[Librarianne]

Long commutes seem to be pretty common in my neck of the woods these days. Due to geography and job availablility, some people will drive 60+ miles (one way), or take a ferry and drive 40+.

I have done my share of commuting in the past, but have decided enough is enough. Years ago I did the ferry routine, with 35 miles of driving each way. More recently I drove 90 miles one way to attend school two or three evenings a week. Crazy, but at least for school I knew there was an end to it with a big accomplishment at stake (a masters degree). But as far as long distance driving goes, I'm finished.

I have decided now that being close to my family, and economically and environmentally responsible is more important than a job. Unfortunately there are not too many librarian positions available where I am now, so this may keep me from getting a professional position sooner rather than later. There are persons higher up in the library system that are not sympathetic to an unwillingness to commute. Oh well. As far as I'm concerned though, nothing is worth spending three hours of my life five days a week in a car.

Interesting thread!

[jmacdaddio]

At my employer in central NJ there's a number of people coming in from Delaware. My company bought out a unit of DuPont a few years back, and a number of jobs came north on the NJ Turnpike. The folks still coming from DE are doing 90 miles each way: some to avoid uprooting families and others because they're close to retirement and they're willing to stick it out. A few have barracks arrangements where they share apartments close to work and go home on the weekends, some stay with relatives who are closer to their offices. Even if you follow your conscience and live close to where you work, where you work can easily change.

[jdmartin]

I have been at both ends of this spectrum.

I lived in North Jersey and commuted into Staten Island every day. 35 miles each way, about an hour each way unless I didn't hit traffic right, then up to 1.5 hours each way. Shortly thereafter I worked literally next door to my house, a total of maybe 200 feet from my front door to the office. Cheap on the commute but impossible to call in sick. Later I did a commute that was about 15 miles each way but took about 40 minutes each way because of traffic.

Lived in Ohio for a bit and could walk to work every day. Ironically, because I used my personal vehicle for business, I often ended up driving anyway because I didn't always have the time to mosey the 15 minutes back to the house to get the car.

In the years I've been in Tennessee I've commuted anywhere from 6 miles each way to 50 miles each way. Currently I do the 50 mile each way commute, which takes me about 45 minutes since it is all interstate. Personally, unless I was moving away, I would never move to be closer to a job because it is my experience that NO job is that secure that you can be so sure it'll be there tomorrow. More prudent is as someone here already mentioned, be within a reasonable distance of a number of working areas. I can reasonably commute to 4 different cities in this area because of the interstate and the rural character of the landscape between them.

It is painful as gas continues to climb in price. Unfortunately, if I want to keep working, there's no real alternative except to do it and keep your eyes open for something closer to home. This is what I suspect most people with long commutes do. Even if I had to pay 5 bucks a gallon for gas, I'd still do it, because I make enough money that I couldn't offset the difference by working minimum wage. If it gets up to 10 bucks a gallon I'd probably still do it and just drive a motorcycle instead of a car at that point.

[cube]

I have a theory that having a long commute is what happens to you when you get married. I can't imagine too many single men who would be willing to sacrifice that much time out of their life. They can simply just rent a hole in the wall studio in the city close to their work. Of course once you have a wife and 2.3 kids then you kinda have to get a bigger place. Since the only place that the average person can afford is far away from where the jobs are, getting married almost guarantees a commute. That and it's mainly women not men who have a thing for houses.

If hypothetically there were no women. We'd all rent small studios close to our work.....and invest the extra money and time elsewhere like faster cars, bigger screen TV's, and more quality time at the sports bar.....instead of commuting on the road.

[Claudia]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('NeoPeasant', 'I') expect to see marine quonset hut type barracks popping up on large unused areas of employee parking where the employees spend the week and take the company bus home on fridays.

[EnergySpin]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I')f hypothetically there were no women. We'd all rent small studios close to our worka nd invest the extra money and time elsewhere like faster cars, bigger screen TV's, and more quality time at the sports bar.....instead of commuting on the road.

[Barbara]

OMG.

I commute 10 miles each way (with my scooter) and everybody here thinks I'm crazy to drive such a long way. But I guess we're in the EU so distances are quite different.

[Eli]

If the question is when did long commutes become common and why did they come about I think you gave a pretty good indication in your examples Daddio.

Suburban sprawl and how we decided or actually how we did not decide to build or cities created the commute. For the past 50 years it has been all about development and real estate. What were once small distinct communitys that were mostly rural and usually agrarian were transformed through the wonders of capitalism and unrestrained growth into real estate.

We had white flight and as older middle class neighborhoods within the citys declined the middle classes were moved further out into the surrounding area where cheap land and housing could be built.

Dallas, Houston L.A. are all examples of this our cities became huge metro areas that take three hours to drive through from one side to the other.

The East coast developed some what differently because of mass transit and relative closeness of the major towns. But NJ country side is now suburban sprawl.

