News Flash - Commuting Sucks!

[Porsche-O-Phile]

I could've told you this, but the study underscores the point and puts some numbers to it.

This is one of the biggest reasons I don't either move from where I am now or change jobs (currently my commute is <5 miles - a big change from my last place where it was 70+ miles a day).

I'm a big fan of telecommuting too.

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http://money.cnn.com/2008/05/30/news/commuting_survey/index.htm?cnn=yes

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Commuting: More than pain at the pump
IBM study shows traffic nuisances go beyond high gas prices, raising levels of stress and lowering productivity.

By Kenneth Musante, CNNMoney.com staff writer
Last Updated: May 30, 2008: 4:53 AM EDT

The index is a composite of the commuting factors surveyed.

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- As gasoline prices near $4 a gallon, daily commuters are experiencing more than just pain in their wallets, according to a new study.

In fact, the daily drive causes a large number of commuters everything from increased stress and anger to sleep deprivation and loss of productivity at work, according to IBM Corp.'s (IBM, Fortune 500) Institute for Electronic Government commuter pain survey, released Friday.

Nearly half (45%) of the 4,091 respondents polled in 10 major metropolitan areas said that traffic congestion increased their stress levels. Another 28% said it heightened their feelings of anger. Almost one in five said commuting problems cut down on their productivity at work and in school and a full 12% said they were sleep deprived.

The traffic toll. Almost two-thirds (63%) of the 4,091 commuters polled in 10 major metropolitan areas said that traffic has worsened over the last three years. In Los Angeles and Atlanta, the two with the lowest commuter pain threshold, that number jumps to 70%. Only respondents living in Minneapolis and Miami (15% each) said that traffic has improved.

Commuting has become so bad for some that more than a quarter of respondents said they've simply turned around and gone home. The two biggest culprits: start-and-stop traffic and rude drivers.

Because traffic delays are typically random, commuters have to budget a larger amount of time to get from here to there. "It's starting to control our lives in very subtle ways," said Janet Caldow, director of IBM's Institute for Electronic Government.

The Institute has been devising ways to help cities deal with increased traffic congestion, and has helped deploy automated tolling, congestion pricing plans and real-time traffic modeling in cities such as Brisbane, London, Singapore and Stockholm.

In the U.S., driving is by far the main way most people get to work: 68% of respondents said they drove to work alone, and 91% said that driving was their main mode of transportation all other times.

The gas price effect. As gasoline prices keep setting records, commuting habits may soon change. The study found that high gas prices are prompting many to seriously consider other transportation options.

"The gas prices have kind of pushed things over the edge," said Caldow.

At the time of the study, gasoline was at a national average of $3.67 a gallon. At a price level of $3.50 a gallon, 9% of respondents said they would consider changing their commuting habits.

Since the study was conducted, gas prices have steadily pushed higher. Retail gas has hit a record $3.962 a gallon on average nationwide, auto group AAA reported Friday. Gas prices have hit records for 23 straight days and risen for 24 days in a row.

In the IBM study, an additional 22% said they would seek other commuting options if gas hits $4 a gallon, and if prices make it to $5 a gallon, a total of 66% of drivers said they would look for new ways of commuting.

Gas prices in 12 states, including California - home to Los Angeles commuters - are already over $4 a gallon, according to AAA.

To help alleviate traffic problems, drivers said they wanted more options to work from home, improved public transportation, and better road condition information.

[The Gaijin]

We are going "paperless". The first step in working from home. The support folks have already been moved to the midwest.

Two full floors of first class NYC office space now filled with worker bees will be 1/2 floor one day soon..

One day a week in the office for meetings - rest of the time at home or on the road.

[legion]

I work with telecommuters located in Michigan, Arizona, Nebraska, and Montana on a dailey basis. I also occasionally work with people located in Iowa, Colorado, and North Carolina.

[Rick Lee]

As someone who did the DC commute twice a day for about six years and is now working from home in Phoenix, all I can say is WOW! I can't begin to express the difference the no commuting has made in my happiness, mental health, sleep, time management, work productivity and gas savings. I absolutely could not commute to a desk job again for any amount of money.

My father also has a work from home gig but with a company car (big perk in NJ with their insurance costs). A few weeks after my parents sold their main house, 20 min. away from my dad's company HQ and moved to their beach house full time, the company told my dad he was being reassigned to their HQ office with no company car. It's a two hour drive each way from their beach house to his office and he'd have to be there three days a week. He decided to just retire rather than go through that. He makes pretty good money and staying in a hotel two or three nights a week, paying the comparably cheap NJ gas prices wouldn't kill him. Still, he'd rather not work than make that drive even twice a week.

[on2wheels52]

I guess I've been lucky that most of my job locations have been within ten miles of where I was living (and I'm nearing retirement age). Plus no big city jobs.
Life in 'Mayberry' may have it's drawbacks but the topic of this thread isn't one of them.
Jim

[onewhippedpuppy]

I commute about 7 minutes each way, almost no traffic.

