Marchetti intended the constant to be 1 hour round trip, so a half-hour commute one-way. It’s an important distinction, since here in Atlanta the exurban commuter is clocking in at 1.5 hours or more into the city, well outside of what is considered tolerable. Multiply that by a million and you get some irritated people.
Is housing that expensive in Atlanta?
Its traffic is notoriously bad, so you don’t have to live far away to deal with a long commute.
That’s disgusting, and I now feel bad for Atlanta.
also they’re surrounded by fuckin repedoclicans
Oh don’t feel bad for us. It’s also hotter than hell with 115% humidity every day for 7-9 months!
23 miles door to door for me. Can take as little as a half hour (zero traffic)… Or as much as an hour 20. And good luck predicting exactly how bad it will be at any given day/time!
that was my experience when I lived in Minneapolis. when there was zero traffic and in the summer, you could get from any place in town to any other place in between 15-20 minutes. snarled traffic was rare because there were so many additional terrestrial roads to take the burnt.
Contrast that with living in Philly, and we have a highway (676) that is so jammed all the time that the exits are measured on signage in fractions.
We have a lot of sprawl here and the reasons are many. Just like Dallas and LA, we have a ton of road infrastructure and zoning laws that eat up a lot of land. We also don’t have any natural barriers, like an ocean or a mountain range, to limit our expansion. Just to keep building and add another lane. Thanks for asking.
the funny thing is, every city is always just one more lane away from solving their traffic problems.
Yeah, the metro area (albeit unofficially) effectively takes up most of the eastern and northeastern sections of the state. It is a truly huge suburban sprawl.
Also in the greater Atlanta and can confirm. My job thankfully has me work from home as much as I can (I also travel a lot, which requires getting a vehicle from the office). But it’s still a nightmare every time I do have to go in.
I still don’t think that this could be called a constant when you’ve got folks like myself who live in a major city, 8 miles away from our workplaces, and still see 2 hour total commutes per day.
We should strip the inheritance if anyone who is related to folks who demolished the streetcar system.
You must be biking really slowly.
that’s all by bus, really. I live at the top of a hill that used to be used as a qualifier in a professional bicycling circuit. I tried getting up it on pedal power, it’s just too much.
I got an eBike recently though, it really does make that hill a breeze.
Anything beyond 45 minutes is a schlep and there better be something good for me losing an hour and a half or more of day in transit. Especially a car where I can’t even read or relax.
Especially a car where I can’t even read or relax.
I don’t commute anymore, but spent close to 20 years with an hour commute each way. Audio books are the only way I can tolerate traffic.
I have that right now, 45-55 (depending on the traffic) to work by car. It’s a pain but I can’t really pick the worksite myself. Could change companies though but many have the same issue
I know a guy that’s doing at least once a week, probably more, commute from DC to New York City. To be a product guy at a like 5 person company. As if you really need to be in a shared office to move jira tickets, ask eng again “How’s that feature coming?”, and so on. The CEO is a crazy person.
The CEO is also making the front end developer guy who lives in Connecticut come into the office 2-3 times a week. So he can work on his web page, the one with the code stored on github.
I hate all this “return to office” stuff. I don’t care about management’s feelings or real estate investments, and I don’t care about people who hate their family and can’t focus at home. Making people commute is a pay cut and a blow against labor.
My department just got called in for an RTO with zero warning, with 3 days in person for a ~160 person department.
There are ~20 desks available. Do the math.
This next week is going to be a disaster for their coked up idea of good business practices.
Please update us if you can, that sounds like a delicious level of schadenfreude.
Yeah. Antiwork will eat it up.
I wanna see the chaos too!
Someone should get a fog machine so visibility in the packed office drops to zero, and hand out free vuvuzelas at the entrance.
I’m in a position where I work with a team of 8 fixed employees that could easily work hybrid schedules. Our manager is hybrid though, and barely spends any time at the office. It creates such a difficult dynamic- our team works together really well but when our manager does come in it feels like an intrusion almost. Immediate us vs them just because everyone else spends so much time together.
I have diabetic retinopathy and about 10 years ago, I saw enough blind spots that I stopped driving. My company accommodated me by letting me work from home. We already had another employee who was doing that for vision issues, it was simple to do.
Because we were successful, they replaced our desktops with laptops at refresh time and started letting everyone work from home 1 day a week. Then when Covid hit, they just told everyone to bring their laptops home and WFH full time. The CEO talked about return-to-office for a year or two but decided to make it optional.
It’s an amazing benefit. It gave me back about 90 minutes every day, and my dog doesn’t have to be crated during the day. I can sleep later and have access to my own kitchen for lunch. Theres a reason that average tenure in my department is around 20 years.
There are people at a place I worked that did a 2 hour trip each way each day.
That’s me.
I work in a very small city entirely surrounded by a much larger one. The one I work for is an enclave for the 0.1%. The average new home build here is over 10 times the price that of the major city that surrounds us, which is also very expensive for the region.
