Commuting time to work

There are many reasons people commute to work - for my dad, he wanted us all to live in jolly south bucks so we could go to good schools, and commuted back and forth to London every day for years.

I live and work at completely opposite ends of Munich, and have to commute about 3 hours a day.
So, in the last 6 weeks or so, I've done 80 or so hours of commuting, and by my maths, for each year I stay here, I will have commuted 600 odd hours - that 25 days a year man, almost as much holiday as I get FFS.

To put that in much more understandable terms, that is basically enough time to watch almost every single episode of Eastenders produced this century.

Now, I'm hoping to keep my head down, come in every day like a good little boy, then when I've got my thumb in a few pots, tell them that I want to work from home 2 or 3 days a week. Thing is, a little voice in my head is increasingly saying "fuck this shit", and I do so like to listen to him.

How much is too much?

My friend used to commute 4 hours every day; 2 hours there, 2 hours back. However he managed to swing it so that he was allowed to work from home half of the week - so it is possible

How long is a piece of string? I commute by bike and the shortest route takes me 10 minutes but because I like cycling and fresh air much better than being in the office I've cycled, when the mood takes me, a 'commute' of up to 40Km in the opposite direction from the office along the Isar trails, that did eventually take me to the office. It takes ages, but the stress factor is less than zero

Well used to as I am to the chaos that is there on the roads of New Delhi, I would say an hour one way is the most I would do! Though I found that if I run over a few people while on way to work, it breaks the monotony of the journey and provides some entertainment. Course we have so many, no one really notices.

In a train, friggin hell, about 20 mins is max I can take.

I do about 2,5 hours minimum at the moment and it's too much, it's a laugh on the motorbike but only occasionally, a pain in the car and on the train I spend a fortune on books.

Wasted time, I think a hour a day is okay.

Commuting is an evil evil waste of life. Not had a longer commute than 5 minutes in the last 17 years since I went self-employed.

It is bad enough having to work to earn money anyway, without adding 2-3 hours of non-productive time into the equation. Life is too short and no-one
is paying you during those wasted hours. Any yeah maybe you can read the paper, or sleep on the train but it is hardly quality time.

In the US it's pretty normal to commute 30 minutes to 2 hours each way.

I'm about 1 to 1:20 each day each way. That's on a train though, so reading or sleeping isn't so bad. I can't wait until I get my motorcycle so it goes down to 30 min

I think its all about how you use the time.

I used to do the same, I.5 hours each way (2 busses, 2 u-bahns and 1 s-bahn).

I lasted 2 miserable years and then finally had enough. Now the commute is between 20 and 30 minutes which means I have way more time to watch Family Guy.

I used to commute (by train) 1.5 hours each way. I find it ok in a train where you can time to yourself wothout having to concentrate.

However now I am a 15 minute walk, 10 by bike, 5 minuts by car and it is great coz can lie in every day.

Would I go back to a long commute? Probably but only if it was by public transport and not by car.

I asssume (without making an ass of u and me hopefully) that you work from home. But this can be very stressing if you are a person that cannot switch off easily.

I commute about 60km a day but because it's straight down the autobahn it only amounts to about an hours travelling a day in total.

Guess if don_riina could smoke on the s-bahn, he wouldn't mind half as much.

Have done up to a 4hr daily commute before, not that unusual if you live in the South-East of England, now I have 15mins bike or 25mins walk or 25mins train depending on mood or weather. Peasy.

It's up to the person really. One thing I value is my time. In all my years of working I've never been more than 20 mins commute from work and that's how I'm hoping to keep it for as long as I have to work!

Two each day, one hour in - one hour back. Laptop for writing text/copy/presentations and e-mails, book or trade journal, and MP3 player. I actualy love it. Quality time! The rest of my day is spent with distractions.

I spent six hours once on a M25 (around London) commute - I got so tired of it that I took the next turn off and drove accross contry to the Dover ferry and came to Germany - I find the commutes much easier here.

yeah but the Ismaningerstrasse isn't thaaaat bad, and only if you get stuck behind a tram. Besides, I heard that New Dehli had closed down. Safran just up the road is way better anyways.

1 hour a day 30 min there and 30 min back

Bed to desk in under 3 secs. Not sure I'd ever go back to anything else!

Actually the whole time calculation is quite an eye-opener. Certainly makes me feel better about not getting other incentives.

Nope. I am afraid you scored another ass. I just always rent offices and warehouses that are close to home.

heh heh...seriously New Delhi shut down, well I am not surprised eith 17 mil people and counting it had to happen one day.


I am amazed as to how people do that, kudos to you! Seriously, if I had that option, I would sleep waaay too much. For me the office, gossip, colleagues, coffee, ciggi breaks etc are such a vital component to keep working. If I was sat in home, it would drive me nuts, TT or no TT.

I used to commute via public transport and it took me about 35 - 40 mins and i was happy with that, now i've got a motor however and it's down to less than 15 mins and i'm not reliant upon timetables.

Now I have about 20 minutes by car, or 35 by bike or 1 hr by train/bus, which is all fine. When I lived in Boston, it was 2 hours each day on the train (1 hr to, 1 hr back). I don't miss it.

