Commuting thread - how's yours these days?

[addyguy]

Its been a while since we had a thread about how long/far people on this board commute to work. From 2005:

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubb...true#Post638029

Just wondering if anyone wants to comment on their commute, OR if you were on the earlier one, has anything changed?

What got me thinking about this was my own commuting 'issues'. My commute is only 10 miles 1-way to work. Usually takes about 30-45 mins., depending on traffic/weather. But for the last 50 days, Ottawa has been dealing with a nasty transit strike, so with the extra traffic, that commute has become 45-75 mins. in the morning, depending on traffic; and 1-2 hours in the evening. Both of these are dependant on weather and accidents, of course.

My wife and I have been, for the last couple of years, thinking of moving to the small town she is from to be able to get a house, as opposed to the condo we are in in the city. Problem is, jobs that pay like the one I/we have are few and far between there, so commuting is an option. It would be about a 90-mile commute 1-way. In good traffic, that can be done in about 90 mins. With traffic, it would be closer to 210 mins.

With the strike, we are already doing that amount of time on the road. We are thinking if we are used to it now, once the strike is over, it we continued with it, it wouldnt change much. We most like won't do this, but it is interesting to see how the numbers play out....

Anyone want to share any commuting scenarios/stories?

 

[Quattro Pete]

My commute time is about 10 seconds right now, or whatever it takes me to walk over to the other room. It's convenient, but to be honest, if I could trade it for a 30-min 10-mile one-way commute, I would. I miss the ritual of driving to/from work every day and not having the physical distance between work and home.

 

[Turk]

I drive about 50 miles each way, skirting around the outside of the Twin Cities on Freeways. Luckily, I leave the house at ~5AM, so it's just moderate traffic each way except when I work late.

During snow, it can take 2.5 hours to get home...!!

I go through a couple of "Redneck Bottlenecks" up my way, but in general it's "NASCAR Freeway" at about 70-80 MPH - EXCEPT for the slow Idiots from Wisconsin that insist to drive S-L-O-W in the LEFT lane (as in UNDER the speed limit)...!!

 

[IndyIan]

I have a 48km (each way) commute that takes between 40 and 45 minutes and I find that's about as much time as I want to spend in a car a day...
Figure out your monthly expenses for a 180 miles of driving a day and I'd think you are getting close to paying for 1/4 to 1/2 a mortgage payment in Ottawa. Plus you'll hate driving if you have any length of 2 lane highway, somebody will be going 85km/h too often!
I'm work in Peterborough and many friends bought houses so they could walk to work and only need 1 car. Spend the savings of only having one car on the mortgage.
We like living out in the country as we do country things on our 100 acres, if you just want a house, I don't think driving way out into the country for that makes much sense.
Probably if you wait another couple months the house prices will drop more as they haven't really fallen yet, I'm sure some Nortel employees will be selling soon...
Ian

 

[Pablo]

Which job?

Walk to PC room. Walk to garage/shop.

Or drive to work. 12 miles of homes and goof courses, down across, up across, down across and back up again, one way. About 20 minutes, 25 in the afternoon.

 

[wavinwayne]

40 miles each way for me. I don't like it, but at least I'm employed.

 

[Bill in Utah]

50 plus miles each way plus a couple of trips (400 miles one way) every 6 weeks.

Glad I have a car that is dependable and easy on the fuel.

 

[wwillson]

Same as my post from a couple years ago:

"I work from home most of the time, so my commute is about 30 seconds and I can do it in my underwear!"

Wayne

 

[Bill in Utah]

Originally Posted By: tpitcher
During snow, it can take 2.5 hours to get home...!!

My record for a little over 50 miles one way was 3 hours 15 mins.... Until last year this time.

It now is 5 hours 30 mins ONE WAY!

Originally Posted By: wavinwayne
I don't like it, but at least I'm employed.


Amen!

Bill

 

[Benzadmiral]

I thought I'd contributed to that thread, but it was a while before I joined here.

My commute is still the everlastingly boring same: 9 miles each way. There are only a few halfway sensible ways to get from my apartment on the West Bank of the Big Muddy to the university where I work, and only two of those involve properly paved streets for more than half the commute. So I take one or the other.