I'll be the oddball one to say that I didn't care for telecommuting. When your house is the office, and your hours aren't clearly defined, you're always in. This of course is dependent on your job and boss, but I found that the line between work and home became far too blurred. Both my wife and I have worked from home, and neither of us cared for it. It's worse with little kids, because they don't understand why daddy is sitting in the office all day instead of playing with them. Plus, it's too tempting to take a break and give them what they want.

[JavaBrewer]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

I'll be the oddball one to say that I didn't care for telecommuting. When your house is the office, and your hours aren't clearly defined, you're always in.

I find this to be the case ever since the mobile phone came on the scene. Every evening ~ 8:00 pm it goes into silent mode and on Sunday it's off.

I work from home 3x week and love it.

[RANDY P]

Working out of the house can cause you to lose touch with reality- under heavy loads it seems like every day is like the other - Groundhog's Day.

It's also like living in a bomb shelter. I actually like the office since it forces me to make myself presentable and actually be civilized. At home 75% of the time I'm in my underwear sitting on the couch, laptop open.

ain't healthy...

[MichiganMat]

I bike to work, 10 miles each way.

Its a disgrace that people in the Bay Area, the land of 70 degree days, would rather choose to sit in traffic than ride a bike. One day I'll have one of these and my days of driving will be limited to camping and track days:

[911boost]

I work from home a t least once a week to cut down on my 62 mile each way commute. On the days I am in the office, I usually drive the 911 or the Harley, so that makes the commute more bearable.

Bill

[Palum6o]

Telecommuting is the way to go. I don't understand why some companies are still really against it. If they have systems that can be accessed via the web, why not.

[livi]

Daily commute of 50 miles total. Its not the actual driving, I rather enjoy that part, its the time and the money. Big loss.

[RoninLB]

my bud was spending $40/day for gas in his family truck commuting on LI. Then he's offered $10,000 less than book on a trade-in.

[MichiganMat]

Lots of good video news about this on CNN lately:

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/living/2008/05/30/christian.bike.to.work.kero

[asphaltgambler]

I'd like to telecommute but I'm a BMW tech! My drive is @60 miles......................each way but it's all country highway until the last 15 miles. Then there is some mild back road congestion. I do the "reverse" northern Va commute. I live in Northern Va but commute to Central Va.

Waaaaaay better than the DC beltway traffic nightmare I was doing

[m21sniper]

Originally Posted by MichiganMat

Lots of good video news about this on CNN lately:

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/living/2008/05/30/christian.bike.to.work.kero

Erm, yeah, as if 99.9999999999999% of us want to bike 3 hours each way to work like the nut in the video.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by RoninLB

my bud was spending $40/day for gas in his family truck commuting on LI. Then he's offered $10,000 less than book on a trade-in.

I'm trying to sell a V8 AWD SUV. CarMax offered $16k when book trade was $19k a few months ago. Now book trade is $17k. Needless to say, nobody has called to buy it private party. Suddenly that $16k looks pretty damn good.

[jeffgrant]

I've worked out of the house for almost 9 years, and love it. (I run a software company).

The employees I have also work out of their homes, and their ability to set their own schedules, and lack of a commute, are HUGE to them.


The key, I found, is to treat it like an office job... discipline yourself.

Keep a separate room as an office (if possible), so that when you're in that room, it's "work", otherwise, you're at home. That separation, I find, is key, otherwise you do get that blurry line between the two.

Don't fall into the "work in your underwear" habit... get up, get showered, dress, grab a coffee, etc., then head to the "office" and get to work. I find that I'm much more productive that way.

I also have separate home/business lines... so when I'm not working, the business lines are sent to VM and I'm not bothered by them. Enforcing your own "personal" time is key.

I also highly recommend people read the "4 hour work week".

Work smarter, not harder.

[sand_man]

I'm five miles from work, which is about 4 miles from my kids school. During the Summer months (I don't have to take the kids to school), I've been toying with the idea of riding a bicycle to work. However, I'm terrified! I've seen far too many close calls, and I live in an area heavily traveled by the stereotypical soccer mom, chatting away on the phone with one hand while holding the latte in the other. My wife frowns on the idea, too. Even though I can probably find a safer route, by cutting through a neighborhood or two, I just can't let go of the notion, that I'm really exposing myself to a serious risk.

Can anyone offer some advice for commuting via bicycle?

[scottmandue]

I commute forty miles a day, about forty five minutes each way, I maintain equipment so tele commute is a no go.

It is not so bad once you get your car setup: You need a good radio/CD player in the dash and good speakers - radio set to you favorite stations - good selection CD's music/book/instructional to fit your mood - hands free phone device.

But more important than that you need to get your attitude set: It is going to takes me X amount of time to get to my destination and no amount of anger or angst is going to change that.
Be nice... be extra nice... leave a couple of car lengths in front of you and let people merge. It is amusing to see people behind me get pissed off when I let someone merge in front of me. Even more amusing when you see someone risking there life aggressively cutting and slashing through traffic bringing on many honks and one finger salutes. Then when I get off at my ramp I roll up behind them at the light.

I have commuted both ways, angry and aggressive, calm and peacefully... and I don't see any appreciable difference in the time frame.