Even in places like NYC where there is a lot of viable transit, if you’re commuting 2.5 hours each way that is likely going to involve something like subway to commuter train and possibly a drive on the end. Not always, but once you get outside of the city center after an hour, you’re in suburban areas where you’re not likely to be dropped off within walking distance of your home.
Is that more onerous than someone who has to travel a lot for work and ends up averaging one flight a week?
I did that for 17 months. Only 3 weeks did I not travel. I don’t know how the folks do it for years survive.
Could you imagine someone doing it for 3-5 years so they can afford their dream house with a much short commute?
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I don’t know but those two things hardly seem like the only options available.
So I checked the article and the first person lives in a small town called Wilton, CT. Population 18,000. Now interesting sleepy little Wilton has a commuter train stop - just 1.5 hours from Grand Central Station and 2.0 hours to “lower Manhattan” where the particular guy in the article works.
So to me the sustainability of this turns entirely on how close he is to the train station in Wilton. If he happens to live a comfortable 10 minute walk to the train station, I actually wouldn’t mind that commute. As pointed out, I would probably just work on the train for an hour to/from work so this horrible commute wouldn’t cut into my actual work day that much. I currently live a 1h45m drive from my company’s office so I almost never go in. If there was a reliable commuter train across the street from me I would probably take it in much more often, just working on the train each way. But a lot of this obviously depends on the nature of your work. I have a ton of autonomy at work and decline to attend low value meetings, so I could easily do this. Other people have Zoom meetings from 8am to 6pm back to back and they wouldn’t be able to leverage the commuting time in any meaningful way.
There are worse commutes.
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The guy in Wilton said he was doing it temporarily while trying to build up his savings before moving to the city.
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“Oh you just sit on the train reading for 2 hours” sounds acceptable (does it though?) until Metro North delays make your 2 hour trip take 2:30, or maybe 3 when you miss your connection. Or when the train car is oppressively warm when the AC conks out. Or when you are left standing for the 2 hours because everyone in the broken AC car has moved to the working AC car and it’s overcrowded. Or when your subway ride to the commuter rail is stopped underground for 10 minutes due to train traffic up ahead but don’t worry “we should be moving shortly”, etc., etc., etc…
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5 hour commutes even 1 day a week would fucking suck.
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How much money would compensate you sufficiently to tolerate a five-hour commute once per week?
I try not to work more than 20 hours a week unless absolutely necessary right now and being on a train is much worse than sitting at home in my office, so for me, it’s a non starter.
There used to be a free daily paper in the subways that would run stories about these types of people once a week.
I would marvel at amNY’s Extreme Commuter
‘Nancy gets up at 4:20am at her home in Random Town, PA, 85 miles west of Allentown. She drives 15 minutes to the park n ride before getting on a 90 minute bus to Allentown. At Allentown she transfers to an express bus to NY, which drops her at the Port Authority a little after 8 in the morning. She hurries to catch the E train downtown to the financial district, arriving at her desk shortly before 9am’.
i used to do this
Also anyone living in Wilton saying they are saving money to move into the city are full of shit. Wilton is not a cheap place to live. In fact it’s one of the most expensive places to live in the ct suburbs.
The most likely scenario is someone living with their parents.
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a 5 hour round trip commute more than once per week sounds absolutely terrible.
I did have a boss that kept an apartment in town and drove 4 hours one way every Monday morning and then drove home Wednesday after work.
that all all also sounded terrible.
When I first started my consulting job after college, I flew from Atlanta to DC every week. Left Monday, returned Thursday night. It was kind of exciting because I was a young kid and felt like I was playing grown-up, but it got tiresome. I actually had a second apartment in Rockville, MD (the office was in Bethesda) so I wouldn’t have to stay in a hotel all the time. So two “commutes” were really long, but my normal commute to the office was just a few minutes.
I met my wife between graduation and starting my job and she happened to live in Virginia, so I eventually started staying with her every other weekend.
One perk was that the guy at the rental car desk recognized me after a while, so he started giving me better cars. I was able to work it so the week I took a vacation with my then-girlfriend that summer, I got a convertible.
Fortunately, my next project was in Atlanta. Then the dot com bubble burst and I got laid off.
Commuting by car is carcinogenic
Being able to walk to work has significantly upgraded my quality of life. I have more free time in the morning. I get more sleep. I get a bit of exercise. I recommend it if possible. Been doing it since 2015.
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This reminds me of one of my funniest memories.
A while back I used to walk to work.
I would wear sneakers on the way there, then change into formal black shoes in the office.
I guess I got distracted with a phone call or something. I was all the way to the photocopier at about noon when I looked down and saw I had spent the morning with one trainer on and one black shoe…
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This is how fashion trends start.