Oh, there's a third path. It's 15 miles one way, but a good 2 or 3 of 'em are at highway speeds, and the rest of the extra 6 is down a well-paved major street that takes me past my old high school. If the weather's good (read: "cool"), I sometimes drive that way.

In mid- to late February, though, I have to change my route home for about 10 days. It's the route the Mardi Gras evening parades use to line up before they start along St. Charles, so I have to use a reverse version of my usual morning way in. Longer and slower for the afternoon commute, though. (Said in a fussy Qantas koala voice: "I hate Mardi Gras --!")

 

[AmericaWestCMH]

8 miles each way. Never any traffic to speak of, just traffic lights. Takes me roughly 15 minutes give or take a few minutes due to said lights.

 

[parimento1]

17 Miles each way mostly highway.

 

[97f150]

75 miles one way, takes about 1.5 hours. Do this 14 days in a row and take a break for 7 days and do it all over again.

 

[JHZR2]

In 2005 I lived 35 miles from work, in an area where people stomp the go pedal and drive like total idiots. Plus, it was also an area where the lights are times.

Now I live in essentially a saturated, old-time suburban area, and roughly 9 miles from work. Though I paid a bit more and got a bit less, I drive the opposite way of traffic (though I do work in the city), and avoid most folks except for summer Fridays when people are going down the shore.

The lights are reasonably well timed, and my commute is totally stress free. My biggest concern is whether the sunoco or gulf has cheaper gas, because if I pass one, and the other is more expensive, I loose out.

Couldnt be better!

 

[cousincletus]

I have a 30 mile commute each way, but I don't have to do it but once or twice on average a week (I'm a truck driver and spend some time out on the road). The most I ever have to do it is 3X per week.

 

[cousincletus]

Originally Posted By: addyguy
Its been a while since we had a thread about how long/far people on this board commute to work. From 2005:

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubb...true#Post638029

Just wondering if anyone wants to comment on their commute, OR if you were on the earlier one, has anything changed?

What got me thinking about this was my own commuting 'issues'. My commute is only 10 miles 1-way to work. Usually takes about 30-45 mins., depending on traffic/weather. But for the last 50 days, Ottawa has been dealing with a nasty transit strike, so with the extra traffic, that commute has become 45-75 mins. in the morning, depending on traffic; and 1-2 hours in the evening. Both of these are dependant on weather and accidents, of course.

My wife and I have been, for the last couple of years, thinking of moving to the small town she is from to be able to get a house, as opposed to the condo we are in in the city. Problem is, jobs that pay like the one I/we have are few and far between there, so commuting is an option. It would be about a 90-mile commute 1-way. In good traffic, that can be done in about 90 mins. With traffic, it would be closer to 210 mins.

With the strike, we are already doing that amount of time on the road. We are thinking if we are used to it now, once the strike is over, it we continued with it, it wouldnt change much. We most like won't do this, but it is interesting to see how the numbers play out....

Anyone want to share any commuting scenarios/stories?


I go to Arnprior a lot, and the traffic out of Ottawa on 417 is bad enough with all the construction. I could just imagine what it's like now.

 

[MNgopher]

19 miles, one way. Normal route is a mix of stoplights and highway. Lots of "make a move" routes to keep moving when the main route gets slow (meaning its snowing!). It is across the main direction of traffic, so I am neither with or against it!

Old cimmute was 30 miles one way, nearly all freeway, and nearly all congested. I hated every minute of it. The problem: there are only so many bridges from this side of the river to that side of the river. Now I don't go across the river!

Tpitcher - Redneck bottleneck - must be a Kenny the Traffic Guy fan on Garage Logic!

 

[Jim74]

I used to commute 45 miles one way, until I got laid off last month. Now I sit at home. :-(

 

[sciphi]

It depends. Usually it's 5 miles a few days a week to one site, 17 miles 2 days a week this spring to another site. Mind you this is all grad school work so it's being done out of my (I wish) free will.

It's a nice time to be in grad school right now!

 

[RedByrd]

I drive about 6 to seven miles one way.

Takes about 15 to 20 mins, depending on the lights and traffic.

1.5 miles is the "warmup" where I drive pretty slow.
Next is a little over two miles of 45-50 mph driving.
1.25 more miles of downtown stoplight crawl,
Then 3.75 miles of 55mph highway blast.