Splinshints: Heist: The main reason people have long commutes is because they think they need to live in a huge house. They think they need 3000 sq ft, so they look further and further out into the suburbs until they can afford it. Then they spend 2 hours crawling through gridlock in their SUVs to get to work.

I'd much rather live in a small place and actually have the free time to enjoy it.

Since you clearly didn't bother to RTFA, I'll point out that what you're talking about and what the article is talking about are two similar, yet different things.

I did read it, and while it didn't specifically address housing costs, I still think it's the underlying cause. Lost your job in Houston and have to commute to Austin? There are reasonably sized homes in Austin (I might have gotten those cities mixed up). Buy or rent one of those. Sure, your home value has depreciated and you'd sell it at a loss, but so has the value of any other home you might want to purchase in an adjacent city, so overall you're not losing that much. The reason (I think) people don't do it is because they're afraid of downsizing their excessive lifestyle.

dittybopper: I commute 3 times a week, and work from home 2.

When I drive, it's 100 miles round trip, takes about an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening. I don't mind it so much because I talk to my friends on the way in on one of the 'local' 2 Meter repeaters, and I catch up on the morning's news by listening to NPR. On the way home, I'm either calling CQ on 10 Meters, or listening to shortwave (like Deutsche Welle in English), or talking to someone on 2 Meters.

Yesterday, on the way home in upstate NY, I chatted with a guy in Florida, one in California, and one in Texas, all using Morse code.

Cool.

Heist: The main reason people have long commutes is because they think they need to live in a huge house. They think they need 3000 sq ft, so they look further and further out into the suburbs until they can afford it. Then they spend 2 hours crawling through gridlock in their SUVs to get to work.

I'd much rather live in a small place and actually have the free time to enjoy it.

Because cost of living is totally less in the city than in the burbs, isn't it?

Average Seattle house -> 390 to 410 thousand dollars.

Average burb house in say Carnation, 35 miles away -> 200,000.

For the savings, I'm willing to deal with pretentious assholes in their Prius on the freeway for an hour a day.

Well, stories like this make me feel better about my commute. I drive 42 miles each way, 5 days a week. I'd love a job closer to home, but they're all gone. I'd love to move closer to my new job, but since I'm still a temp that's just not wise or possible. Can't get a mortgage as a temp, wouldn't want to anyway. Of course if my employer would have followed through with their promises and hired me full-time after 90 days (it's been 8 months) this would be a lot easier.

Oh well...at least my wide-open, boring drive only takes about 53 minutes for 42 miles. And, with proper tire inflation, careful driving, and a good tune-up I've been getting 31 mpg out of my 12 year old, V-6, automatic transmission car!

We're renting in a pretty high-priced area now, but our apartment is very affordable (very old place). My husband can walk to work in 3 minutes and I drive 11 miles to my job downtown. To buy a 3 bedroom home in the area we live in now, our combined incomes would have to be about three times more than what we're bringing in now. (We have no debts other than one low car payment and student loans.) When we buy a home, it will have to be 15-30 miles away from we're living now in order to be affordable for us and to be in an ok school district for future kiddos. Spare money we're enjoying and saving now will then be spent on gas+tolls for him and park-and-ride for me.

Heist: Splinshints: Heist: The main reason people have long commutes is because they think they need to live in a huge house. They think they need 3000 sq ft, so they look further and further out into the suburbs until they can afford it. Then they spend 2 hours crawling through gridlock in their SUVs to get to work.

I'd much rather live in a small place and actually have the free time to enjoy it.

Since you clearly didn't bother to RTFA, I'll point out that what you're talking about and what the article is talking about are two similar, yet different things.

I did read it, and while it didn't specifically address housing costs, I still think it's the underlying cause. Lost your job in Houston and have to commute to Austin? There are reasonably sized homes in Austin (I might have gotten those cities mixed up). Buy or rent one of those. Sure, your home value has depreciated and you'd sell it at a loss, but so has the value of any other home you might want to purchase in an adjacent city, so overall you're not losing that much. The reason (I think) people don't do it is because they're afraid of downsizing their excessive lifestyle.

