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How much of a commute is too much

[Deleted User]

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.

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MarkY91

Some people's commutes sound depressing. I would hate to be I nsuch a situation where I'm spending literally days of my life each year on a bus or in a car. It must get a lot of you guys down and demotivated?

I currently have an 8 minute cycle to college and 20 minute cycle to work.

Going to work on a bus with rush hour traffic would take about 50 minutes with barely moving traffic.

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

Depends really. Takes me about an hour to get to work and between an hour or two to get home. I have a book so I don't notice the time at all.

Plopsu

About five hours per day but I do a four day week and one of those is from home. Still required considerable amount of adaptation. At that eleven years now (though the WFH only started this year).

[Deleted User]

I know a chap who leaves Ennis before 6am daily, drives into Limerick for the train to Heuston. Reaches work in city centre by nine, out of there before five for return journey and is finally home around 8pm. Dedicated for sure, but he assures me the pay compensates. Personally, anything over 30 minutes is excessive.

CrankyHaus

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I know a chap who leaves Ennis before 6am daily, drives into Limerick for the train to Heuston. Reaches work in city centre by nine, out of there before five for return journey and is finally home around 8pm. Dedicated for sure, but he assures me the pay compensates.

What's keeping him in Ennis?

GoneHome

My commute (driving) is 45 minutes each way in the Summer and up to an hour in the Winter depending on traffic into Limerick city, it doesn't bother me, I've been doing it for years now but I think anything over an hour would be too much. As it is it's well worth it for living in a beautiful rural area with a small mortgage for a great house in an area I love.

incentsitive

Deleted User wrote: »

I know a chap who leaves Ennis before 6am daily, drives into Limerick for the train to Heuston. Reaches work in city centre by nine, out of there before five for return journey and is finally home around 8pm. Dedicated for sure, but he assures me the pay compensates. Personally, anything over 30 minutes is excessive.

14 hr day - not if they paid me 7 figures.

[Deleted User]

CrankyHaus wrote: »

What's keeping him in Ennis?

A stubborn nature, he is happily settled there and doesn't want to relocate closer to Dublin. At least he can kip on the train.

wakka12

I cycle for 15 mins which is great. I wouldnt mind a long commute if it was on the bus and I could read or watch a show on my laptop. But sitting for hours every day in a car in traffic to get to a job I hate sounds like hell

erica74

I did Waterford to Dublin and back 5 days a week for a year on the train. I had to get up at 5am every morning, on the train at 6am, off the train in Dublin between 8:20 and 8:45 (Irish Rail, what a service!), then up to Grand Canal Dock on the luas, usually in work between 8:45 and 9:10. I was supposed to finish work at 5pm but, because of the gap between the evening trains, I used to stay until around 5:45, then head for the 6:35 train, off the train in Waterford between 8:50 and 9:15, then back in my home around 9:30. At the time, it was either work + that commute or no work at all so I did it for a year until eventually, something came up closer to home.

I certainly wouldn't recommend it for an extended period of time. I was absolutely exhausted all the time. Monday to Friday you've no time to do anything because you're either commuting/in work/absolutely exhausted. Then on Saturday and Sunday, you're trying to cram in your social life, grocery shopping, household stuff, life admin, etc, and, before you know it, it's Sunday night and you've to go to bed at 10pm.

Now, my commute is 15 minutes each way by motorbike and I'm very grateful for that.

PlaneSpeeking

erica74 wrote: »

I certainly wouldn't recommend it for an extended period of time. I wad absolutely exhausted all the time. Monday to Friday you've no time to do anything because you're either commuting/in work/absolutely exhausted. Then on Saturday and Sunday, you're trying to cram in your social life, grocery shopping, household stuff, life admin, etc, and, before you know it, it's Sunday night and you've to go to bed at 10pm.

You've described my life there Erica!! Ah what doesn't kill you and all that!

incentsitive

There is a PhD in the cumulative effect of long distance commuting, I bet if you examined the health of those commuting on the M4 or N7, it is significantly worse than those who work locally, or commute a similar time by train.
Car pooling really hasn't taken off in Ireland which is a shame. It is at least in some part the answer to this hell.

[Deleted User]

My commute is 4 hours a day, 2 hours there and back. Generally I don't mind the morning commute, I tend to enjoy my bit of time to myself browsing online, listening to a podcast or reading, but that 2 hour commute home is a killer, particularly in these dark wet evenings

Thankfully it's a temporary job so I'm just getting on with it for the moment, I've done long commutes in the past and on a long term basis it's just not worth it.

CrabRevolution

An hour each way here, maybe 45 minutes in the summer. I find it OK as I'm always moving and never stuck in traffic, so the trip time doesn't vary.

Whenever I've to drive to dublin it's maddening. The trip might be an hour as well, but the stop start nature of it and constant traffic really drags on me and makes it feel longer.

chrissb8

The hardest thing about work is the commute. That is the part I found most stressful coming into Dublin from Wicklow. Not that far I know, but the bus was my only feasable route as the train would leave me miles away from whatever stop I got off. Hour and 20 minutes each way.