[Doly]

I think your post is essentially correct: people commute because they don't expect to always work in the same place. Plus, many offices are in quite horrible areas and there are nicer places one could want to live in.

In my case, I live in Brighton because I like it as a place to live, but all the jobs I had so far in this country lasted for less than a year (maybe I've been terribly unlucky, but I doubt I'm the only one). Sometimes I've commuted very long distances (right now I am). But I don't expect to have the same job in a year's time, so it seems OK for the moment. I'm trying to get a job closer to home now.

[jdmartin]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('cube', 'I') have a theory that having a long commute is what happens to you when you get married. I can't imagine too many single men who would be willing to sacrifice that much time out of their life. They can simply just rent a hole in the wall studio in the city close to their work. Of course once you have a wife and 2.3 kids then you kinda have to get a bigger place. Since the only place that the average person can afford is far away from where the jobs are, getting married almost guarantees a commute. That and it's mainly women not men who have a thing for houses.

If hypothetically there were no women. We'd all rent small studios close to our work.....and invest the extra money and time elsewhere like faster cars, bigger screen TV's, and more quality time at the sports bar.....instead of commuting on the road.

[thorn]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Eli', 'I')f the question is when did long commutes become common...

[hull3551]

Long commutes: Blech.

I was fortunate to cast aside many of my belongings and downsize from the Midwest (also Ohio). I too did the commute from hell, and now am fortunate to drive 4 miles into work with my wife and ride my bike home (she only works half days). I guess people justify the trade-of between spending 2-3 hours a day of their life commuting.

I think it’s partially because of compounded work and family life. Going from one combat zone to another offers one at least a few hours of down time. Even if it means commuting amidst the angst and congestion of our overburdened highway system, it’s still some time of peace in a otherwise non-stop world.

Four miles up a thousand feet does the job for me though. I sort of feel sorry for all these people rushing past me on their way back to their homogenized live in the valley.

[geoman]

I would rather live with my inlaws than drive 2 hours a day. O wait, I do that. Hehe

What a waste of time driving is.

[gg3]

I'm a telecoms engineer (PBX design, programming, and implementation). I've never had to commute as such: the office has either been a local place (at most 2 miles away by local roads), or home-office mode (about which more below).

In the past I typically spent most of my time in the field on client sites. For example two or three site visits in a day, four or five days per week. Presently we insist on remote modems on all new systems, so I can do the vast majority of it from my desk. At my home office. As with my other colleagues except those whose job is primarily installing cable for new systems.

Our little company is actively developing technology for telecommuters. We promote telecommute infrastructure via our website and sales activities to clients. We call it "the one-minute commute: breakfast table to home office desk." We practice what we preach: no main office, everyone is linked at their home offices.

Every office-worker we can convert into a telecommuter is ten fewer car trips per week.

With few exceptions, anyone who works at a desk and doesn't need to meet face-to-face with clients or suppliers daily, is a candidate for telecommuting. I'm not saying this to drum up sales (notice I haven't named my company or posted our URL on this board). And with few exceptions, any company whose employees work at desk jobs of those types, is a candidate for switching to telecommute mode.

The cost of a telecommute system is rapidly repaid (6 - 12 months) by the savings in square footage of office space. Employee productivity rises by about 15%. Employees become self-supervising so management can concentrate on goals rather than process. Win-win all'round.

For me personally, a day on the road hopping between client sites is exhausting; but the same amount of time putting in more billable hours at the terminal from my desk is not only far less tiring but about twice as productive.

[Doly]

I've really wanted to be a homeworker for a long time, because it's the only realistic way a woman can work and take decent care of her children at the same time. I was actually a homeworker for five months, unfortunately the job didn't last because the company went bust.

What gets on my nervers is that I can see that the job I have now could be easily done from home. I'm in a callcentre, and it's plain enough to me that the calls get redirected so many times till they reach us that one more redirection to our homes couldn't be that hard. Our contact with second line is always by phone. A lot of the times, when one needs to consult a colleague, you do it by messaging, in spite of the fact that the person is at the other desk. A lot of the people we support are actually teleworkers, and from a technical point of view, we are teleworkers ourselves, because we connect to the network of the company we support in the same way teleworkers do. Our manager is a part-time teleworker. In spite of all this, nobody questions that working in an office is best for the first line team.

[jdmartin]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('gg3', 'I')'m a telecoms engineer (PBX design, programming, and implementation). I've never had to commute as such: the office has either been a local place (at most 2 miles away by local roads), or home-office mode (about which more below).

In the past I typically spent most of my time in the field on client sites. For example two or three site visits in a day, four or five days per week. Presently we insist on remote modems on all new systems, so I can do the vast majority of it from my desk. At my home office. As with my other colleagues except those whose job is primarily installing cable for new systems.