But if your home is underwater, you can't exactly roll that into a new home purchase. The bank tends to want that money right away. It's not the same as when you're underwater on a car note, and a shady dealer will let you add it to the note for a new vehicle.

So your plan is to take a loss on a sale, then somehow find more money for closing on a new house. Not really a realistic scenario, hence the long commute.

HotIgneous Intruder: Splinshints: Heist: The main reason people have long commutes is because they think they need to live in a huge house. They think they need 3000 sq ft, so they look further and further out into the suburbs until they can afford it. Then they spend 2 hours crawling through gridlock in their SUVs to get to work.

I'd much rather live in a small place and actually have the free time to enjoy it.

Since you clearly didn't bother to RTFA, I'll point out that what you're talking about and what the article is talking about are two similar, yet different things.

Yeah, this is about the Washington, D.C., area and suburbs. The ring of affordable housing has expanded further and further from the city over the years. I commuted to and from a rented place in Culpeper, Va., when I worked in Springfield, Va., just inside the Beltway. The housing situation is pretty competitive in Nova and prices reflect that. If you don't have two incomes or a roommate(s) or a pretty good salary, you're pretty much scrabbling for a decent place to live. The market is so ratcheted up to exactly what people can bear to pay that it hurts.

/Glad to be rid of the struggles that come with living there.
//Been out of it since 2004, thank gods.

I just moved from Burke VA to Louisville KY, two weeks ago. Yeah I was walking to the VRE and from the VRE to the Capitol Building every day, so that was nice, but the time dedicated to the commute was an hour each way, it was stupefying.

/Left secure office job for work at home/company paid travel job. So far I am extremely happy with my decision.
//House went under contract 6 days after listing for a 20k profit

Warthog: I am whatever the opposite of a super commuter is. My drive is 7 miles. During morning rush hour it takes me 40-50 minutes. Over its life, my car has averaged 23.5 MPH and 19.5 mpg.

So I am what's wrong with America.

I've got a 7 mile commute too, but it only takes me 15-20 minutes. So, neener.

As a college student, I've had varied commutes.

1) Golf course. Half hour each way, about 15-20 miles. Don't know what it would've been during rush hour, because the job started at 5 and ended at 2 (though given that I was in the burbs and it was in the sticks, it wouldn't have been much more because I was going the "wrong" way for rush hour).

2) Internship in Seattle. 4 minute drive, that turned into half hour to 45 minute drive during rush hour.

3) Student. My bed is my office (not that way. I simply moved one of the spare screens for my desktop up to the head of my bed, and therefore can do schoolwork while being all cozy warm).

/Liked 1 the best honestly. A nice half hour drive with no one around through the gently rolling hills of farm country to get the brain working in the morning. I'm in.

We moved into a great house about 15 minutes further from where I work now, but the cost of the payments deferred the gas and time. Now I found out that I'm being outsourced in June and have been on the job hunt. So far, I have one interview on Friday in Columbus, OH which is about 15 minutes longer of a commute than what I'm making now for about the same pay.

Am I moving to Columbus? Nope. I couldn't find a better house in a better section of town than where I'm living and I'll be glad to make the extra 15 minute haul if that means I'm employed.

I have a feeling that's going to be the story for a lot of people in the future as more jobs seems to consolidate in major metropolitan areas and more people are going to be driving to get there.

When I lived in LA, my commute to Torrence from the SGV was 28 miles, and it took me an hour in the morning, and 1.5 in the evening. Hated it. Sometime 2 hours to get home if it was a holiday.

We moved to DFW and I worked from home for a year and a half, it was nice. I got laid off and now commute to Irving, which is a 35 mile drive. Takes me a about 30 min in the morning and about 40 in the afternoon. Not so bad with the iPod. Still better than LA.

13 mile reverse commute to the office and a $10 cab ride to the train station for the airport. When we chose our house, we picked a smaller home in the city so that I'll never have the 1.5 hour commutes that I used to have a year ago. Loving it.

stewbert: But if your home is underwater, you can't exactly roll that into a new home purchase. The bank tends to want that money right away. It's not the same as when you're underwater on a car note, and a shady dealer will let you add it to the note for a new vehicle.

