Shortest Commute in a Car Ever?

[R80RS]

This week I saw what must be the shortest “commute” in a motor vehicle I have ever seen. My own daily drive to work is over 50 miles each way, a good portion of which is on rural 2 lane roads. Every morning on one of these country roads I see a Honda Odyssey van with a woman at the wheel and a bunch of kids in the back at the end of a 100-foot driveway. My approach down this road allows me to see this Odyssey waiting at the end of the driveway from a distance, so I can see her waiting there even when the way is clear for her to pull out. It looks like she intends to pull out onto the road, which she never does. This week I was following a school bus down this road, when the bus stopped at the house with the Odyssey waiting at the end of the driveway. The kids piled out of the van and climbed aboard the school bus while the gal in the Honda began to back it up the driveway into her garage. Then it all made sense. She puts her kids into the van, starts it up and drives it 100 feet or so to the end of her driveway and waits with them there until the school bus arrives. Then she backs up the driveway, for a daily round trip “commute” of less than 200 feet. I have seen this in all weather too, not just because it has been cold here recently. That's gotta be hard on the engine and oil.

Can anyone top that?

 

[spasm3]

If there are several kids, its not a bad idea. It keeps the bored kids from wandering into the road while waiting for the bus. One adult might not be able to keep several kids from running into the road suddenly. Think of trying to herd cats, thats what its like.

 

[R80RS]

Originally Posted By: spasm3
If there are several kids, its not a bad idea. It keeps the bored kids from wandering into the road while waiting for the bus. One adult might not be able to keep several kids from running into the road suddenly.


I see kids in the country waiting for the school bus at the end of their driveways by themselves every morning. These aren't little kids, they look like late grade school to intermediate school age.

 

[spasm3]

Originally Posted By: R80RS
Originally Posted By: spasm3
If there are several kids, its not a bad idea. It keeps the bored kids from wandering into the road while waiting for the bus. One adult might not be able to keep several kids from running into the road suddenly.


I see kids in the country waiting for the school bus at the end of their driveways by themselves every morning. These aren't little kids, they look like late grade school to intermediate school age.


I walked a 1/4 mile to my stop, but times are different.Kids get abducted all though teen ages to young adult. At least she is being careful and keeping watch of her kids , there a lot of nuts out there. Keeping them safe, i give her a thumbs up.

 

[aquariuscsm]

How pathetic.

 

[Rolla07]

Completely ridiculous. Seems like the mother is too lazy to stand with her children to wait for the bus. Teaching children to be lazy as well and thus is the reason people are generally obese and in horrible health and how we rely onthe health system to save us. I cant exactly speak because i could stand to lose a few pounds but thats just insane. My commute is about 10 miles to work city and hwy.

 

[wkcars]

Probably because of the cold temps.

 

[andyd]

Heh heh, Any body who pans this activity , has never had a bunch of little kids to deal with. They are older now , but I saw a very apt bumper sticker. "Support Wildlife , Raise Twins.". Like trying to herd cats has been around and applies well too. The length of the driveway has nothing to do with it. May you never have your 2 year olds play Chase Me and run in opposite directions.

 

[bigt61]

Her kids are more important than keeping her oil hot. Mom has a warped sense of priorities, I'm sure we can straighten her out if given a chance.

 

[whip]

Wow. Lots of judgement in this thread.

 

[bullwinkle]

I actually see this all the time around here, maybe she drives it on longer runs while the kids are in school? My mother-in-law used to do that with her old '83 Cavalier wagon-she would drive about a block to work, work an 8 hour shift, drive a block back. After it destroyed 2 lifters that came apart due to lack of oil, she started taking the long way to work!

 

[R80RS]

My OP is not a judgement or criticism of the mom, or an analysis of her motivation. As the title suggests, it's about the extremely short operating interval on the Honda.

I finished the OP with a question about other's experience with short vehicle commutes and the effect on engine and oil - and I notice that no one's addressed the question but instead criticized either me or the mom.

 

[Chris142]

Maybe the Odysseys trans is bad and it only has 1st and reverse!my walk was a mile down hill to the bus stop and a mile up hill after school i walked unles it was raining or snowing. Being a rural area i new kids that had a 3 mile walk. Anything longer and you rode the "dirt bus". It was a modified chevy van. The reasoning was the oil bath air filters on the crown bussed passed too much dirt and wore the 6-71 detroits out.

 

[hypervish]

My shortest commute was 1.2 miles at one point. And, I hated it, luckily it was just a temporary thing and I'm now back to my 40 mile commute. I love driving, and that short commute wasn't something I enjoyed. LOL

 

[dareo]

I used to live a few hundred yards from work (walking path) and rode my suzuki DR350SE to work about half the time, even in snow. 5w40 rotella for the win.

 

[cchase]

I see parents drive their kids distances like that to the bus stop, then sit in the car (with the kids outside) until the bus comes, then turn around and head home.

And I don't live in a dangerous area.

 

[hattaresguy]

I see this behavior all the time, it drives me nuts because the city makes me spend thousands putting in sidewalks and non one uses them.


People don't walk anymore.

 

[demarpaint]

I did a job a block from my house. I had to take my work van, I wasn't about to hump equipment and paint down the block. Come to think of it I worked for my next door neighbor, I drove my van up his driveway. It made my life easier and put more money in my pocket at the end of the job.

 

[doitmyself]

Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
I see this behavior all the time, it drives me nuts because the city makes me spend thousands putting in sidewalks and non one uses them.

People don't walk anymore.

Not only that, but we pay taxes to fund public school buses that are half empty while many parents still drive their children to school and a large percentage of high school students drive cars to school.

On the opposite end, we have people like the OP that seem to have excessively long commutes to work. In his case, he wastes over 10 hours per week commuting (probably alone). That's over $70/week for fuel and over 500 miles per week of wear and tear on his ride and the public roads. And, lets not get into the environmental effects.

Much inefficiency at both ends of the spectrum.

 

[dernp]

Wow. She could go 10 yrs OCI.