3 ms·

EU commute times and US commute times are not that different. Average one way EU commute was 25 minutes in 2019, for Netherlands, it was 27 minutes. [0] Avera

EU commute times and US commute times are not that different. Average one way EU commute was 25 minutes in 2019, for Netherlands, it was 27 minutes. [0] Average one way US commute was 27.6 minutes in 2019. [1] Sure, there’s a 10% difference, but there are EU states over 30 minutes. The US isn’t that much of an outlier. [0] https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/4187653/10321620/commuting+time+map.png https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/4187653/10321620/com... [1] https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/commuting/guidance/acs-1yr/DY2019-Mean-travel-time.pdf https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/commuting/guidance/...

ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago
I was in a back-and-forth, a couple of months ago, right here on HN. I was shocked at how people here, pretty much outright accused me of lying, because I mentioned that the typical commute time, from the area I live (and there are many, many more areas, even farther out) to the city, is measured in hours. They keep whipping out that census site, and telling me that my eyes and experience are wrong, because Teh Internets Tubes says it's only 27 minutes (to travel 35 miles). I have to assume that the vast majority of folks here, have never had to deal with a typical (and it is typical) US suburban commute. If folks want to get a real (as opposed to complete fiction) idea of what a US commute is like, most cites have traffic cams on their arteries.
- ghaff 4y ago
  In the NE US, if I have to commute into the major city 45 miles or so away, whether by car or by the commuter rail that's about a 7 minute drive away, I'm almost 2 hours door to door. It's "only" about 75 minutes if I drive in after work. Not that I ever go into my closer office any longer but that's about a 30 minute drive to an industrial park which is a very typical sort of commute. (I had about the same with another job years ago.)
  - ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago
    At my job, the commute was about 30 minutes, as I commuted to a suburban office park (10 miles, North-South). I was in the office, five days (at least) a week, so that was 100 miles per week. However, almost everyone that lives around me, works in the city. Many of them take the train. I know several that drive, though. They usually have highly skewed hours (they will drive in at 5AM, and come back at 3, but even then, there's a lot of traffic). When I lived in the DC suburbs, even the suburban local commutes were crazy. I had a six-mile commute, one town South, and it often took 45 minutes. It would have been faster to bike.
  - xkcd-sucks 4y ago
    Hmm, "the" commuter rail seems most likely MA and 45mi with a short drive to rail puts you in Groton/Harvard or more likely Worcester.
- nkrisc 4y ago
  I once worked with a guy who commuted to Chicago from Michigan daily by train. I think the train ride alone was 1.5 hours. Now of course that isn’t really typical (though maybe not that different from some commutes people make to New York City). Even when I lived in the city I’d have to commute about 40 miles to the suburbs a few times a week and that was normally a 1-1.5 hour drive depending on traffic, or about 2 hours if I took transit which meant two buses with a train ride in between.
  - throwawayForMe2 4y ago
    I did 38 years of NYC mass transit commuting. From northern Bronx to lower Manhattan took 1.5 hours each way (1 bus, 1 train). From Flushing Queens to lower Manhattan, also 1.5 hours each way (1 bus, 2 trains).
vidarh 4y ago
I think this shows is really the balance between potential salary increases from switching jobs / cost reduction or improved quality of life vs. tolerable commuting distance. Improving transit will not make a huge dent in this; instead it offers people more flexibility in where to live and work. First if/when you have relative parity in job opportunities and cost of living across a large region can you really hope to make much of a dent in average commuting times.
- ghaff 4y ago
  A very common US commuting pattern is to drive from one suburb to an industrial park in another suburb. In general, there's not much you can do with transit to help in that scenario.

ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago

I was in a back-and-forth, a couple of months ago, right here on HN. I was shocked at how people here, pretty much outright accused me of lying, because I mentioned that the typical commute time, from the area I live (and there are many, many more areas, even farther out) to the city, is measured in hours. They keep whipping out that census site, and telling me that my eyes and experience are wrong, because Teh Internets Tubes says it's only 27 minutes (to travel 35 miles). I have to assume that the vast majority of folks here, have never had to deal with a typical (and it is typical) US suburban commute. If folks want to get a real (as opposed to complete fiction) idea of what a US commute is like, most cites have traffic cams on their arteries.

ghaff 4y ago
In the NE US, if I have to commute into the major city 45 miles or so away, whether by car or by the commuter rail that's about a 7 minute drive away, I'm almost 2 hours door to door. It's "only" about 75 minutes if I drive in after work. Not that I ever go into my closer office any longer but that's about a 30 minute drive to an industrial park which is a very typical sort of commute. (I had about the same with another job years ago.)
- ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago
  At my job, the commute was about 30 minutes, as I commuted to a suburban office park (10 miles, North-South). I was in the office, five days (at least) a week, so that was 100 miles per week. However, almost everyone that lives around me, works in the city. Many of them take the train. I know several that drive, though. They usually have highly skewed hours (they will drive in at 5AM, and come back at 3, but even then, there's a lot of traffic). When I lived in the DC suburbs, even the suburban local commutes were crazy. I had a six-mile commute, one town South, and it often took 45 minutes. It would have been faster to bike.
- xkcd-sucks 4y ago
  Hmm, "the" commuter rail seems most likely MA and 45mi with a short drive to rail puts you in Groton/Harvard or more likely Worcester.
nkrisc 4y ago
I once worked with a guy who commuted to Chicago from Michigan daily by train. I think the train ride alone was 1.5 hours. Now of course that isn’t really typical (though maybe not that different from some commutes people make to New York City). Even when I lived in the city I’d have to commute about 40 miles to the suburbs a few times a week and that was normally a 1-1.5 hour drive depending on traffic, or about 2 hours if I took transit which meant two buses with a train ride in between.
- throwawayForMe2 4y ago
  I did 38 years of NYC mass transit commuting. From northern Bronx to lower Manhattan took 1.5 hours each way (1 bus, 1 train). From Flushing Queens to lower Manhattan, also 1.5 hours each way (1 bus, 2 trains).

vidarh 4y ago

I think this shows is really the balance between potential salary increases from switching jobs / cost reduction or improved quality of life vs. tolerable commuting distance. Improving transit will not make a huge dent in this; instead it offers people more flexibility in where to live and work. First if/when you have relative parity in job opportunities and cost of living across a large region can you really hope to make much of a dent in average commuting times.

ghaff 4y ago
A very common US commuting pattern is to drive from one suburb to an industrial park in another suburb. In general, there's not much you can do with transit to help in that scenario.