How much of a commute is too much

mariaalice

As a bit of a follow on from the almost comical thread about free travel and commuters. How much of a commute is too much? could an individual be actually driven mad by commuting? On the other hand, have some individuals got unrealistic expectations.

On a thread about house prices, someone commented that commuting from Bettystown to the city center would be brutal long-term a distance of 44k with good public transport options a commute of about an hour yet someone thinks that is too much?

My commute is about 50 min on average, my husband about 1 hour 20 and it has been getting longer for him.

Deebles McBeebles

Anything over ten mins for me. I've done my time commuting.

Dalomanakora

I used to work on the other side of the city, and using public transport (buses), it'd usually take 2-2.5 hours each way (walk, wait for bus, get off bus, walk, wait for bus, get off bus, walk). At Christmas it took 3.5 hours each way one horrible, horrible day!


I felt fine at the time, but when I left and got a job much closer, I realised how bloody exhausted I was.


My commute now is like 30 minutes including walking and bus, or 45 minutes if I want to just walk. It's incredibly handy and I'd struggle to commute for more than an hour each way now tbh!

mariaalice

Deebles McBeebles wrote: »

Anything over ten mins for me. I've done my time commuting.

You could cycle or run that be a great way to get to work.

Shop40

For me anything under an hour is okay.

KilOit

Anything over 30 mins imo
That's works out roughly 5 hours a week's and say you work 45 weeks with rest as annual leave etc you are looking at close to 10 days sitting in a car every year

amcalester

Previously had a 60 minute cycle each way, but moved out of Dublin in order to buy a house and now spending 2.5/3 hours in the car each day.

Planning on doing it for 12 months before making any decisions, but, after 3/4 months it already feels too much.

Will be working from home 2 days a week from next month though so that should make a difference.

PlaneSpeeking

mariaalice wrote: »

You could cycle or run that be a great way to get to work.

I"m fairly sure you're aware not everybody is able bodied enough to do that ?

Plus I'm fairly sure the N7 is off limits to bikes so that's us culchies screwed.

In answer to your question, I wouldn't in a perfect world choose to have 22 hours a week in commuting but my dad is secure in the Midlands whilst I work and I have a decent house for a decent rent, not like colleagues who share a box for 1800 a month.

What commute is too much ? Cannot be answered, it's up to the individual's life and what's in it.

eviltwin

Current commute is 20 mins. I'd do an hour max. I work with people who drive for up to 4 hours a day for work. I couldn't do that.

q85dw7osi4lebg

10 mins now, used to be 60 mins. Never again.

miezekatze

For me over 45 minutes one way would be too much. I've had much longer commutes in the past and it just felt like such a waste of time, especially if you drive. I guess sometimes you can't help it though and just have to put up with it for a while.

piplip87

I do a 5-6 hour round trip. Can't afford to live in Dublin, personal circumstances also have me still living in Cavan.

Hour and a half each way on the bus plus 40 minutes Luas daily.

Up at 4:45 home at 6. Still better than sitting at home on the dole. Will relocate workwise back to city centre in the new year though.

salmocab

Anything over an hour is probably too much, unfortunately it’s necessary for lots of people but long term it will have an effect on peoples lives. Currently I do 20 mins and the wife does 10. It means usually being able to spend some decent time with the kids.

troyzer

My mate is an economist who did his Masters thesis on the health effects of a long commute.

I think the result was that 90 minutes total per day is the tipping point, after that you exponentially increase the negative affects on health and productivity.

topper75

I might manage 45 minutes for a job I really liked that would have a fixed horizon, say 18 months.

Otherwise, 30 minutes max. More than that and it will get to you - not like a single commute - but cumulatively you will find yourself wrecked.

JustMe,K

I live in Dublin, work in Dublin, between time spent getting to luas/bus, waiting on public transport and walking to my office its anything from 70-90 mins each way each day. Literally far far too much.

seamus

Driving, anything over 30 minutes is taking the piss.

Cycling, walking or running, 45 minutes is fine.

Kevin Finnerty

troyzer wrote: »

My mate is an economist who did his Masters thesis on the health effects of a long commute.

I think the result was that 90 minutes total per day is the tipping point, after that you exponentially increase the negative affects on health and productivity.

I did a 240km round commute 5 days a week driving myself to an 8 to 10 hour day for 8 months once. Never again, I was mentally and physically drained at the end of it.
I relocated eventually.

Lia_lia

This is something I’ve been thinking about recently. We are thinking of buying a house and we are looking at a town which would be about 40 mins from my work and 20 from his. My commute at the moment is 10 minutes and his is about 20.

Is 40 each way too much? I love my short commute but also really like this particular town.

PlaneSpeeking

Kevin Finnerty wrote: »

I did a 240km round commute 5 days a week driving myself to an 8 to 10 hour day for 8 months once. Never again, I was mentally and physically drained at the end of it.
I relocated eventually.

