3 ms·

I commute from a large-ish city to its suburb, my commute is 15-18 minutes. Anecdotes are not data... average commute in the US is like 20-30mins. I suspect mos

by sershe 4y ago

I commute from a large-ish city to its suburb, my commute is 15-18 minutes. Anecdotes are not data... average commute in the US is like 20-30mins. I suspect most people who can be fully remote (i.e. are not in service industry) can afford to move instead of commuting 3 hours one way.

adamsmith143 4y ago
So actually not a large city at all? Hard to believe there's there's actually a commute from Suburb to Downtown in under 20 minutes during rush hour for any of the 20 largest cities in the US.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- sershe 4y ago
  Seattle is #18. At peak rush hour it is 30-40mins, the main reason being that it's across a giant bottleneck of a bridge that also has ongoing construction; driving to suburbs that are not directly across the bridge would be faster. But, I don't drive at rush hour. "Start an 1-1.5 hours later" is much easier to grant than "WFH" :)
  - adamsmith143 4y ago
    So you aren't really comparing apples to apples. So what if I can drive downtown in under 30 minutes at 3:00 am?
    - sershe 4y ago
      1) There are statistics that show the same is true for most workers. Commutes are 20-40 minutes. Most of those for whom this is not true either have uncommon priorities and trade-offs, are poor, are actively planning to move, or are just stupid. The uncommon priorities are uncommon; low-paying jobs mostly cannot be done from home; the temporary location mismatch is temporary; and avoiding people who are not poor but cannot figure out their living situation seems like a good reason to not offer WFH :D 2) I provided a number for peak rush hour, worst possible commute (bridge + construction), that I've actually done a couple times. FWIW I can drive to downtown in 25 minutes during rush hour, 10-12 minutes without, and that also would involve a bridge so a bottleneck. 3) An hour after rush hour is very different than 3am.
osigurdson 4y ago
According to this data, commutes are pretty much no big deal in all states. https://www.visualcapitalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/average-commute-time-by-state.html https://www.visualcapitalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/...
- ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago
  I'm always amazed at these datasets. They tend to ignore things like the laws of physics. When you live 40 miles away from your destination, there's no way that you'll get there in 37.7 minutes, unless you can do over the state speed limit, the entire time. And that doesn't even count things like congestion, traffic lights, and whatnot. Frankly, I'm kind of amazed at the nasty reception that my post got. I do apologize for my choice of words, questioning where the person lives, but folks seem to have some kind of stake, in commutes being unnaturally short. People live in the suburbs, so they can do things like raise families, send their kids to good schools, and enjoy the kinds of leisure pursuits that are only available to wealthy people, close to the city. There's a lot of people, living out here. I know of several people that live in Wading River, and commute daily, to Manhattan. This is a scientific community. Feel free to get your maps out, and figure it out.
  - osigurdson 4y ago
    Yes, I'd like to see how this data was aggregated. It doesn't seem to resonate very well.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - sershe 4y ago
    Well, statistically most of people don't live "out there". To live out there is a choice... like, I know people who live in a mountain town because hiking/climbing is walking distance, or people who live in the country cause they want to keep a horse for regular riding (I think that was the primary reason?). Sure, their commute sucks, but for most people the only reason I can think of for living that far out is not being able to afford housing, and that is not typical for people who can WFH full time. So, most people don't mind their commute. Also if I was hypothetically an employer, all other things being equal, wouldn't I rather hire people who don't have hobbies/things they are so committed to that they justify living "out there"? ;)

by sershe 4y ago

adamsmith143 4y ago

So actually not a large city at all? Hard to believe there's there's actually a commute from Suburb to Downtown in under 20 minutes during rush hour for any of the 20 largest cities in the US.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
sershe 4y ago
Seattle is #18. At peak rush hour it is 30-40mins, the main reason being that it's across a giant bottleneck of a bridge that also has ongoing construction; driving to suburbs that are not directly across the bridge would be faster. But, I don't drive at rush hour. "Start an 1-1.5 hours later" is much easier to grant than "WFH" :)
- adamsmith143 4y ago
  So you aren't really comparing apples to apples. So what if I can drive downtown in under 30 minutes at 3:00 am?
  - sershe 4y ago
    1) There are statistics that show the same is true for most workers. Commutes are 20-40 minutes. Most of those for whom this is not true either have uncommon priorities and trade-offs, are poor, are actively planning to move, or are just stupid. The uncommon priorities are uncommon; low-paying jobs mostly cannot be done from home; the temporary location mismatch is temporary; and avoiding people who are not poor but cannot figure out their living situation seems like a good reason to not offer WFH :D 2) I provided a number for peak rush hour, worst possible commute (bridge + construction), that I've actually done a couple times. FWIW I can drive to downtown in 25 minutes during rush hour, 10-12 minutes without, and that also would involve a bridge so a bottleneck. 3) An hour after rush hour is very different than 3am.

osigurdson 4y ago

According to this data, commutes are pretty much no big deal in all states. https://www.visualcapitalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/average-commute-time-by-state.html https://www.visualcapitalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/...

ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago
I'm always amazed at these datasets. They tend to ignore things like the laws of physics. When you live 40 miles away from your destination, there's no way that you'll get there in 37.7 minutes, unless you can do over the state speed limit, the entire time. And that doesn't even count things like congestion, traffic lights, and whatnot. Frankly, I'm kind of amazed at the nasty reception that my post got. I do apologize for my choice of words, questioning where the person lives, but folks seem to have some kind of stake, in commutes being unnaturally short. People live in the suburbs, so they can do things like raise families, send their kids to good schools, and enjoy the kinds of leisure pursuits that are only available to wealthy people, close to the city. There's a lot of people, living out here. I know of several people that live in Wading River, and commute daily, to Manhattan. This is a scientific community. Feel free to get your maps out, and figure it out.
- osigurdson 4y ago
  Yes, I'd like to see how this data was aggregated. It doesn't seem to resonate very well.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- sershe 4y ago
  Well, statistically most of people don't live "out there". To live out there is a choice... like, I know people who live in a mountain town because hiking/climbing is walking distance, or people who live in the country cause they want to keep a horse for regular riding (I think that was the primary reason?). Sure, their commute sucks, but for most people the only reason I can think of for living that far out is not being able to afford housing, and that is not typical for people who can WFH full time. So, most people don't mind their commute. Also if I was hypothetically an employer, all other things being equal, wouldn't I rather hire people who don't have hobbies/things they are so committed to that they justify living "out there"? ;)