Then spent the last year up until June working 15 minutes from where I lived. Dramatically lowered tiredness, stress, anger etc. There is nothing like prolonged time on public transport crammed with people to bring out the worst in you/break you.

Now live in London and I still only spend 30-40 minutes each way at the peak times.

In short. Ireland just has a F'd up transport system that lets down people far too much for such a manageable flow of people. I can't understand how we haven't got a tram to the airport still. Basic stuff.

alchemist33

I do a one hour drive across the border. On a bad day -weather, roadworks - this can stretch to 1.5 hours, usually leaving me knackered by the time I get home. If Brexit causes border issues I might just have to give it up because I don't think I could handle longer than 1.5 hours

mickoneill31

For me 1 hour door to door is the limit which limits my employment options in Dublin. Its a small city but for me in Swords the commute can be crap (and only getting worse) . An hour door to door gets me to the city centre with maybe 10 mins to spare.

I'm lucky enough to be in a reasonably in demand role and I've turned down jobs that would exceed that commute. And any job that requires me to go on the M50 is an automatic no.

oceanman

30 mins is the max for me, anything more than that and I would be looking for another job...lifes too short.

LollipopJimmy

incentsitive wrote: »

14 hr day - not if they paid me 7 figures.

Any COO on €150-€200k would typically work 10-12 hour days, then add whatever commute to that

incentsitive wrote: »

Car pooling really hasn't taken off in Ireland which is a shame. It is at least in some part the answer to this hell.

I cycle along the canal every morning and the cars move quite slowly but each car only has one person in it.

Trigger Happy

I am lucky enough to have a short commute and a 35 hour working week.
Would hate to go back to losing 50+ hours per week of my life to work and traffic.
But never say never, you need to do whatever is necessary to feed the family.

MarkY91

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I know a chap who leaves Ennis before 6am daily, drives into Limerick for the train to Heuston. Reaches work in city centre by nine, out of there before five for return journey and is finally home around 8pm. Dedicated for sure, but he assures me the pay compensates. Personally, anything over 30 minutes is excessive.

If the pay compensates then surely he can afford to live in Dublin?

6 hours commuting per day. That's depressing.

TallGlass

Are people saying 30mins round trip they wouldn't do or 30 mins max.

My commute is around 1.40/2 hrs round trip depending on traffic. I don't so much mine the commute but the cost is what gets me and lack of physical activity.

I think my next role if I can't cycle to it then it's a no go and around 25 mins cycle max.

[Deleted User]

walk 45 mins when weather allows.

have done an hour in the car e/w before (and that was just crossing town) and dont think i could do traffic again.

driving for an hour e/w without traffic was fine when i was in that situation.

5star02707

commute without traffic is roughly 20 mins during summer but with traffic and when school opens up it goes up to 40 - 45mins

[Deleted User]

a bus/train without transfer and not jostling for a seat, i think an hour each way and a book is a nice buffer between work/home tbh

nb i dont have kids ;-)

bnt

For nearly all of 1998 I had a commute of two hours each way, from North London down to the middle of Surrey. It damn near killed me: in the last month I had pneumonia, barely made it to the end of the contract and wasn't right for weeks afterwards. I'm not doing anything like that again. Currently I have 40-60 minutes each way depending on how well the bus runs, which is pushing it.

Kimbot

I used to do a two hour drive to and from work every single day, it nearly destroyed me.

facehugger99

Spent years doing 3.5hrs a day, 5 days a week.

Never again.

It's soul-destroying.

About 15 mins each way now if I'm in a rush.

It feels like you've been given your life back. It wasn't until I jumped off the treadmill that I realised how bad it was - at the time I wouldn't allow myself to think about it.

Now I get 8 hours sleep a night, eat better, drink less, exercise more, get to see my kids, and am just generally happier.

My salary dropped a bit but tbh, between reduced childcare and commuting costs, I'm probably coming out with the same disposable income.

tastyt

People say anything over an hour isvtoo much arent living in dublin or arent living in the real world. I live in D15 and work in the city centre, takes an hour and a half door to door on average especially in the evening and thats a very short walk and one bus journey

fitzparker

I get up early to beat the traffic on M11, straight run to work(Bar any crashes on motorway) commute is 90km E/W (Work from home 1 day a week)

Wake at 5:45
Leave house at 6:00
Arrive in work 6:55
Either Gym/Sleep for 30 mins
Desk for 7:40

Leave at 15:40
Home by 16:40

(if these times changed by 15 minutes later id be in 30+ minutes extra traffic)

Doing it 18 months, Yes I miss having breakfast with the kids, but im home at a great time to still do homework,eat dinner with them and do activities before bed.

Long term would I change it? Probably not, but I wouldnt go any further either. unless something closer really grabbed my attention. the job is compensating so the hours are perfect that I miss the traffic, if i had to sit in it id probably be gone after a week