Value of commute?

RedXIV

Hey guys!

just looking for opinions on this really, if you were going to move from one job to another and the new job involved a commute, how much would you look for to compensate for it? At one end there is the purely financial cost if you are paying for public transport or petrol in a car, but then there is the potential for time lost as well while commuting?

Are there any generic rules of thumb for this or are some people simply happy to absorb the cost while others will charge a premium for it?

Red

Atlantic Dawn

Hard to say without knowing the new distance involved in the commute but if it meant going from not owning a car to requiring one and say doing 500km a week I would be looking at €10k extra to be considering a move to cover costs, tolls etc.

imitation

How much is the commute ?

If you are driving to the office from home you cannot claim milage. For compensation it will pretty have to go on top of your income ( or maybe a company car is possible)

For me what outstripped the finacial cost after just a few weeks was the impact on my life. I had a one hour commute.

I was feeling tired landing into the office and shattered after work.

The extra time on the roads (which werent great) meant I saw a lot more dodgy driving and it made me paranoid aboit accidents. ( I was also travelling alot around the country)

If I got caught for a last minute problem my stress really mounted, its one thing staying back 2 hours with a 15 minute drive home and quite another having to crawl into the car and drive for an hour after a long day.

Its still managable by all means but I couldnt stick it forever myself.

RedXIV

For me this is somewhat hypothetical. I'm based in South Dublin.

I normally walk to work but it takes me about 45 mins to do so.

I could take a bus to the city centre for a lot of jobs but it means I'm no longer just reliant on my own two feet. So for me, the time doesn't change spectacularly (I could drive to work in about 5 mins which is pretty handy though).

But I was just wondering if there was something else I was missing if I was ever to give up my easy-to-walk-to workplace

markpb

RedXIV wrote:

But I was just wondering if there was something else I was missing if I was ever to give up my easy-to-walk-to workplace

I'm pretty much the same as you: ten minute drive to work (in South Dublin) or a 25 minute walk but I used to commute 90 minutes each way across the city. The big advantages for me are predictability and flexibility.

It doesn't matter to me if there's a bad crash on the m50, if Dublin Bus are on strike, if I sleep in or if the weather is bad - I still get to work in the same time.

I can pop home at any time during the day, for example at lunchtime or to meet a handyman or delivery.

The biggest one for me is that if I finish at 5:30, I'm home a few minutes later so I gave the whole evening to myself. That was the biggest change for me when I stopped commuting. I couldn't believe how much extra time I had.

Having done both for for years each, it would take a lot of money to get me to commute again!

pauliebdub

RedXIV wrote: »

But I was just wondering if there was something else I was missing if I was ever to give up my easy-to-walk-to workplace

I was in a bit of a quandary when I changed my last job - a handy five minute drive from my house to an hour on a packed bus each way so I was very much in two minds whether to go for it. I'm glad I did as the job is much more interesting, better career prospects even though the money is only marginally better. So there are lots of things to think about.

sareer

pauliebdub wrote: »

I was in a bit of a quandary when I changed my last job - a handy five minute drive from my house to an hour on a packed bus each way so I was very much in two minds whether to go for it. I'm glad I did as the job is much more interesting, better career prospects even though the money is only marginally better. So there are lots of things to think about.

I have the same choice to make right now - going from a five min to an hour long commute for a better job and i am indecisive