For me its wasnt as much the stress of the physical driving (though that was notable) as much as the stress related to being completely uncertain as to the time involved. In my mind, it was a better commute. He did it on the train/tube when he had an injured arm and it took 2.5 hours each way. Chicago suburbs, work just past the West Loop; my morning commute door-to-door (walk, Metra, work shuttle) is an hour. The commute was just too long and there was no guarantee it was limited to just once or twice a week. A ton of people commute at least 1 hour each day and they have to DRIVE. I have co-workers who live in Freemont, South San Jose, Marin and La Honda and their commutes are so brutal that I would have quit a long time ago if Id had to do that. One of my co-workers lives in Stockton. There wasnt really anything heated in that series, and the narrator had great range (different voices for surly teenager to old mother goose). We live in the same town where we work, but across a dividing highway with limited cross-over options, so some of it is just crossing the highway or navigating campus traffic. But a 2 hour commute in LA is not at all unusual. Even here in Denver, where I now live, the population boom has been so dramatic that the traffic is starting to look like L.A. at rush hour. Its the big reason I havent bought a home, and possible never will (at least until I retire). My work allows me to flex my hours around my commute so that I never have to deal with rush hour. I would feel very differently about this if I were driving everyday into the district. Without him around, I had to quit my job to take care of the baby. It costs you weekends when you dont go out and do much because youre so tired and just want to stay out of the car for once. Mine is pretty average, then. That just seems crazy! Of course they are. I dont mind driving 35 to 40 minutes for work, but I absolutely hate SITTING in traffic for that amount of time. If the commute doesnt work for you assess if youd rather house hunt, or job search, and proceed with whichever fits better into your plans. Could OP drive or take a train part way and then cycle? But since its against traffic, its 25-30 minutes of highway driving. I live on the east coast, and the stories I hear about LA traffic are enough to make me want to stay on this side of the country forever. I was on the fence about a job (description of the duties seemed intentionally vague, interviewing partners seemed old-fashioned and sexist) but it was only eight miles away, so I felt like I couldnt pass it up. Some of those areas are now considered commutable, but theyre not considered to be part of the Bay Area proper. Its baffling to me, even coming from Boston where 93 is notoriously slow. Those are now considered commutable distances, even though those are far away., OH my Dog! LA is an entirely different level of traffic. LA is currently investing in more public transit, now, but it will take years before it comes online. If youre lucky and manage to live downtown (because you get paid enough / have rent control and moved in before rent costs skyrocketed) and have a job downtown, you can estimate 30 to 40 minutes, depending on how you get to work. In my area, two hours is definitely not normal; however, for the people a little further south of me that commute to NYC, its definitely not unusual. Yeah easily if only once a week. My commute at the previous job was 30 minutes or under (by car), but my work hours were at least 1 hour longer. If not, find another job. Just because our public transit options in the Bay Area are better than the ones in LA doesnt mean our public transit options are actually good, though! yikes thats awful. I have a 3 mile commute to work and specifically chose to live close. When I got my first real job, I was still living with my parents and commuting in, and my commute was about 2 hours. Also, as some mentioned below, many freeways go through sketchy areas and I would not feel comfortable exiting. Im currently in NYC and was previously in Atlanta, both notoriously big cities with bad traffic. It's been absolutely fine occasionally and I enjoy driving (most of the time!). Its weird that your boyfriends response is, everybodys doing it (we arent, I promise.). Long commutes come with the booming economy & the sunshine. Timetables are generally designed for people travelling from the far-flung reaches to Sydney, and not the other way around, so this required some awkward choices, including two occasions when I had to grab a midnight train from the city and then lurk awkwardly on a remote platform waiting for a connecting service at 3am. I remember how I felt about it two years after and can promise that compared to then I feel a lot more confident and comforable now (~5 years out). I dont live in LA, but I visit frequently and have close friends who do live there. Of course she needs facts. I dont think Id personally cope well with much over half an hour if I had to drive but I probably have a bit of bias that comes from living in a small UK city where lots of things are well within walking