So your plan is to take a loss on a sale, then somehow find more money for closing on a new house. Not really a realistic scenario, hence the long commute.

Shush, you. Bringing reality into Heist's judging of people who have different priorities than he does will only serve to make him defensive.

Simple fact: People make decisions on what information they've got available at the time, their life choices, desires, and a multitude of other factors. Those decisions have different consequences down the road. Some people value different things, hence they'll make different decisions than someone else. If you don't like it, fark off.

KrispyKritter:
you are a dooshbag. roads are for motor vehicles. bicycles are for children.
please keep off the road when you are playing on your bicycle.
furthermore, spandex is for yoga girls and ghey men. no one wants to see
your bony take it up the ass when they are trying to get to work in the morning. try spending five minutes not being self-obsessed and you'll see there are other people in the world, troll dick.


You're entitled to your incorrect opinion. My ride to work has bike lanes for all but 1/4 mile of it.

Other people in the world? Like the ones I built homes for with Habitat? Or the ones I make sandwiches for at the shelter? Or the ones I volunteer to help out and give money to who teach our children? Even the teachers at the poor school on the other side of town?

When's the last time you helped someone, farkwad?

Been driving a 75 mile commute (one way) to work for the past three years. Takes about an hour and a half, but I have no traffic. 10 miles is curvy gravel back road, 40 miles is interstate, and 25 miles is state route through Amish country. I can work from home during bad weather (usually snow)

Bob & Tom in the mornings, NPR at night (sometimes music if I feel like it). A large travel mug of coffee (the only coffee I have during the day) and I am good to go.

Yeah, the gas sucks (got a 40MPG car at least) and I would like more time at home, but it is the sacrifice I make so my wife doesn't have to work and can raise the children.

/I travel at least half the year for the company,so I don't drive this all year.
//trying to get them to let me do either 4/10's or work one day from home a week.

Humean_Nature: I can't imagine anything more horrifying than a daily multi-hour commute.

Depends. Mine is, oh, three hours total or so.

But! It is almost all on a train. Which means:
(1)my commuting budget is a pretty fixed number. No more day where a huge morning backup of several hours eats half my gas tank. And no wear and tear on my car.
(2) I can read, do work, sleep, whatever.
(3) My current apartment outside DC costs what my inside the beltway apartment did. My old apartment was about half the size of my current place's living room.

So it can really benefit you if it involves mass transit. And the hilarious thing is that with DC traffic my old driving commute from a few miles away was often almost as long as my current one is anyway.

4.5 miles, takes 10-12 minutes. Soon I'm going to start taking the bicycle twice a week since I won't need to be getting around during mid-shift. Right now I take my motorcycle most days. So I'm one of the lucky ones who doesn't get punched in the gut by expensive fuel, at least at the gas pump. But $4-5 gas does make everything else more expensive... dammit.

Crewmannumber6: Don't tell my wife but part of me liked staing up there during the week

The way I see it, my 3 hour round trip commute everyday is a break from work and family. It is my relaxation time, where I can wind down, see the pretty scenery (eastern Ohio is beautiful most of the year) and listen to music/news.

When I get home, it is a baby crying and a toddler in the terrible twos, and a frazzled wife who needs a break (which I gladly let her have).

/I at least get 1 hour to myself at home a night, plus the weekend (which involves a honey-do list, but I am strange and enjoy chores)

Spade: (3) My current apartment outside DC costs what my inside the beltway apartment did. My old apartment was about half the size of my current place's living room.

Where I live I have a two story, 5 bedroom house on 6 acres for the same price as a crappy 2 bedroom apartment costs in the city I work. I could live closer, but it would cost more in the end to have the same standard of living that I have now.

So yeah, while the commute time and gas sucks, I at least have a nice place to go home to (plus, it's out in the middle of nowhere, so it is nice and quiet). And it is in a good school district.

Ender's: I'm sorry, no super commuter here. The only thing I do in a cape is f*ck.

