I read a surprising statistic in the New Yorker this week (link via kottke)—that nearly one of six American workers commutes more than forty-five minutes each way. An hour and a half of commute time, every day! Astonishing. The article focuses on those deemed “extreme commuters” by the Census Bureau, commuters who travel 90 minutes or more each way.
I’m surprised by this one in six figure. That sounds so high. I wonder how the job could be worth the travel time. The time taken away from sleep or spending time with family.
When we were looking for our home, I know that one of the things that I considered was how far away to look. My commute is about 25 minutes each way. And that’s the upper limit of where I wanted to be. I knew that I probably wouldn’t be able to maintain a seven to ten minute drive, as I had in Ohio and find a home where we felt comfortable/could afford. But any more than 30 minutes would’ve been hard to swallow.
Another thing that surprises me is the rise of “extreme commuters” in this digital age. With the proliferation of WiFi hot-spots and always-on broadband, not to mention the ubiquity of mobile phones, why would one travel hours to and from work each day. Perhaps it’s too early, but I would have expected to see a downturn in commute time and an increase in “the long hallway.”
In any case, the next time I am stuck in traffic on the Interstate on my way to work, I’ll just be thankful that I don’t like in Bangkok. The average commute there is two hours.