or cycling distance, or public transport, so my expectations of what I find doable in terms of committing is affected by what Ive become used to. My spouse and I are in a situation where I have an awesome practically door-to-door public bus commute that takes about 20 minutes, but he drives to work and it takes him 45-60 minutes. Bakersfield, California. His job is flexible and would allow him to work from home at least 2-3 days a week and commute only when necessary, but if it comes up when Im interviewing in the city people always seem shocked because of the part of the country were in. I feel like I have no life! I dont think Natalie is talking about theoretical calculation of commutes on Google Maps or something. So theres even MORE traffic trying to get there at 8 AM from all the far flung sprawling areas. If it's a good work opportunity you might as well give it a try. Sigh! I would never take a job with a 2 hour commute unless it was short term. if I wanted to sleep. Id just say that you should see if you can find a new job before you quit. And there is nothing I can do about it. COL wasnt that bad but holy crap after over a decade of having a commute, it was not good on my overall health. Now Im not signing up for a 2 hour drive anytime soon, but I need a solid 20 minutes between my work world and my real world. I love my 30 minute commute on laid back country roads now. Any reason. This is so spot on. And because public transit is sparse, the region broad, and the population dense, you have more cars on the road than the infrastructure can really handle. And like the Countess, I moved to a more expensive area. And its not unusual for our area, but I understand why some folks would try desperately to avoid it. I remember when I magically cut my usual 45 minute commute down to 7 minutes by moving closer. 2-hour commutes are something we are used to and weve even experienced what we call carmageddon; wherein rush hour is like a huge parking lot and it took 4 friggin hours to get home (thats right! I hope you find the perfect combination. Its a 25-30 minute ride. I would 100% ask about flex time, and if not granted, change jobs. Former New Yorker who moved to LA. Here in California, I recently (2.5 months ago) accepted a new job as an EA for a great company thats about 30 miles away. And public transportation would be an hour MAX. Its so hard for me to give 100% at work when I can barely recharge to 50% by Wednesday which is not only unfair to me, but also unfair to the owners and my colleagues. Part of the reason for this is that DC obviously has a lot of federal employees, but rent in the district (and even just outside of it!) Could you shoot this one out to your readers? Agreed! I live in West LA and used to live in Westwood those might sound like suburbs, but theyre actually LA proper (controlled by LA city council and mayor). I come home for lunch and do dishes, light household chores. That is three hours a day or 15 hours a week that they waste in the car or train. I recently watched a special on TV about super commuters defined as people who commute 90 minuets or more one way. I like my job a LOT less, but I have my sanity back. For me it is just too much time to spend in a car every day, and OP at 2 hours each way even if everybody else is doing it I think you really have the right to feel that way too! I remember days it took over an hour of just sitting on Westlake to Mercer to the 5. Not a thing I could do about it. I grew up in NJ and live in south Florida now, FWIW. The joke among stats nerds around here is that the problem isnt the mean, its the standard deviation. Accept this and stop trying to beat it. Would you be able to at least leave earlier, even if you cant start work early? Even if you ignore that a more or less direct route from (for instance) Huntington Beach to LA (30 miles) would take the OP through some pretty dangerous areas, like Compton, so cal drivers tend to be hostile to bicyclists in general, and the communities do not have well maintained or even designated bike lanes. Californians absolutely choose jobs (and/or homes) based on the commute they can bear. Born and raised in LA so sorry about the culture shock! I got tired of leaving 20 minutes early just in case (even though in the end my bike ride took the same amount of time, it was just more consistent). Good luck! Metrolink was an hour and a half door to door, but at least it was fairly consistent, and I could read/write/zone out so it didnt feel like entirely wasted time. Like I tended to pay much more for housing than folks that lived further out. (Also no left turns! Include the Commute Cost Calculator on Your Own Website! I live in Southern California in a large 5 bed, 2 bath house with a HUGE backyard, and our rent is only $2200 a month! An entire day! When I first started applying to jobs in LA from NYC, I applied to a job in Orange County even though my intention was to live with my best friend in Koreatown. I live in West Los Angeles. MUNI IS THE WORST. I have lived in the LA area most of my life. But in my case, Id lose my mind if