*golf clap*

Creoena: Living in a very rural state (Vermont), we have some people who commute 60 miles+ to work each day. We even had one guy who came here from New Hampshire every day once.

/Luckily my commute's only about 8 miles.
//I know one guy a work keeps his long commute because it means he has to spend less time with his wife

Also Vermont. My commute is about 30 miles/45 minutes but in the summer on a motorcycle, it's very nice. There's only two traffic lights and maybe three stop signs on the whole ride; all rural except for about the last two miles - and you can hardly call So. Burlington "urban". People pay money to take vacations so they can drive my daily commute. In the winter it can be less nice. Still, a sunny morning after a two inch fall of shiny white fluff makes for a very pretty drive.

Mishno: Creoena: Living in a very rural state (Vermont), we have some people who commute 60 miles+ to work each day. We even had one guy who came here from New Hampshire every day once.

/Luckily my commute's only about 8 miles.
//I know one guy a work keeps his long commute because it means he has to spend less time with his wife

Also Vermont. My commute is about 30 miles/45 minutes but in the summer on a motorcycle, it's very nice. There's only two traffic lights and maybe three stop signs on the whole ride; all rural except for about the last two miles - and you can hardly call So. Burlington "urban". People pay money to take vacations so they can drive my daily commute. In the winter it can be less nice. Still, a sunny morning after a two inch fall of shiny white fluff makes for a very pretty drive.

Work from home now, but used to commute from Georgia to Essex and quite often, I really didn't mind the drive. In the Spring, Summer, early Fall a drive with the top down is so damn relaxing! Even people here with "bad" commutes still have it 10 times better than people in many parts of the country with supposed "good" ones. It is all relative I suppose. The work on I-89 and Rt & at the same time was dumb, but it went quickly. Chimney Corners can get ugly at times, but still minor.

SB is "urban" for here I suppose. That is why the ridiculous property taxes, but once again, relative. Burlington is about as urban a place there is in Vermont, and it is a nice quiet suburb anywhere else.

My drive is 60 miles one way from my house, 75 if I crash at my girl's house. The only plus is that most of the trip is Expressway/Turnpike, so I can still make the commute in around a hour. Of course it also means $250 in tolls every month. I'd move closer, but damn my work is in the sticks. Nothing for miles around but cow fields.

I'm commuting right now so I'm getting a kick and what not.....

o5iiawah: Cell towers dont fix themselves

/40k per year.

Used to do that. Glad I don't anymore. Too much windshield time. And at 40k not enough money to put up with it.

A long commute in the morning isn't so bad. It gives you time to listen to the radio, mentally prepare for your day, and just kind of chill.

But that long commute home sucks worse than anything.

JimmyFartpants: A long commute in the morning isn't so bad. It gives you time to listen to the radio, mentally prepare for your day, and just kind of chill.

But that long commute home sucks worse than anything.

No doubt. You leave work motivated, but by the time you get home you are exhausted.

Thunderpipes: Mishno: Creoena: Living in a very rural state (Vermont), we have some people who commute 60 miles+ to work each day. We even had one guy who came here from New Hampshire every day once.

/Luckily my commute's only about 8 miles.
//I know one guy a work keeps his long commute because it means he has to spend less time with his wife

Also Vermont. My commute is about 30 miles/45 minutes but in the summer on a motorcycle, it's very nice. There's only two traffic lights and maybe three stop signs on the whole ride; all rural except for about the last two miles - and you can hardly call So. Burlington "urban". People pay money to take vacations so they can drive my daily commute. In the winter it can be less nice. Still, a sunny morning after a two inch fall of shiny white fluff makes for a very pretty drive.

Work from home now, but used to commute from Georgia to Essex and quite often, I really didn't mind the drive. In the Spring, Summer, early Fall a drive with the top down is so damn relaxing! Even people here with "bad" commutes still have it 10 times better than people in many parts of the country with supposed "good" ones. It is all relative I suppose. The work on I-89 and Rt & at the same time was dumb, but it went quickly. Chimney Corners can get ugly at times, but still minor.

SB is "urban" for here I suppose. That is why the ridiculous property taxes, but once again, relative. Burlington is about as urban a place there is in Vermont, and it is a nice quiet suburb anywhere else.

