acceptable commute time?

I may have an option pretty soon for a change. Have not made it to the benefits package portion yet, but the commute will be about an hour and 20 minutes (shorter on good days, longer on bad ones). I've never had a commute over about 15 minutes and for the last couple years I've been primarily home based. The comp plan will for sure come into play but what are your commutes like? What do you deem tolerable? Where do you cut it off as in "screw that, too far!"

 

11 minutes. Any more, and I'm on the clock.

 

Does the job pay well enough for you to kill almost 15 hours a week sitting in traffic?

 

Que Kenny to tell us about working from home in his panties.

 

45 minutes is about as long as I would want me or my wife to commute. If the job is that good, move closer.

 

^^ What they said. Mine is about 30 minutes to downtown Chattanooga where I work. Can be twenty if I go in real early before traffic. Can be 40 if I leave in the middle of traffic.. I wouldn't consider much further, if any..

 

My commute is 70-80 minutes depending on the day, but traffic is light so it goes by quickly. As Mongo said you need to make sure it balances with family and wear/tear on your vehicles.

 

Your profile says Metro Detroit...is 80 min bad days in the summer or bad days in the winter? Also, driving for any time/distance isn't that bad. Sitting in traffic for long commutes or even one horrible choke point everyday can make it much worse than just the time involved.

 

Like others have said, commuting has to be calculated into salary. If I have a 5 minute commute, a change to a job with a 1.5 hour commute better include a 50% or more salary bump because I'm now required to spend an extra 24 hours per week doing something job related.

Even then I'm not sure. I fucking hate commuting (even though I drive a lot for work).

 

I did the 1:30 commute for 3 years. It's now ~0:30. And I'd love to shorten it more. Time spent in a car is just lost, and you'll never get it back.

 

Somewhere between 30 and 45 seconds....or as long as it takes me to walk down a flight of stairs to my office.

 

I did 3+ hours each way to and from work for 1.5 years in Los Angeles traffic peak hours. It was legitimately some of the worst shit I’ve ever done. Right now I drive 20 miles and it takes me anywhere from 30min to an hour depending on the day which to me is totally acceptable but I work 12+ hours a day and would kill for just another 30min-hour at home everyday/night. Just need to find where you think it’s acceptable.

I’m being poached by a competitor right now that’s 1/4 of the commute and it sounds like a bit more money but I don’t know if I like the company enough yet.

 

I dont care how much it pays, no job is worth that routine to me.

 

Mine is currently about 30-40 minutes, but we are thinking of buying a house further our in the country, which would make it about an hour each way. Not sure I can handle it, but we could get a much nicer house for our money further away from the big city. Seriously thinking about doing the move.

 

Bump in pay and step up the career ladder would be the driving force (pay not so much). But if its lucrative it may be worth it. We will see in the next phase what they plan on doing. If we can work in a couple home office days a week it would for sure influence the decision making.

Right now it sure is nice just to wake up and open my computer and get cracking.. that will be hard to give up. But I'm at a point where I need to keep my options open.

 

That's getting into excessive territory for me... I used to have a ~45min commute, then moved a bit closer and it's around 35 min now... I don't mind it too much and some days it's nice to have the downtime to plan the day on the way to work, and then decompress on the way home. It would make a huge difference what kind of route it was too... I live ~45 seconds from the highway and my office is ~45 off the highway, and it's a straight shot from one to the other... If it was 45 min of traffic jam or driving through a city hitting tons of lights or something my patience with it would be much lower. Also weather is a concern... I know there are days when I've considered crashing with a coworker in town when we get dumped on with snow... luckily my job is pretty flexible and when it's going to be bad I can usually just leave early or show up late. Wear and tear as mentioned above is also a big thing to remember... Just driving to work is minimum 18,000 miles a year for me... that's definitely a non-trivial number.

The other thing to consider is work social life... I know not all companies do it, but my department often hangs out outside of work, and I've turned down many invitations or left early because of the distance.

 

I go 30 minutes one way. I hate it but it is what it is.

Anything more I’d have to reconsider my work situation.

 

Mine is 18 miles by freeway, about 20-25 minutes (motorcycle using HOV), and 16.5 on bicycle, which is an hour-ish. I really enjoy the bicycle commute as it's independent of traffic (unless construction detours), and I get an hour to be healthy. If I had to DRIVE for an hour? Hell no. My wife's commute is 12 miles and it's ~30-45 minutes each way, and that would drive me bonkers. All freeway, all jammed up. Nope.

I think that if it were all freeway, or limited city/stoplights and surface streets, that I could tolerate a smooth and flowing "long distance" commute. But 45 minutes to go 12 miles? Again, nope.