That would be a killer, mine's about 90km door to door and that's just at the top end of enough.

Stark

Depends on the format of the commute I think.

An hour in the car is too much. An hour on a not too crowded/train bus is fine imo as I'll just relax with a book for the journey. Or an hour that's broken up with walking.

At the moment it's a 35 min cycle for me which doesn't seem like much but I do find mentally exhausting due to the stress of cycling through the city centre. I've actually taken the hour bus option some mornings as a "break" from the cycle commute...

jiltloop

I used to have to spend 45-60 minutes each way on a bus every day. Thankfully I'm now lucky enough to live within a 20 minute cycle from work which is such a great change to my day. I leave for work at 8am and I'm home by 5.30pm. I don't think I could ever go back to spending more time commuting than I do now.

Badly Drunk Boy

I haven't properly commuted since I was in college in the first half of the 90s. That was 10 minutes walk to the train station, 30 minutes to Heuston, and 20 minutes walking to Trinity. I remember that it took a girl on my course longer to get in from Skerries than it took for me to travel from a different county.

For 20+ years, it's been 6-7 minutes on the bike or 15-20 minutes walking to work. At this stage, anything over an hour would be too much, although I'd probably get used to it.

PlaneSpeeking wrote: »

I"m fairly sure you're aware not everybody is able bodied enough to do that ?

Plus I'm fairly sure the N7 is off limits to bikes so that's us culchies screwed.

I'm sure she meant that a 10 minute commute in a car converted to a bike ride would be doable for an able-bodied person.

duffman3833

my commute is a 15 min each way trip to work. It a lower paid job than what id get in Dublin but id rater have a comfortable life than a tired, stressed life traveling to and from Dublin

PlaneSpeeking

Badly Drunk Boy wrote: »

I haven't properly commuted since I was in college in the first half of the 90s. That was 10 minutes walk to the train station, 30 minutes to Heuston, and 20 minutes walking to Trinity. I remember that it took a girl on my course longer to get in from Skerries than it took for me to travel from a different county.

For 20+ years, it's been 6-7 minutes on the bike or 15-20 minutes walking to work. At this stage, anything over an hour would be too much, although I'd probably get used to it.


I'm sure she meant that a 10 minute commute in a car converted to a bike ride would be doable for an able-bodied person.

My apologies! Yeah I completely agree, there's colleagues here who cycle in 30-45 mins, no worries. Others take the car from Sandyford - there's a bloody LUAS right there!

incentsitive

I think 45 minutes each way driving is tolerable (like I do at the moment although the trip home can take up to 1 hr).
Having said that, I say tolerable, but I am already looking for work closer to home.

I would do 1.00-1.15 each way if I got 2-3 days a week from home. If I got 4 days a week from home, I'd do a 2-3 hr commute 1 day a week no bother.

But for me, the key to moving out to the sticks is to get a job on a train line and not live or work too far from the train stations. The old "ah sure its only 20 minutes drive from the train station" is rubbish.

Being honest also, I would take a lower salary or more menial job rather than a hellish commute every day. F that life is too short to waste away on the M50 every day.

Richard Hillman

It takes me an hour to get to work. I like to be early so I leave an hour and 15 minutes before I'm there. I only live 8km away from work but it's awkward to get to.

I used to do 4-5 hours a day going to and from college, so it's an easy commute for me

CrankyHaus

seamus wrote: »

Driving, anything over 30 minutes is taking the piss.

Cycling, walking or running, 45 minutes is fine.

Pretty much agree with this. If you can include exercise in your commute it's not so bad because you don't have to set aside time for it at home. Sitting in a car for much over 30 minutes gets frustrating though, especially if it's stop/start stress.

Hector Savage

Door to door mine is 45 mins, which is grand, I read on the train/bus.
Approaching an hour tho each way would annoy me, that's 2 hours a day every day = too much.

LollipopJimmy

Cycle for me takes ten to fifteen minutes depending on traffic lights.

If I take public transport it takes and hour and ten minutes which just shows up the joke of a public transport system we have, however this is made worse by the sheer amount of people who drive into the city centre. There are three people in my company who live a walkable distance to the office and they drive in daily and then pay stupid parking rates.

PlaneSpeeking

incentsitive wrote: »

I think 45 minutes each way driving is tolerable (like I do at the moment although the trip home can take up to 1 hr).
Having said that, I say tolerable, but I am already looking for work closer to home.

I would do 1.00-1.15 each way if I got 2-3 days a week from home. If I got 4 days a week from home, I'd do a 2-3 hr commute 1 day a week no bother.

But for me, the key to moving out to the sticks is to get a job on a train line and not live or work too far from the train stations. The old "ah sure its only 20 minutes drive from the train station" is rubbish.

Agreed - home in the summer I can walk to the station in 20 minutes, winter it's a five euro cab ride. Work is two LUAS trips from the station but not a massive deal breaker.