Your commute... How bad does it suck?

[JediMAC]

Well, we're finally officially moved into our new place and out of our old one, so I am finally commuting for the first time in my life (I lived just one mile from my office for the past 5+ years).

Patty and I made the drive back and forth between our old and new places probably about 25 times over the past 3 weeks and never hit a bit of traffic, which made the 20 mile drive just a measely 20-25 minutes - which is somewhat tolerable.  I figured I'd be in pretty good shape for my commute to and from the office, especially since I usually come in pretty late (9:30-10am) and leave after 7pm, so I figured I'd be avoiding the majority of the "rush hour" traffic.

Well, if yesterday and today are any indication of my average commute, I'm going to be looking for a new job pretty soon!     Took me a good 35 minutes yesterday to get into the office.  Started off smoothly for the first 15 miles, and then nothing but a parking lot on the freeway for the last 5 miles.  But today was twice as bad, as it took me over an hour to get in - 10 miles of pure gridlock!

I even hopped off the freeway at one point this morning to take side streets the rest of the way, but apparently thousands of other people had the same damned idea.  This royally SUCKS.  I HATE traffic (especially in 90+ degrees of heat) and idiotic drivers, so arriving at the office in a vengeful and angry mood, with a nice fat headache to go with it, is not going to be a good thing.  Not to mention all of the road rage spewing forth from my filthy mouth, and vulgar fingers...

Hopefully things will get better though, 'cause I just can't handle it as is!    God help me...

So what's everyone else's commutes to work or school like?

[Mikey D]

20 miles in 35 minutes, Matt?  Damn it takes me 30 minutes to go approximately 9 miles to and fro work.  And this is leaving home at 6 - 6:15 am and leaving work most days at 3:45.

But I'm like you, I loathe traffic.  Can't stand it, can't tolerate it and sometimes wish I had a tank to plow through every one.

And don't get me started on stupid drivers.  I'm in a pretty good mood and don't feel like raising my blood pressure  

[Scott]

5 miles from work, takes around 7 minutes.  My wife used to drive from our townhome for an hour...we moved 10 miles south (I had about the same drive before as I do now) and she only has to drive 30 minutes, so it was a good compromise.

[DSJ™]

Well with me being on night shift, I avoid all the traffic.  

My drive to work is only 11 kilometers or 6.85 miles. Takes me 11 mins ethier way.  

Nope, don't miss day shift at all.  

[Jesse James]

I have a commute where Pittsburgh-ers look at me with both shock and horror at the distance I travel.  The ironic thing is that it's really not all that  bad (Or it could be worse I guess).

I drive from my home for 45 minutes, about 39 miles, to my campus which is about 10 or 15 minutes north of Pittsburgh on Mcknight(mare) road.

I travel down Route 28, which has a portion called the "Death Stretch", but fortunately I don't hit the stuff DEEP in the city.  I'm able to exit at PA route 8 and take it North then skip through a community to the back entrance of my school.  Not too shabby really, for these parts.

Where I live though is WAY out in the sticks...  39 miles is a hefty distance away from the city.  The nice thing about Pittsburgh though is that our city is on the medium side, and we don't have the issues that cities like LA, San Fran, NY, Chi, Detroid, Philly and others have...  And the Baltimore/DC/Beltway area is the biggest Freakin' mess I've ever been in myself and puts all the others to shame.

The drive I do is pretty steady driving though with little bumper-to-bumper so it goes by faster in my mind.  When you're sitting there it changes things entirely.

This weekend I want to go to the city, deep into it like near downtown and such, and unfortunately it's the annual Irish Festival where I want to be and that damned thing backs EVERYTHING up to gridlock down in the city.  I'm not looking forward to just going out for a couple nights!  Blah.

We've discussed our traffic woes before Matt, I sympathize with your current situation and hope it improves...  Commutes blow, plain and simple.

[Reconsgt]

I usually have a pretty peacefull drive in. I live about 22 miles from work but I live in a rural area and my job is at the edge of the city so i don't deal with to much city traffic. so for me I like the drive in. I get to listen to the radio and relax a bit. On the otherhand winter driving can be a pain but overall its not to bad.

[JediMAC]

20 miles in 35 minutes, Matt?  Damn it takes me 30 minutes to go approximately 9 miles to and fro work.

You're right Mike.  All things considered, 30-40 minutes isn't really too bad - especially here in L.A.  I'm just speaking relative to what I had before, and also relative to what my tolerance for traffic is.  If I ain't goin' at least 60mph, I'm not too happy!  Unfortunately, in the midst of my stress and road rage, I'm unable to keep in mind that compared to some others, this isn't all that bad...  I'm mostly just focused on how irate I get being parked on a freeway at any point in time...  

BTW, gas prices averaging around $2.20 a gallon here in L.A. definitely isn't helping matters...  

[BigDumbWookiee]

When I go to classes, I have (speaking speed limit-wise) a 50 minute (each way) drive. I cut it down to 30 today!

When I teach, it's about a 20 minute drive, but I can cut that one down to about 15

[Nicklab]

I've praised the day I stopped working in Manhattan.  That commute was terrible!  Even working off hours (6AM - 2PM), I had at least a 2 hour roundtrip commute.  And that was when it was fast!

Now, it takes me about half an hour.  Thankfully, I tend to work off hours, so it helps.  But working in Jersey as opposed to NYC has really helped my sanity level.  I feel much better now!

[Darth Paul]

Rush hour in T.O. lasts from 7am to 8pm Monday to Friday.  Thank God I work long, long hours so I usually only have to drive in "prime time" one way.

[carebear]

I have about 30 miles and it takes me about 45 min to an hour in Chicago traffic in the morning.  On the way home is a different story.  It can take anywhere from an hour to whatever!  The longest it took me to go that 30 miles was 3 hours in a snowstorm.

I honestly don't mind the drive - I love where I live.  Maybe someday I will be closer but the houses that are closer to the town I work in are minimum $400,000.

[dustrho]

It takes me about 10-15 minutes to drive to the train station, about an hour on the train to downtown Chicago, and then about 15-20 minutes to the building where I work.  It's a long haul to the office, let me tell you.

At one of my first jobs coming out of college, my drive took anywhere between 1 hour and 1.5 hours to get to work.  That sucked.

Matt, 35 minutes would be so nice to endure.  Welcome to the commuting world.  

[Morgbug]

Well, when the government decentralized my job, my commute went from 12 kilometers to 92.  Very nearly 60 miles, with 80% of it on a two lane highway, the majority of the remainder on the local perimeter highway which is crowded with a bunch of clowns that don't realize the left lane is for passing/faster traffic.  

My commute is basically one hour each way.  Longest it's taken in winter is 2 1/2 hours in a blizzard.  If I don't go to work in a blizzard, I have to take a vacation day  Nice respect for safety the government has.  

I put about 30-35,000 miles a year on my car.  It is very well maintained and has next to zero resale value already.  It is a 1998

Aside from commuting, my job requires me to drive all around the province, so I probably drive about 50,000 miles a year.  

I used to love driving for something to do.  Get in the car, go for a cruise, crank the tunes.  Not any more

[Sith Lord Cosmo]

Work is a 10 minute drive

Class is 15-20, depending on traffic

[sp00ky]

40 min here.  Rural to the edge of the city.  I used to work right downtown, which I hated.

Traffic, expensive parking etc. etc.

Now it is much better.  I actually enjoy my drive as it lets me unwind a lot before I get home.

All my work anger is lost on loud music along to road!

Scott