you told me to go sit on a train or a bus for two hours with strangers everywhere you turn, creeps leering at you, and no privacy at all. A common saying here is to live where you work and thats exactly what I did. My parents are the same waysmall city folk who come to visit in my mid-size city and are like, Do we HAVE to drive downtown? And when Im home they encourage me not to go places during rush hour, which equals just steady, moving traffic. So many expats here live in beautifully appointed apartment buildings. I take an express bus, so with traffic, it can be 2 hours one way. Shorter commute, but when the traffic is bad, it stresses me out more. On some freeways its almost all trucks and it makes a difference. I think its a record. I guess the idea that Im actually moving gives me the illusion that its not as bad as just sitting in traffic. If I lived in a more metropolitan area I wouldnt mind a 1-2 hour commute on mass transit because there would be less stress (not navigating traffic) and I could feasibly check work emails or do anything else on my phone. Anaheim to LB is easy! but thosere a lot less stressful than 2 hours of stop and go rush hour crap. Its more common/normal than folks think, though (this is the problem with averagesvery short commutes and long commutes offset each other). So 2 hours sounds typical to me! It was horrible and I wasnt even driving for most of it! Big difference if you avoid the stop and go. O_O Ive also taken the local Transbay bus into the city at other times. Now I work at an office 15 minutes away and could go full time from home if I wanted. I can understand small town areas/tgecountryside jusr not having the infrastructure (I grew up in a market town with regular buses to one larger town but anywhere else you could forget it, and the station was about three miles away) but Im just really surprised a major city wouldnt have public transport facilities? I used to have that. This is not a normal commute anywhere outside California or a handful of world megacities. I feel lame for being so picky, but thats a LOT of time out of your life! When the commute impacts your quality of life its definitely time to think of solutions. But hands down the worst was the guy who commuted all the way from Tracy, nearly 50 miles away. :(. 4! Its terrifying how easily delays can whipcrack along a chain of traffic. But Ive done the 1.5+ hour commute for years at a time. The rest of the year would probably be fine weather-wise! As Jemima said above, that would make it much easier than a long drive. Im lucky in that I can afford to live about 10 miles away from where I work, but before that, I had to live about 30 miles away from work because thats what my family could afford. Wake up at 5AM Every time I get salty about our COL I remember that California is above and far beyond. I took it as commiseration :). If you get off the freeways and drive through the city, youll just get stuck behind red lights, pedestrian traffic and buses. It always took at least 45-60 minutes. My company is headquartered in Pasadena. These are all contributing factors in why traffic is so bad in LA. Ive got two young kids I never get time to myself at home before their bedtime. Yes! Now Im going from Kingston to a small town in Surrey, and its nice to be going against traffic most of the time (the traffic is caused by schools or roadworks). Wicked smart, and saved a small fortune on rent! Theres a reason why people in Southern California give distances in time and not in miles. What works for one person doesnt always work for another, so its important to figure out what works best for your sanity! oops, replied in the wrong place, but at least it sorta fits here! Me too. I dont even drive on the weekend ever (we either take my boyfriends car or his motorcycle) so its all gas for work. How is it a gaslight? They were choosing between two seemingly equal suburbs on opposite sides of the city. Obviously youll have outliers, including the OP at the moment. For more tech tips, news, and updates visit - CraigPeterson.com . If you have a choice, I wouldnt work further north than El Segundo if you want to stay in LB. I feel bad for husband who has to do Kingston Bermondsey! I live in SoCal and I find it best to think of the stretch of Burbank/Glendale/Pasadena and the West LA areas like Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Long Beach, etc as separate cities. I used to do a 2+ hour commute for an internship, but it was because it involved multiple public transit connectionsit was not pleasant. I am an average-sized white female. Im seeing people list such short commutes and I literally cant imagine that. This one doesn't sound like it is. (I had a part time flexible schedule and worked out super early near work on the days I did not to avoid the worst of the traffic. I have a ten minute commute. Good luck! I used to have a mental picture of him saying the hell with this traffic and just commuting by helicopter. Definitely love the straight shot commute. Are there poorly placed stops right after the off ramps that jam them up? My 10.5 