A long commute is made better when it is peaceful and scenic (which is why my 75 mile isn't that bad).

I tell myself it could be worse, I could be stuck in bumper to bumper traffic in a major metropolitan area where it could take 3 hours to "drive" 30 miles and the only scenery I have are rows of cars and people and all the concrete I could ever hope for!

So "hypermiling-supercommuters" are pretty much the most annoying people on the planet, right?

My FIL used to work in northern NJ. He lived in central jersey, about an hours ride away, then he bought a house in Cape May county, which for the uniformed is about a 3-3.5 hour ride. In the beginning he commuted virtually every day. Gas was around 1.00/gal and the tolls on the Parkway were only 25c so it wasn't as much of an expense as it would be now. After a while he would find himself getting sleepy on the parkway, stop and nap at a rest stop, wake up to realize it was time to go to work. he eventually started working overtime and then crashing in the employee lounge. I still don't understand how he did it. I think this last about 2-3 years before he got fired for tardiness and absenteeism IIRC.

as for me, I have almost always had a 20 min commute or less. Last several years it was about 8 mins. Then my office moved and i have to leave an hour before work to insure I get there on time. I cant even think what a longer commute would be like.

Fizics: Once we start getting some of these cage-driving, prisoners to stop driving and to start realizing the importance of bicycling, both for health and environmental reasons, we can start easing the space problems on the roads. I can't count the number of times I have had to swing a bike lock against a paint job of a cager to get them to respect my area of control around my bike. Car-driving people, (especially men!) please pay more attention to the road and not my spandex-covered posterior!

I have to say as a pedestrian in an extremely bike friendly area (lots of bike lanes), bicyclists are less likely to yield to when I have a walk signal at an intersection and have come close to hitting me while they ride on sidewalks. Know multiple friends who have been hit by bikes as pedestrians and the rider hasn't stopped. Only know two people hit by cars and the drivers stopped. I know this doesn't apply to all cyclists but that's the experience I have on this matter.

/would rather be hit by a bike than a car
//would tell friends a car hit me

This article makes me smile and sad. I couldn't take my 1 hr (each way) commute to work, so I convinced my boss to let me work from home. More bosses need to learn that people can do the same (often better) job telecommuting.

The gas price wasn't even an issue for me, commuting sucked the life out of me. I may earn a lot more if I commute far away, but it is NOT worth it.

Takes me about 35 minutes to get to work if I get a ride to the subway station. On the way home, I take the bus, so it's usually 40-45. But I have Chrono Trigger loaded on my phone, so I just play that the entire way home. The commute isn't great, but I don't pay for gas. We chose to live in the west end so that we could be close to my wife's work - ten minutes to work for her in the car, and we're living in terrifically safe neighbourhood.

4 1/2 Hours one way commuting for me since Hurricane Katrina. Live in Florida, work in Louisiana. It's already over 95.00 to fill up. if it goes to 5 bucks it'll be around 130 to fill up.

/Super Commuter.

My husband tends to complain about his 30 mile commute, but he was the one who chose to move. His Mazda gets ~30mph and it's pretty much highway driving the whole way, so it takes him about 40 min. He only fills up around once a week. I drive like 20 miles a week, so I fill up about once a month or so. The increase in gas prices are annoying, but not to the point that they are that inconvenient. Our mortgage with everything is still cheaper than what we were spending for a 2bd apartment closer to where he works, and I'd still have to drive as far as he does to get to work.

That Masked Man: Fizics: Once we start getting some of these cage-driving, prisoners to stop driving and to start realizing the importance of bicycling, both for health and environmental reasons, we can start easing the space problems on the roads. I can't count the number of times I have had to swing a bike lock against a paint job of a cager to get them to respect my area of control around my bike. Car-driving people, (especially men!) please pay more attention to the road and not my spandex-covered posterior!

The drivers are likely staring at you because they have heard and are keeping an eye out for some crazy biatch with her ass probably spilling hideously out of her spandex who bikes town around swinging a bike lock at cars that don't give her enough space on the road.