Cutting down your commute to work makes your life so much better. I ride 15 minutes to work each day and its freaking sweet.. I used to travel an hour each way, and I really couldn't go back to that.. cycling makes it even less stressful..

my commute to work would take 15-25 minutes by car depending on traffic or 55-65 minutes by MVV. I cycle now and it takes under 25 minutes, so not that much longer than my quickest car journey. Only sucks big time when it rains as heavily as the last few days, but hey its good exercise.

Wow! Well, that makes a change... people usually seem to assume working from home's a laugh a minute! Has its ups and downs like everything else and finding the right balance is hard - it's easy to either do too much and never see anyone or too little because you can get away with it. But my job is very deadline-driven, so it's not as though I have no external motivation. And yeah, TT is my virtual water-cooler!

I do feel lucky though, reading the posts on this thread. Will try to remember this next time I want to moan!

I'm the same way as Arshoo, if I worked from home I'd never get anything done. I have to commend the people who have the self discipline to do it successfully.

I've worked from home officially since last July & unofficially over 2 years.
I miss the contacts in the office & the chance conversations which bring somethiong valuable but I am no longer disturbed by colleagues loudly complaining about managers/customers/colleagues etc etc etc. I get more work done since I've been at home.

I dont miss having to drive through the Hamburg traffic & since much of my work drifts into the evenings (conf calls with US colleagues) I used to have real problems getting home and not finding dinner all gone. The downside now is that at intervals a plate of food appears around the door which means I'm eating more...

Hell yeah. And the office politics! Don't miss that at all.

Those are the things I dislike most about work in all honesty, particularly when you work with bloody germans. Gossip? Like what is currently on offer at bloody Aldi? Or what "hilarious" sketch BullyParade recently did*? I don't have time for my actual friends, fuck talking to workpeople.

I used to commute 2 miutes to work, and only go into the office 2 or 3 days a week anyway. Was great. Working out how much time I now waste travelling is soul destroying, especially coupled with the financial rape they call "taxes" here. I have a variety of technological toys to keep me relatively busy on the trains, and on the way home I can just sit there drinking beer and watching TV shows, but still, its alot. After working, commuting, dog walking, cooking and cleaning, I have not alot of time. I've decided to pretty much give up cooking in the week, and just eat shitty oven ready pizzas like everyone else, but its the commute bit that I think I really have to address.

Think I'm not gonna stay at this place. Thought it looked like it might be fun, but it really is not, and commuting for work is one thing, but commuting for boring work? Just bloody stupid.

*How they have a "comedy" TV show, and I don't, is one of the most baffling mysteries of our times. Traumschiff thingy. god, hilarious. Almost as funny as Timmy Mallet. Germans are fucking idiots.

I'm just like Don's dad - I prefer working in town, but living outside - I spend about 1h10 each way - walk for 10, train for 45, and walk another 10 (plus 5mins waiting time for shit to go wrong). I don't mind as I like to read. What I do mind is cockknockers like Don sitting opposite me and playing fucking PSPs. They look like they're trying to very subtley give a gnat a handjob. Stupid. Get an HSDPA modem and stream some (goat)porn on your laptop instead - much better.

Yeah, but as you now travel such a distance, you can claim back for it from the tax man once a year ;-)

@Jimbo. Cockknockers?? Cockknockers?

You should see what they are saying about our car over on this thread fellah:

Audi R8

Don't even talk to me about cars JE - it's been a bad week car related. Order is off and I'm back to VW ownership with a bump.

I saw the R8 thread and let it pass by me. Bloody heathens.

Fellah - I guarantee - 100% guarantee - no-one here has had a more fucked up week than me.

Do tell, nothing better than to seek amusement in another mans misery.

@JE

Weeks not over yet man, I expect an update tomorrow that things have actually taken a turn for the worse.

Mate its been getting messier since I spoke to you about 30 minutes ago.

I'll take that bet.


I'll do just that, the same day that you actually learn what a "modem" or a "laptop" actually is. Your fucked up little legal mind has not even the slightest grasp on anything of a technological nature.
Playing PSP looks like wanking of a gnat? Tell me, "tech god", what console of choice are you currently gaming on? Oh yes, thats right, the one they made for women and faggots.

I can stream goat porn to my handheld PSP, but you carry on dragging your massive laptop around the underground won't you. Maybe somebody will mistakenly believe you know how to use it, after all, you look geeky enough to work in tech at least.

Fawk, one of the fish shuffled off the mortal coil?

don't tell me everybody is on drugs AGAIN.

I was just about to say that.

Everyone needs to chill out - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6639857.stm

oops. just a little bit TTTTTTTTOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO slow

I walk 6 min door to door (home to office) and I think that is too far, but then again, I don't want to live in my office building, but it is a nice neighbourhood.

And you say you never have time to go to the shops when they're open???

She often works 12 hour days.

and??

well . . . if shops are open from 8:00 to 20:00 and you work from 8:00 to 20:00 it doesn't really matter how far from work you live, you still won't have time to make it to the shops.

Or am I missing something?

Work from 7 to 7 or 9 to 9. Sorted, innit.