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I'm actually wondering what you consider not a long commute if 30 minutes hits the threshold. I've known plenty of people who have longer commutes driving direc

I'm actually wondering what you consider not a long commute if 30 minutes hits the threshold. I've known plenty of people who have longer commutes driving directly from home to work.

krageon 5y ago
I consider a five-minute commute to be short. Ten can be okay too, if the route is nice (e.g. you live in a pretty place and you travel through it to get to work). That is door-to-door.
- Talanes 5y ago
  Five minutes doesn't even feel quite like I've left home.
  - krageon 5y ago
    It's fair to say that I prefer it that way :)
ProZsolt 5y ago
For me the ideal commute(pre Covid) was an under 20 mins walk/bike ride. That is still nearly 3.5 hours a week not counting dressing up / getting ready for the commute.
vladvasiliu 5y ago
It's not only a question of time, but also of how that time is spent. For example, I would much rather prefer to walk 30-40 minutes instead of taking a crowded, smelly metro for 20. I actually used to regularly walk 50 minutes to get home in the evening because I didn't want to deal with the transit. There's also the fact that this is the time it takes when everything works well. Again, I take an automated line, which is fairly reliable. But most of the other lines have "incidents" going quite often (more than once a week). In this case, if the delay isn't extreme (less than 30 minutes) people will just wait and stuff themselves in the even-more-crowded trains when they do show up. Or they'll try taking another line, adding to that train's usual crowd. When there are too many people, trains usually have delays, because they have to deal with people literally not fitting in the train at the stops. So even if you're OK with riding a train packed to the brim (say you ride from end to end, so you're guaranteed to have a seat and won't have to fight your way off the train), you still can't count on getting at your destination on time.
- jimmaswell 5y ago
  That's interesting, I'd generally much rather drive an hour than walk 20-30 minutes. I lived on a college campus for a while where you could walk to everything and I like it much more now driving everywhere.
  - chrisseaton 5y ago
    > I'd generally much rather drive an hour than walk 20-30 minutes Why?!
    - closeparen 5y ago
      It depends what you're walking through! I'll walk for hours on a beautiful nature trail or a pretty, safe cityscape with interesting sidewalk-addressing buildings. I won't walk for 5 minutes sandwiched between a fast road strip-mall parking lots, industrial facilities, or open fields.
      - chrisseaton 5y ago
        Lol what’s wrong with walking next to an open field?
        Talanes 5y ago
        Walking the small path between a highway and some fields was literally how I got to high school.
        closeparen 5y ago
        It's exposed (to the sun and the wind) and it's dull. Inviting pedestrian environments need a sense of enclosure. Can be sidewalk-abutting buildings, can be trees, can be parked cars, can be all three. And they need stuff to look at that isn't monotonous.
        valarauko 5y ago
cerved 5y ago
30 minutes is still 5 hours a week
- novaRom 5y ago
  Times 50 weeks is 250 hours or literally 250/8= 31 active days wasted per year! A month of your life! It's fine if you walk you can think about anything, but if you drive a car you waste your time.
  - vbezhenar 5y ago
    I can think about anything when I drive a car. Walking exercises your muscles, so it's preferable way of transportation because of health, but not because of thinking, IMO.
    - CRConrad 5y ago
      > I can think about anything when I drive a car. The rest of the world would prefer you to think about driving a car when you drive a car. When you're walking, OTOH, thinking about anything is OK. (The only person you'll kill by doing that unthinkingly is you.) God, Americans are weird.
      - closeparen 5y ago
        Thinking consciously and explicitly about a skill like driving (or hitting a tennis ball) is a good way to screw it up. Obviously you have to be aware of your surroundings. But if you're thinking about when or how to press the pedals or how far to turn the steering wheel, you're doing it wrong.
        CRConrad 5y ago
        Yeah, OK, I could have used some phrase like "directing your main attention to" in stead of "thinking". I used them as synonyms because I assumed the GP meant "thinking" as in thinking with concentration about some specific issue(s), which tends to divert your attention from your surroundings far more than the idle stream-of-consciousness / daydreams we all have going in the back of our heads all the time. Didn't you? Should probably have said "When you're driving, the rest of the world would prefer you to concentrate on your driving and your surroundings, traffic, pedestrians etc. Deep actual thinking is far better done while walking than while driving." But that wouldn't have made for a snappy turn-his-own-words-against-him comeback. :-)
rlayton2 5y ago
For me, anything over 10-15 minutes is "long". It has always struck me as a weird concept that 45 minutes-each-way is a "normal" amount to travel to work, or even that people are happy its under an hour. Edited to say I suppose I am privileged enough to have the option, and that I have traveled more than an hour before (I just wasn't happy about it)
aoms 5y ago
Pre-Covid I was travelling 1.5hours each way, door to door. Awful..
- sureglymop 5y ago
  Same.. mainly due to extremely unaffordable housing situation as a student. But because of covid my university my university now livestreams and records every lecture and has online meetings for exercise groups. It's actually incredible and in a way this is one good thing that came out of covid. I cannot even imagine not being able to rewatch part of a lecture as a student. That seems incredibly bad.
perfopt 5y ago
Now that I have experienced 2 min commute nothing will be better
lotsofpulp 5y ago
Anything more than 10min on a daily basis feels arduous to me. Once you get used to a life where you do not have to drive more than 5min to get everywhere, it would really suck to have go further. Even better than a 5 to 10min drive is being walking distance.

