needle stays in the same place!

I leave at 7:35 to drop SWMBO off in front of her work at 7:50 and be in my parking lot at 7:55. It's all in-city driving, I would prefer highway but we're nowhere near one.

My dad does 58 mile each way though, for a graveyard shift job to boot. He's trying to get on with a more local manufacturer to solve that problem... He's done this commute for 13 or 14 years now... That's like 6760 hours of driving since he started there... or 845 "work days" (8hour)... or a little over 21 "40-hour" work weeks. Yeesh.

 

[sflcowboy78]

I live 25.3 miles from work. I also work 3rd shift so the drvie is not that bad. what is killing me is the same as most people the gas prices.

 

[scottthorn]

I've got a 26 mile drive each way - about half on the highway and half on winding country roads. About 18 months ago, the university gave everyone free passes to ride public transportation which totally rocks! Right now I drive 20 miles to the train station then ride 25 minutes to a stop one block from my office. I know, 6 miles doesn't seem like much of a savings but there are two advantages - parking on campus costs $50/month, and the garage is further from my building than the train station! I really appreciate the time on the train to listen to tunes and read. They know me by name at the library now

With the cost of gas rising, I'll probably start driving 10 miles to a Park-and-Ride lot, then catch a bus to the train station. I'll have to leave a few minutes earlier but it will be a significant savings in wear and tear on my Honda in addition to gas...

 

[buckeyebrewer]

I have to drive about 11 miles each way. Cost me about $4.00 a day to drive to work and back. Not bad, but I just bought a new scooter...it only cost me about 30 cents a day instead. It gets 90-100 miles to the gallon. I love it so far. I finally had to put gas in it. It cost me $4.12 to fill it up.

 

[janzik]

I'm wondering how far you guys drive to your job. I'm looking to buy a house that about 55 minutes away from my wifes work. I'm a rep on the road so it really doesn't matter that much. It's farther away from my territory though, but I like the house. I know the gas is gonna suck.

Being in a related situation now, I really think this is a bad idea. I live 15 miles from my office, but my wife has worked in NYC and parts of North Jersey. This equals out to a bare minimum 1 hour commute each way on a clear day and worse when it rains. People don't know WTF they're doing as soon as it starts drizzling. When she was in NYC it was about an hour and a half on a pretty solid basis.

Like someone else suggested asking, can you afford to live closer to where she works? If it's an option, even with a slightly lesser house, I think it's well worth it in the long run. What's the point if she's always pissed off about sitting in traffic or the long commute. She can say she doesn't mind it, but all it takes is one bad day sitting in traffic in the rain or snow.

 

[joejaz]

my job sucks, but it's only 8 miles from house as opposeed to 28 miles plus tolls from my last job @$3.49 a gallon and rising for gas.

 

[ScubaSteve]

One more factor to add in general....health. People are a lot less likely to work out if they spend all their time on the road/at work. They're a lot more likely to kick their feet up when they get home, and probably just want to decompress on their days off. Ask me how I know

 

[JVD_X]

When I work in DC, it's a two-hour one way commute.

1st - 20 minutes to the VRE (Rail) and then wait 5-10 minutes (have to get early to get a parking spot)
2nd - 65 minutes from my station to the metro stop to down town..
3rd - 3-10 minute wait and 10 minute metro rail ride
4th - 5-8 minute walk to the office.

When I don't work in DC, I either work from home or fly to whatever destination nationally.

FYI - my SWMBO's company (major gov contractor) is in the process of switching the vast majority of their employees to a flexible mobile workforce. No one actually has to go to an office. In one year they have been able to shut down several offices and save several millions in facility expenses. Plus the employees are much more happy. This is on TOP of having every other Friday off from work.

 

[MA_Brewer]

I drive 30 miles each way. It usually takes about 45 minutes each way, usually a lilttle less on the way home. Mostly all highway.

 

[Air Pirate]

2 miles
in
5 minutes

 

[Mustangj]

35 miles one way 45-50 mins.