Our little company is actively developing technology for telecommuters. We promote telecommute infrastructure via our website and sales activities to clients. We call it "the one-minute commute: breakfast table to home office desk." We practice what we preach: no main office, everyone is linked at their home offices.

Every office-worker we can convert into a telecommuter is ten fewer car trips per week.

With few exceptions, anyone who works at a desk and doesn't need to meet face-to-face with clients or suppliers daily, is a candidate for telecommuting. I'm not saying this to drum up sales (notice I haven't named my company or posted our URL on this board). And with few exceptions, any company whose employees work at desk jobs of those types, is a candidate for switching to telecommute mode.

The cost of a telecommute system is rapidly repaid (6 - 12 months) by the savings in square footage of office space. Employee productivity rises by about 15%. Employees become self-supervising so management can concentrate on goals rather than process. Win-win all'round.

For me personally, a day on the road hopping between client sites is exhausting; but the same amount of time putting in more billable hours at the terminal from my desk is not only far less tiring but about twice as productive.

[Graeme]

Networking: 'Smart highways' emerging

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A')ugust 01, 2005
Commuters cruise down Interstate 95 from New York City to Washington, D.C., bumper to bumper, at a speed of 120 miles per hour -- about a two-hour trip at that speed. Do they worry about collisions? Not at all. They can even check the Dow Jones industrial average or browse new books on Amazon.com while they motor.
Those commuters, sometime in the not-so-distant future, will be traveling along smart highways: networks of sensors connected to satellite links controlling collision-detection computers onboard the vehicles. The technology will do all the driving, experts told UPI's Networking.
"There is simply no limit to what we can achieve as the technology improves," said Ed Schlesinger, founding director of the General Motors collaborative laboratory at the Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. "Cars will become nodes in a worldwide network delivering information to that network and getting information from it."
Scientists and engineers at Carnegie Mellon and other leading research universities, as well as at the automakers in Detroit, are working on networking technologies that will enable vehicles to communicate and share data. These technologies will provide drivers with information about traffic flow, road conditions and even the optimal place to park. The networking also will help drivers alter their travel routes if conditions warrant, and even slow down to avoid a serious incident.

[emersonbiggins]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Graeme', '[')b]Networking: 'Smart highways' emerging

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A')ugust 01, 2005
Commuters cruise down Interstate 95 from New York City to Washington, D.C., bumper to bumper, at a speed of 120 miles per hour -- about a two-hour trip at that speed. Do they worry about collisions? Not at all. They can even check the Dow Jones industrial average or browse new books on Amazon.com while they motor.
Those commuters, sometime in the not-so-distant future, will be traveling along smart highways: networks of sensors connected to satellite links controlling collision-detection computers onboard the vehicles. The technology will do all the driving, experts told UPI's Networking.
"There is simply no limit to what we can achieve as the technology improves," said Ed Schlesinger, founding director of the General Motors collaborative laboratory at the Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. "Cars will become nodes in a worldwide network delivering information to that network and getting information from it."
Scientists and engineers at Carnegie Mellon and other leading research universities, as well as at the automakers in Detroit, are working on networking technologies that will enable vehicles to communicate and share data. These technologies will provide drivers with information about traffic flow, road conditions and even the optimal place to park. The networking also will help drivers alter their travel routes if conditions warrant, and even slow down to avoid a serious incident.

[OilsNotWell]

Delusional...a mirage in a post-PO world. [Why is it that most visions of the future envision lots of energy, with lots of fancy cars? Recent movie examples: "I, Robot" and "The Island"..?]

For the rich who can afford a car that goes 120 mph, and outfitted with all the latest 'gear'...

Oh, but as an added bonus, you are putting your life in the control of a govt. funded project, built by the lowest bidder...

"Ma'am, our sensors in your automobile indicate the presence of smoking materials. Please extinguish your cigarette or you will be cited for intentionally injuring yourself"....

AND, if you were ever deemed a threat, well then, how convenient it would be to have control of you in a vehicle doing 120...OOPS! CRASH! 'System Malfunction'...

Starting very soon I hear, Detriot is going to be installing GPS-enabled transceivers in cars...(Why? To automatically locate usage for tax purposes, locating in 'emergency', and other BS excuses) but really for Orwellian tracking...If something like that were in a car I owned, I'd rip that f*ck*r out.

[cube]

When I was in auto shop my instructor told me they actually have cars now with mini emissions sensors. Whenever your car doesn't meet smog standard, the sensors send a signal up into space where a satellite recieves it, the info gets beam down to a central database that also has your address and in a couple days you get a letter in your mail box stating you need to get your car checked.

I'm quite sure those liberals who love to "regulate things for the benefit of humanity" are salivating at the mouth right now. That seems like something right up their alley. And of course if or (more accurately stated this system does get put into place) you can bet California will be the first to implement it.