mile commute from Oakland to SF is faster than the 4 mile commute on Muni from my bfs place to my office. But in this case there is wide spread collective knowledge that confirms the traffic. Not normalonly normal for a small segment. Traffic is terrible, but using the Waze app can speed up your commute time and help you to avoid accidents, construction, etc. On his work-at-home days I really like the bus. I can also catch-up on personal things. Its a problem of too many people, too many cars. We wasted a bunch of time and they finally listened to me and my niece got back on the highway. Boston commutes are about 1 hour and many commute between Massachusetts and Providence up to an hour. However 30 out of those 60 minutes were going the 7 miles from my suburban home to the highway. (And in fact, for a year, my husband and I rented a condo apartment 15 minutes away from work and while the commute was amazing, the living arrangements were just way too small.). I dont even care if its normal or not for the area, it feels awfully stressful and unhealthy. I live in a city with ample pubic transit, but I prefer to drive. My first job after grad school was about 90 minutes on public transit, which was definitely very long and not ideal, but having done the same commute while interning there during school, I knew I could deal with it. Oh, well be able to visit Griffith Park, no problem well, we visited it, but it took a lot longer than expected. Enjoy! TL;DR: CA drivers measure distance in time/how many freeways you have to take to get there, not miles. I wouldnt take a job with a long commute in traffic no matter HOW much it paid. I lived in LA for almost 30 years, grew up there, learned to drive there. I was able to change roles to something I actually love and stay with my employer, and the longer-commute days are definitely balanced out by the rest of the week. If you want to live somewhere affordable and work in the city, youre going to have to commute 1 to 2 hours away. Self driving cars might be able to do it though. I wont leave SoCal again til I shuffle off this mortal coil. My hours are definitely not flexible (ideally Id be working 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. I absolutely cannot leave after 4 p.m. without hitting a majorly clogged highway any highway that leads out of where I work) and my boss likes to come in/stay late. In LA, theres options with long surface streets. -A big bag of your favorite nuts and some icy cold water. If I was taking public transport, I may find it easier because I could possibly be getting some work done on a train. But if you live outside the downtown core, youre looking at a minimum of an hour. Take bus. Would commuting to DC from Fredericksburg be doable if Would having the CompTIA trifecta and two years desktop Would this large litter box with a grate be suitable for Would having the better debt to income and an extra 500 a What do your partners family do that they think is normal What was the dumbest rule your school thought up? Plus after 8 or 9 am, the buses dont come as often. It would be about 10, but businesses here really discourage employees from driving, so I opted for the free bus pass over $18 a day parking! Or how a crowd moves at the end of a sporting event when every person is trying to get out of the stadium at the same time theres just nowhere to go. Yep. I also lived uptown and usually got a seat, so YMMV.). Still long, but more tolerable. Sitting in a car for 2 hours and driving 15 miles per hour for 2 hours are totally different things. Im currently listening to a couple of podcasts (AAM included! But some of the people that worked with me commuted from freaking Fairfield! I encourage the LW to either move closer to work and/or to find a job with a shorter commute. I think its now an hour fifteen. Here's better advice: Utilize the Park and Rides from Metro, or the commuter shuttles in your area like The Woodlands Express. I would have it written into some sort of contract, if not you will soon find once restrictions are lifted that will turn into well we could do with you coming in on a Tuesday too to oh well this meeting is always on a Wednesday and you need to be here in person for it and we arent rescheduling and before long you will be doing it every day. Car pool to share the annoyance of the road. UGH, have lived in the valley, 0/10, would not repeat. Although the one I was listening to this morning had a character who died and it took me a few moments to compose myself before going in to the office, heh. I have other friends that live/travel on public transport in LA who get harassed by creeps, the homeless, & mentally ill people on almost a daily basis. Not your fault/Its normal to be a bit nave about a new city. And its been getting progressively worse. Zero. My husband worked in Culver City. I have friends who live in Orange County and have two hour commutes each way. When I lived in SF, the 45-minute ride from my apartment into downtown was already pushing it for me. I ultimately left a job I LOVED because the commute was not sustainable after 18 