I'm actually wondering what you consider not a long commute if 30 minutes hits the threshold. I've known plenty of people who have longer commutes driving directly from home to work.

krageon 5y ago

I consider a five-minute commute to be short. Ten can be okay too, if the route is nice (e.g. you live in a pretty place and you travel through it to get to work). That is door-to-door.

Talanes 5y ago
Five minutes doesn't even feel quite like I've left home.
- krageon 5y ago
  It's fair to say that I prefer it that way :)

ProZsolt 5y ago

For me the ideal commute(pre Covid) was an under 20 mins walk/bike ride. That is still nearly 3.5 hours a week not counting dressing up / getting ready for the commute.

vladvasiliu 5y ago

It's not only a question of time, but also of how that time is spent. For example, I would much rather prefer to walk 30-40 minutes instead of taking a crowded, smelly metro for 20. I actually used to regularly walk 50 minutes to get home in the evening because I didn't want to deal with the transit. There's also the fact that this is the time it takes when everything works well. Again, I take an automated line, which is fairly reliable. But most of the other lines have "incidents" going quite often (more than once a week). In this case, if the delay isn't extreme (less than 30 minutes) people will just wait and stuff themselves in the even-more-crowded trains when they do show up. Or they'll try taking another line, adding to that train's usual crowd. When there are too many people, trains usually have delays, because they have to deal with people literally not fitting in the train at the stops. So even if you're OK with riding a train packed to the brim (say you ride from end to end, so you're guaranteed to have a seat and won't have to fight your way off the train), you still can't count on getting at your destination on time.

jimmaswell 5y ago
That's interesting, I'd generally much rather drive an hour than walk 20-30 minutes. I lived on a college campus for a while where you could walk to everything and I like it much more now driving everywhere.
- chrisseaton 5y ago
  > I'd generally much rather drive an hour than walk 20-30 minutes Why?!
  - closeparen 5y ago
    It depends what you're walking through! I'll walk for hours on a beautiful nature trail or a pretty, safe cityscape with interesting sidewalk-addressing buildings. I won't walk for 5 minutes sandwiched between a fast road strip-mall parking lots, industrial facilities, or open fields.
    - chrisseaton 5y ago
      Lol what’s wrong with walking next to an open field?
      - Talanes 5y ago
        Walking the small path between a highway and some fields was literally how I got to high school.
      - closeparen 5y ago
        It's exposed (to the sun and the wind) and it's dull. Inviting pedestrian environments need a sense of enclosure. Can be sidewalk-abutting buildings, can be trees, can be parked cars, can be all three. And they need stuff to look at that isn't monotonous.
        valarauko 5y ago

cerved 5y ago

30 minutes is still 5 hours a week

novaRom 5y ago
Times 50 weeks is 250 hours or literally 250/8= 31 active days wasted per year! A month of your life! It's fine if you walk you can think about anything, but if you drive a car you waste your time.
- vbezhenar 5y ago
  I can think about anything when I drive a car. Walking exercises your muscles, so it's preferable way of transportation because of health, but not because of thinking, IMO.
  - CRConrad 5y ago
    > I can think about anything when I drive a car. The rest of the world would prefer you to think about driving a car when you drive a car. When you're walking, OTOH, thinking about anything is OK. (The only person you'll kill by doing that unthinkingly is you.) God, Americans are weird.
    - closeparen 5y ago
      Thinking consciously and explicitly about a skill like driving (or hitting a tennis ball) is a good way to screw it up. Obviously you have to be aware of your surroundings. But if you're thinking about when or how to press the pedals or how far to turn the steering wheel, you're doing it wrong.
      - CRConrad 5y ago
        Yeah, OK, I could have used some phrase like "directing your main attention to" in stead of "thinking". I used them as synonyms because I assumed the GP meant "thinking" as in thinking with concentration about some specific issue(s), which tends to divert your attention from your surroundings far more than the idle stream-of-consciousness / daydreams we all have going in the back of our heads all the time. Didn't you? Should probably have said "When you're driving, the rest of the world would prefer you to concentrate on your driving and your surroundings, traffic, pedestrians etc. Deep actual thinking is far better done while walking than while driving." But that wouldn't have made for a snappy turn-his-own-words-against-him comeback. :-)

rlayton2 5y ago

For me, anything over 10-15 minutes is "long". It has always struck me as a weird concept that 45 minutes-each-way is a "normal" amount to travel to work, or even that people are happy its under an hour. Edited to say I suppose I am privileged enough to have the option, and that I have traveled more than an hour before (I just wasn't happy about it)

aoms 5y ago

Pre-Covid I was travelling 1.5hours each way, door to door. Awful..

sureglymop 5y ago
Same.. mainly due to extremely unaffordable housing situation as a student. But because of covid my university my university now livestreams and records every lecture and has online meetings for exercise groups. It's actually incredible and in a way this is one good thing that came out of covid. I cannot even imagine not being able to rewatch part of a lecture as a student. That seems incredibly bad.

perfopt 5y ago

Now that I have experienced 2 min commute nothing will be better

lotsofpulp 5y ago

Anything more than 10min on a daily basis feels arduous to me. Once you get used to a life where you do not have to drive more than 5min to get everywhere, it would really suck to have go further. Even better than a 5 to 10min drive is being walking distance.