What makes you think that's a woman?

ForMadmenOnly: I know this doesn't apply to all cyclists but that's the experience I have on this matter.

Actually, it does. All serious cyclists are penises. You can look it up.

Fizics: Once we start getting some of these cage-driving, prisoners to stop driving and to start realizing the importance of bicycling, both for health and environmental reasons, we can start easing the space problems on the roads. I can't count the number of times I have had to swing a bike lock against a paint job of a cager to get them to respect my area of control around my bike. Car-driving people, (especially men!) please pay more attention to the road and not my spandex-covered posterior!

Swing a bike lock at me dickhead and I might just open up a door in your path.

ThighsofGlory: That Masked Man: Fizics: Once we start getting some of these cage-driving, prisoners to stop driving and to start realizing the importance of bicycling, both for health and environmental reasons, we can start easing the space problems on the roads. I can't count the number of times I have had to swing a bike lock against a paint job of a cager to get them to respect my area of control around my bike. Car-driving people, (especially men!) please pay more attention to the road and not my spandex-covered posterior!

The drivers are likely staring at you because they have heard and are keeping an eye out for some crazy biatch with her ass probably spilling hideously out of her spandex who bikes town around swinging a bike lock at cars that don't give her enough space on the road.

What makes you think that's a woman?

It just had the right tone. Also, if a man biked around town with a bike lock in his hand swinging it at so many cars he can't even count them all I imagine he'd have certainly been arrested, assaulted, or run down by now. Gender equality etc. On second thought probably trolling, but meh.

Fizics:
Once we start getting some of these cage-driving, prisoners to stop driving and to start realizing the importance of bicycling, both for health and environmental reasons, we can start easing the space problems on the roads. I can't count the number of times I have had to swing a bike lock against a paint job of a cager to get them to respect my area of control around my bike. Car-driving people, (especially men!) please pay more attention to the road and not my spandex-covered posterior!

Almost certainly a troll post, 8.5/10 points for getting so many bites! Hint, people: nobody remotely sane uses the term "cagers" seriously.

I commute to Detroit from Oakland County. Live in the 'burbs and drive in to downtown--35 miles each way; takes ~35-45 minutes each way, depending on traffic. There's no bus here.

My BF, on the other hand, works about 15 miles away in Southfield, but his commute time is often much longer than mine b/c of snarled traffic on the 96 & 696.

No Such Agency: Fizics:
Once we start getting some of these cage-driving, prisoners to stop driving and to start realizing the importance of bicycling, both for health and environmental reasons, we can start easing the space problems on the roads. I can't count the number of times I have had to swing a bike lock against a paint job of a cager to get them to respect my area of control around my bike. Car-driving people, (especially men!) please pay more attention to the road and not my spandex-covered posterior!

Almost certainly a troll post, 8.5/10 points for getting so many bites! Hint, people: nobody remotely sane uses the term "cagers" seriously.

Agree. No lock-swinging bicycle rider in the real world would be able to continue swinging their lock with two broken arms and a collapsed lung.

I used to see "cager" in "Easyriders" magazine about thirty years ago.

KrispyKritter: Fizics: Once we start getting some of these cage-driving, prisoners to stop driving and to start realizing the importance of bicycling, both for health and environmental reasons, we can start easing the space problems on the roads. I can't count the number of times I have had to swing a bike lock against a paint job of a cager to get them to respect my area of control around my bike. Car-driving people, (especially men!) please pay more attention to the road and not my spandex-covered posterior!

And you are probably one of the hundreds of assholes riding down Beach Drive in Maryland with your ass sticking out in the lane when there is a frigging bike path not 40' from you that everyone promised would be the saving grace of commuters into DC from Maryland. What pisses us "cagedwellers" off is that we have to carefully move around you slow, road-hogs and at the next red light, you zoom past us, hang out on the right side and then we have to repeat the damn passing dance again when the light changes. You would make a hell of a lot less enemies on the road if you would simply stay in your place in the line of cars at each light and not make us pass you again, and again and again. Or better yet, USE THE FARKING BIKE PATH!. How hard can it be?