 

[ScubaSteve]

FYI - my SWMBO's company (major gov contractor) is in the process of switching the vast majority of their employees to a flexible mobile workforce. No one actually has to go to an office. In one year they have been able to shut down several offices and save several millions in facility expenses. Plus the employees are much more happy. This is on TOP of having every other Friday off from work.

That is SO awesome. Imagine the job satisfaction and overall decreased stress levels people would have if they could work from home more often....

 

[jezter6]

~25 miles, 45 minutes to an hour. It's all back roads, but it's still nasty traffic. If there's any accidents on the highways, the spillover to my route is just astronomical. I've spent ~2 hours attempting to get to work in a bad traffic day. Luckily I split the gas with my roommate who works in the building next to mine so we park in the central grage.

It sucks, and the job I'm interviewing for this week is only like 12 miles from the house and is all back country roads until you get into town (the last 2-3 miles of it).

Whoever is paying $3.49 a gallon - god bless you. Fill up while you can!!

 

[98EXL]

2.6 miles round trip....company car and gas card. I too am the poor bastard who gets called in at 2am.

SWMBO is about 12 mins from her office, and she is on the 9-80 plan....basically off every other friday.

Oh, and I have to go into DC all the time DC = teh sucks

 

[Zar]

Its about 17 miles from my house to work. Usually takes about 30-45 mins.

 

[AnOldUR]

Stuffed a CNC mill and lathe in my one car attached garage. When I'm really hung over, I wander out there in my boxer short and slippers and load parts. Not rocket science, but it pays the bills.

So the commute is stepping through the doorway from the kitchen to the shop.

(And the kegerator is in the kitchen )

 

[mrkristofo]

About 20 minutes by car, 15 by bike.

 

[Flyin' Lion]

6 miles, about 15 minutes door-to-door.

I am in the minority here as I would actually like to live farther away. I work at a chemical plant with two fuel farms on either side, if one thing goes wrong, half of chesterfield county wil be a crater--including my house.

 

[Cregar]

Mine 6 miles each way... so it works out to about 15-20 minutes each way.. Not too bad.

 

[Cregar]

I am about 1/2 a mile from door to door but it really sucks being that close. I am the poor bastard that gets called in at 2am because I am so close

don't answer the phone thats what I used to do when I lived across the street form work.

 

[the_bird]

Wife and I used to live between about an hour away (in opposite directions) from our respective workplaces. Thankfully, we bought our house right before gas prices really started ramping up. It's now about ten minutes to get into the office for me, and she's working literally down the street, maybe a quarter-mile. Now, she's going to start commuting back to school for her doctorate in the fall, so that's an hour each way, but only two or three times a week.

What I like about living so close is that if I need to get back to the office on the weekend (to get stuff caught up, or just get away for a bit), it doesn't kill the whole day. I can run in for a couple hours in the morning, or after I'm done brewing, or whatever. So, yeah, it's definately a lifestyle choice; I mean, I listen to NPR and the Jamil Show and stuff in the car, but that's not where I want to be spending my time.

 

[wildwest450]

I drive 1,000 miles a week, and that's no joke. my gas bill is bigger than my mortgage and im going broke.

 

[Evan!]

3-5 minutes by car, depending on stoplights and traffic.

 

[Trencher]

Just before starting my Christmas vacation last year I went from working at home full-time to commuting 30 miles each way every day. The customer wanted contractors on site - then outsourced 95% of the work to Vietnam. If they weren't idiots they wouldn't need my help, but that doesn't make the drive any easier.

I've managed to hang onto 2 days a week at home, but those other 3 take 30 minutes driving to work and 45 minutes to an hour coming home. I despise it. Most mornings I think I'll die at some point, and most afternoons I fear someone else must die.

Do absolutely everything you can to eliminate the commute. It's not just for your health or SWMBO's, urban sprawl has caused a lot of our problems with gas prices and housing costs.

 

[wildwest450]

3-5 minutes by car, depending on stoplights and traffic.

Don't you have legs??

 

[Hopleaf]

Mine is an hour one-way. Wife is a half-hour. The amount for our cars, insurance and gas is more than our mortgage and it sucks.