Suffice to say, I can’t live here. I live in a shitty trailer that’s about 2 hours away with traffic, but costs $700 a month as opposed to $3000+ for a tiny 1-room apartment near work.
The commute sucks, but I save $115 every day I commute.
Fortunately, I like audio books.
Do you work in the Vatican?
How is the enclosed city not just considered part of the bigger city? I think I’ve never seen a city like that before.
It’s fairly common, especially if the residents are wealthy, they just incorporate their neighborhood area.
The City of London lies within Greater London itself. The king may not enter the City of London without the Lord Mayor of London’s (Not to be confused with the mayor of London) approval, or something like that.
It sounds weird, but it is more a technicality. Some cities have grown so much they consumed what used to be small towns outside their boundaries. Those small towns stayed independent entities. Examples are all over.
Check out the Park Cities that are north of downtown Dallas.
Fortunately, I like audio books.
fam, try Pimsleur Speak & Understand language learning. A lot of libraries have them in CD form. That’ll kill half hour to an hour easy.
yep, I work in Montreal, an island… crossing a bridge the morning and the evening is 1h in summer up to 3h in winter (one way!!!). At least since COVID I WFH, save 2h+ a day.
Fuck having to use a bridge to get to or from the South Shore for a commute. As soon as there is an accident your are screwed.
Obviously, this is a statistical truth. It doesnt necessarily apply to all individuals at all times.
This is totally bullshit, the Starbucks CEO hardly minds his 2-3ish hr commute from CA to Seattle by private jet.
If the poors weren’t so stupid and lazy they’d buy jets for a more comfortable commute too. /s
I wonder how this looks for people with flexible commuting methods. I can bike to work (45 mins each way) or take the train with some walking (40 mins), or take the metro to the train with very little walking (50 mins). The fact that it’s sometimes exercise helps break it up, and I don’t much mind it
Imagine having a choice for how you get to your destination
(this comment made by the American gang)
Would you like to commute in a car, or in a pickup truck?
Yup, it was a big factor in where we wanted to go outside of the US. I can’t imagine going back to car life again
To me, two hours of my life I’m not getting back looks like two hours of my life I’m not getting back. Happy to do that for the exercise or something some of the time, but regularly it’s a very high cost.
Yeah, when I lived in the US I had ~15 mins to work at ~30 home and I loathed it. I bike probably 85-90% of the time so I really just see it as my cardio time and appreciate it
When I interviewed at a company some years ago, the commute would have been ~an hour on a normal day (potentially longer if I did park-n-ride). I was very forward about wanting to only come into the office once or maybe twice a week. The manager I was talking with brushed off my commute time by basically saying that the commute wasn’t that long and he knew others that commuted much longer. That was a huge red flag for me and I did not proceed with them. I don’t care what others will tolerate. If management is going to ignore concerns like that, I don’t want to work there. It was really apparent that he wouldn’t let me work from home more than maybe once a week if I was lucky.
Sounds legit, I turned down multiple higher roles in my last company after doing a test commute to the more remote office. It was consistently 90-120 minutes each way. That would end up with me be away at work for 12-13 hours each day for 8 hours of paid work.
Had a similar experience. Job wanted me but I’m not spending 2 hours commuting.
This was before remote work was a common thing.
Marchetti never went to NYC.
I was thinking that it sounded about right, until I read beyond the headline:
Its value is approximately one hour, or half an hour for a one-way trip.
WHAT. I thought he meant one hour each way!
Are there any cities where that is the norm??? I’ve had sub-30 commutes in my life, and it felt like the height of luxury.
I had a 1.5 hour (one way) commute for a while, and I was burned the fuck out after a year of that. It takes a toll on your health.
This is my current hell. When I started it was 3x/week so it wasn’t too bad, but now it’s 4, and there’s a “rumor” that it’s gonna go back to full time in at some point. Thanks for the motivation to get my next certification as fast as possible I guess, because I’m already working on exit strategies.
Marchetti was from Italy. That explains it.
Or LA
Or San Francisco. My longest commute was 3.5 hours each way. Average over 15 years there was 90 minutes.
holyshitwhatthefuck?
The longest days are like tacking on a whole 'nother day.
Yeah, it sucked, but the pay was great, and I really wanted to work for the company.
I was thinking about it and I know of some electricians who happily commute three hours no traffic to certain jobsites to work 5 10’s and pocket the per diem
Same in Montréal, it’s a fucking island and everyone lives outside of it, there’s not so many bridges so it’s 1h each way or more.
Or Kansas… there aren’t a great many urban centers with diverse job markets so people routinely commute in from over an hour at my workplace.
I’ve in my entire life never had this short a commute. All the following is one-way commute: 45 minutes to school growing up. 2,5 hours to university 5 days a week for years. 1,5-2 hours to work since. Since the pandemic only 2 days a week though, which is a relief.
Sure it would be nice if it were shorter, but using public transport helps. At least I get to relax, play a game, knit, etc. And not living in a polluted city and having a yard makes it worthwhile.
2.5 hours is wild. You spent 5 hours a day commuting?
