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>>I'm not commuting 1.5 hours each this brings in the regional differences, I am life long Midwestern and even in some for the larger cities a 1.5hr commute i

>>I'm not commuting 1.5 hours each this brings in the regional differences, I am life long Midwestern and even in some for the larger cities a 1.5hr commute is just not a thing I can transverse my city (3rd largest in the state) in about 30 mins even at rush hour. My entire adult life the longest commute I ever had was 40mins, and that we because I lived 40miles outside of the city in surrounded by Farms. From my current home, I could reach every employer in the city in about 20mins max.

jehb 4y ago
I envy a good grid. Here on the east coast, in many cities only the very center core is gridded, with the rest being most of a hub-and-sprawly-spoke model. The only corridor through my 40-mile wide, 2M+ person metro area is a single Interstate that's basically a parking lot at rush hour, and also carries our bus-only transit system.
ElevenLathe 4y ago
You'd be surprised how far people push commutes in the Midwest. I know at least one person that lives near Saginaw and works in Detroit. I have a relative that commutes nearly two hours each way in northern Wisconsin -- and they bought this house /because/ of the location of the job, so this wasn't an accident of history.
- phpisthebest 4y ago
  while that is true, long commutes in the mid west is not the same as long commutes in the city. For some in the midwest, the Long Commute is a way to unwind at the end of the day, Open Road, jamming to music, or catching up on PodCasts, etc. For some it is relaxing. City Commuting is just stress.
  - ElevenLathe 4y ago
    I can maybe see this, but I have had several kinds of long commutes in my life: long distances by country road, by interstate, by train, by bus. Rush hour driving in Austin is hellish compared to the same length of commute by country road in Michigan (at least when there isn't a blizzard) but they are still driving. It's not downtime. Commuting by coach-style (think Greyhound) bus in central Europe is probably the easiest hour+ commute I've had, but you are still trapped in a metal box: you might be able to answer some email or listen to an audiobook but it's not downtime.
    - ghaff 4y ago
      When I had a job in Boston, I could commute mostly by train with about a five minute drive on one end and a 10 minute walk on the other. Much better than driving unless I was doing something in the evening. But it was still three hours out of my day. Fortunately didn't need to do it every day but it was still not sustainable.

jehb 4y ago

I envy a good grid. Here on the east coast, in many cities only the very center core is gridded, with the rest being most of a hub-and-sprawly-spoke model. The only corridor through my 40-mile wide, 2M+ person metro area is a single Interstate that's basically a parking lot at rush hour, and also carries our bus-only transit system.

ElevenLathe 4y ago

You'd be surprised how far people push commutes in the Midwest. I know at least one person that lives near Saginaw and works in Detroit. I have a relative that commutes nearly two hours each way in northern Wisconsin -- and they bought this house /because/ of the location of the job, so this wasn't an accident of history.

phpisthebest 4y ago
while that is true, long commutes in the mid west is not the same as long commutes in the city. For some in the midwest, the Long Commute is a way to unwind at the end of the day, Open Road, jamming to music, or catching up on PodCasts, etc. For some it is relaxing. City Commuting is just stress.
- ElevenLathe 4y ago
  I can maybe see this, but I have had several kinds of long commutes in my life: long distances by country road, by interstate, by train, by bus. Rush hour driving in Austin is hellish compared to the same length of commute by country road in Michigan (at least when there isn't a blizzard) but they are still driving. It's not downtime. Commuting by coach-style (think Greyhound) bus in central Europe is probably the easiest hour+ commute I've had, but you are still trapped in a metal box: you might be able to answer some email or listen to an audiobook but it's not downtime.
  - ghaff 4y ago
    When I had a job in Boston, I could commute mostly by train with about a five minute drive on one end and a 10 minute walk on the other. Much better than driving unless I was doing something in the evening. But it was still three hours out of my day. Fortunately didn't need to do it every day but it was still not sustainable.