months. Fire Pro > Blog > Blog > 2 hour commute twice a week. NYC had an incentive to grow *up*, where LA had more incentive to grow *out*. I wouldnt take a 2+ hours commute either and have actually rejected or self selected out of jobs that would put me in that range (and I dont drive but exclusively use public transportation). You dont have to believe it, I guess, but its true. I used to commute longer and it drove me nuts because, inevitably, pretty much every Friday night on the way home, there would be an accident. It means that you basically live to work during the week. Yes! Many people commute 2hrs+ every day. Biking isnt doable in every city unfortunately I live in Tampa and am 10 miles from work, which, depending on traffic, can take 20-50 minutes. There are so many freeways, and so many work areas nowhere near a freeway. We quickly found the areas that would give both of us under 30 minute commutes and then were able to hone in on specific neighborhoods and rentals that met our other criteria from there. Obviously theres a lot of variability, but it is not at all abnormal for people to commute 2+ hours to and from work here. I dont know south OC as well, but its definitely a longer commute to LA. I do not feel safe taking Blue Line and neither does my husband who is a 6 ft big dude. I live 15-20 minutes from work- a mile to the interstate, then the interstate to a 65 mph highway. Noooo. But I will say that routinely taking 2 hours to go only 30 miles is unusual sometimes, sure, but 4 days out of 5 iskind of whacked. Arrive at work at 8AM It works, but cuts into family time together. Hang out for ~2 hours Im from Sunnyvale and I go to college in Merced. So its really just not a place for people who struggle with patience with that sort of thing. You dont have to accept it, though! When peaks are actually mesas, youre equally out of luck if your hours are 7 am to 4 pm, or 11 am to 7 pm. They loathed it, and so for the past 30 years my dads worked from home and my moms worked within walking distance of our house. In the afternoons, if I left between 4pm and 6pm, the commute home was an hour or more at least. I try to keep my commutes in the 45-60 min range in general, although Ive gotten spoiled by working in the same city I live in for the past couple years and having only a 15-20 min commute. I drove through 6 school zones. Back then, there was very little traffic and I could do it in over an hour. I spent as much time changing trains as travelling. I might be spoiled, but I have too much to do to spend half my day in the car. Ive been to LA to visit family and really hated it. That's why our strongest recommendation is to make the time to commute, even when you are working at home. DO NOT DO THIS TO YOURSELF. Now I live in Charlotte, NC, and my drive is 20 minutes (25 at the most.) It really boils down to population density and job density. Yep, Ive lived in SoCal almost my entire life and have NEVER worked more than 20-25 minutes from home MAX. Completely agreed Im willing to pay more/live somewhere not as nice thats close to work because I get to actually be there. One of my coworkers lives in Simi Valley and commutes to Pasadena daily. This wont always be the case, and eventually I will outgrow my role and probably be priced out of commuting at which point I will probably have to move house, since there are no good jobs local to me. Oh, OP, I feel for you. Someone mentioned Santa Monica above you would be hard pressed to find a 1-bedroom apartment for under $2000 a month. I think youd be shocked. Ironically for us that meant moving to San Francisco (the actual city). I usually spend a couple nights a week closer to work at a hotel or Airbnb, but thats also kind of a hassle. Actual experience trumps book learning every time. ago The only difference Ive seen is the urbanization of the formerly rural parts of those counties (e.g., Gilroy, Antioch/Oakley, Livermore, Healdsburg, Petaluma, Vacaville) and an expanding commute pattern. I know some people that do 1-1.5 hour commutes from outlaying rural areas into my city to work; employment options are scarce in really tiny towns and until they have another oil boom they wont get anything for their house. LW I understand your struggle. An excellent point! I had a commute once that varied from 1-2 hours that I had to drive because I lived too far from the train, and it was so draining that I make all of my work/housing decisions based on public transit now. Like can they really not fathom that other people have different thoughts and feelings than they do. I definitely increased my data plan when I was commuting on rail so I could watch Netflix and Now TV on the train. This seems expensive and wasteful to me, both in terms of money and life. Going home is just the same thing in reverse. Ancestry DNA - Am I being stupidly paranoid? The other thing that's crucial is how many trains it takes (not relevant if you're driving, obvs). And the reason why people live 30 miles away from work is because its not affordable to live close to work.
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