Well, for 2 years I did 2 hours each way, then they changed around some public transport times and it was 2.5 hours for another 2 years.
I did most of my homework, solo parts of projects and studying in public transport.
That’s rough. I honestly couldn’t do that.
Fair, it’s not for everyone. I was admittedly pretty burnt out after the 2 years of 2.5 hours. That was too much long term for me too.
Where do you live?
The Netherlands mainly
That’s not typical, right? Few sites I found say average nl commute is 19km. I commute around 13km on bicycle and it takes around 35 minutes mostly because of traffic lights.
Statistically most of those people likely live in a city themselves. Of my direct colleagues 70% have similar commutes to mine. They also all live in the countryside somewhere or in smaller, less expensive cities. Most of them use the car instead of public transport though.
Shit that’s comparable time from Gothenburg to Oslo
Why haven’t you moved closer? When I started university, I could’ve had a 1,5 hour commute by car but I moved closer and now it’s 5 min by bike
During university the only financially viable way would have been student housing. There wasn’t any that would have taken in me, my husband and our cat.
And since then see above: it’s nice to not live in the busy air pollution of the city and be able to afford a house with a yard. Best thing possible within 30 minutes of work within our budget would have been a small apartment with roommates.
Won’t it be easier for you to live near your job place. 2 hours to and from work each day is exhaustive. Don’t you think ? What is your job ?
Maybe if it was just me I’d do that. But I love our house and garden and the quiet and dark late at night and the clean(er) air. And with a husband and pets a cohabitation situation in a small place in a city just isn’t ideal. The only thing it would save me is commute time, but as I use my commute to be productive or relax it doesn’t feel like nearly enough of a burden to even consider it.
If I still had to do the commute daily I’d switch jobs though, but I wouldn’t go and live anywhere closer to where most of the good jobs are.
using public transport helps. At least I get to relax, play a game, knit, etc.
This is true, but only if it’s not crowded and you get to sit down. The same commute time feels completely different during rush hour and off-peak.
True. Luckily I haven’t needed to stand in a long while. Makes the commute a lot less fun when that’s necessary. But at least there’s audiobooks.
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I mean, it sounds like you’re spending 12 hours a day in a polluted city so…
Currently only 2 days a week at the moment. And 4 of those 12 hours I’m in public transport, most of which is in the train and no longer inside is the city. So meh, not really.
But even if that were true, what’s the argument you’re trying to make? Already spending 12 hours in a polluted city so I shouldn’t bother with the other 12? Also weekends still exist.
I do an hour and a half single trip. It’s only twice per week and it’s by train. So I read a book or I bring my steamdeck. I really don’t mind it. I’d be less happy if it was 5 days per week. I’d still be going by train, but also looking for a better job.
I could’ve written every single word in your comment! And surprisingly enough, the commute is one of the best part of my day. The only issue is the time I get up and the time I come home.
If my commute isn’t a 30 second walk to my home office I won’t take the job.
Back in the 90’s and 2000’s my commute ranged between 30-60 minutes by car one way to a combination of 15 minutes driving and 30-45 minutes on a subway.
Since shortly before the pandemic my commute has been up a flight of stairs to our guest bedroom that’s now my office.
I’m never going back.
I hounded my boss for a year when COVID hit to make it permanent. Worth every bit of annoying him.
I met a lawyer working in Boston & living in the burbs a number of years ago. When Covid hit he worked from home for over a year. His job was one that could easily be remote, but like so many others, his boss eventually wanted him back in the office. His boss did admit that continuing to work remotely would have been an option if he lived further away.
He & his girlfriend moved to Vermont, and he still has that job.
I personally hit a wall at 41 minutes of in-car travel time for a daily commute. I’ve timed it. Every second after that feels like a whole level of abnormal waiting, a kind of cold torture or injustice that you must wade through to to your destination. It’s not a healthy headspace at all. I’ve naturally sought out shorter commutes after this revelation, and yeah, the 30 minute estimate seems right.
I used to have about an hour long commute, and I kinda enjoyed it. I had shit to do at work, and shit to do at home, so being in the car for a while really let me calm down and center myself most of the time.
Imagine you had 2hours more every day so you could work through the todo at home and enjoy the rest of your time at home or anywhere else that is neither your work nor your car.
Valid point, but I guess after working in a greenhouse for a season I learned to appreciate having time to sit still in AC. My old Crown Vic wasn’t such a bad place to be (cost an arm and leg in gas and oil, so that was a definite downside).
I get it, but I just can’t get to that place mentally in stop-and-go-bumper-to-bumper traffic for that long. Not even half that long. If that was a nice 50mph cruise the whole time, sure.
About 73 for me most of the way. An hour of bumper to bumper, or commuting on a bus would probably make it worse.
Traffic jams make driving infinitely worse. It requires so much more attention.
Neat. Anecdotally I can confirm that as I work construction so have a variable commute. 30 minutes is fine, 45 an inconvenience, and an hour having me thinking about quitting.
