{"items": [{"author": "Cory", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/213847418669322?comment_id=213849008669163", "anchor": "fb-213849008669163", "service": "fb", "text": "When I had a 30min commute in CA I hated it, especially with traffic. Then I moved to the area where I worked and hated that more :-p Turns out it was better for me to be where all the action was and commute to work than to be near work and then be too lazy/tired to commute to where the action was. Now that I live here and don't have a car, I don't mind commuting so much because I feel like walking or biking is good for me and on the bus or subway I can do stuff, although I do dislike it when I have to switch or its late.", "timestamp": "1314646488"}, {"author": "Teddy", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/213847418669322?comment_id=213850152002382", "anchor": "fb-213850152002382", "service": "fb", "text": "I actually... sort of love my commute. It's about 45 minutes, and I spend most of that time sunk deep into a book. I hate getting up early, but I have hated getting up early my whole life; I would hate getting up early if I could walk to work, because I would STILL have to get up way before nine. (Nine is the earliest I can get up and not have rage.) Without my commute-by-T, I wouldn't read as much, and that would break my heart; the library would not be on my way home. If I had to drive my head would probably explode--but then again maybe not, as I am also a book-on-tape devotee who used to spend most of her day driving around to various houses in order to walk dogs. I think it's all about how good you are at self-amusement, yes? It lets me sit and think and my brain wander. I almost value that time alone, that time where I don't feel like I have to be doing anything.", "timestamp": "1314646657"}, {"author": "Anna", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/213847418669322?comment_id=213857588668305", "anchor": "fb-213857588668305", "service": "fb", "text": "It definitely depends on the type of commute. If you have to drive in your car in traffic for example, it definitely sucks. If you take the T/bus it can be really nice and relaxing. I've tried car commuting, T/bus commuting, short walk + bus/shuttle commuting, and just walking commuting. I find that just walking can be really nice and I do really like riding a bus to work. I use the time walking and waiting for the bus to eat my breakfast and plan my day. Living in an area where I do not need a car has been wonderful. Even just watching miserable people drive by makes me appreciate my choice to live car-less and close to work.", "timestamp": "1314647709"}, {"author": "David", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/213847418669322?comment_id=213859815334749", "anchor": "fb-213859815334749", "service": "fb", "text": "I don't like the location of my commute, but I do like that the extra practice driving keeps me sharper. If I could exchange my current commute for a %50 longer (by time) one that was nowhere near any cities, I probably would.", "timestamp": "1314648007"}, {"author": "David", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/213847418669322?comment_id=213860948667969", "anchor": "fb-213860948667969", "service": "fb", "text": "Oh, and I'd probably take a commute three times as long if it were on narrow curvy hilly roads with no traffic.", "timestamp": "1314648153"}, {"author": "Deanna", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/213847418669322?comment_id=213876111999786", "anchor": "fb-213876111999786", "service": "fb", "text": "I'm actually factoring in a car commute time for graduate school. Regis College is seemingly at the top of my list for nursing schools for more reasons than one: it has a short, scenic route commute from the Framingham area. When I went to interviews in the Boston area I got a headache just driving there. Plus, Weston has so many more rolling hills than Northeastern/Huntington Ave. I guess the landscape is also a factor of my commute. Like Dave, I'd prefer taking the long windy roads over the shorter distance of many light and still traffic.", "timestamp": "1314650212"}, {"author": "Josh", "source_link": "https://plus.google.com/118273920476267337216", "anchor": "gp-1314650310711", "service": "gp", "text": "I've definitely considered commute time every time I've moved, and the one time I changed jobs without moving (when I changed to my current job, reducing my commute time was my main motivation).\n
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\nI actually enjoy commuting by bike; and for that matter, I enjoy driving... Becoming a parent was really the thing that changed my priorities there -- when I felt like I had plenty of time to do whatever I personally liked, and wasn't in a hurry to get home and spend time with anyone else (because Amy was often still at work when I got home anyway), I didn't mind the 30 - 45 minute drive nearly as much as when my alternative was to play with my baby. :^)", "timestamp": 1314650310}, {"author": "Allison", "source_link": "https://plus.google.com/103741579182942078941", "anchor": "gp-1314654093563", "service": "gp", "text": "In my experience, driving was made better by good music or company. Biking or walking is pleasant and I tend not to count it as commuting. Taking a train is also nice because you can sleep, read, etc.. My favorite commute was when I had to walk 20 min and then ride a 30 min train (all that one way); I alway got exercise and a good chunk of reading done.\n
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\nAside from making commuting enjoyable, I find that it's nice to have the option to work from home, which decreases the need to commute.\n
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\nWhen weighing the choice to take a longer work commute or not, there are sometimes factors that will make you take the longer commute: giving children the chance to attend the same school; having land for the sake of children, gardening, or animals; being close to family or friends; giving your partner a shorter commute. So, on the one hand, we should decrease the time we spend doing something unpleasant, but not at the expense of other pleasantries that come with it, either for ourselves or for our families. (It's the families that are most complicated because it's tricky guesswork to match util conversion between individuals.)", "timestamp": 1314654093}, {"author": "David Chudzicki", "source_link": "https://plus.google.com/106120852580068301475", "anchor": "gp-1314654681246", "service": "gp", "text": "As others are also noting, commutes can vary a lot (in ways other than distance) in how bad they are. Mine was improved much by podcasts. I wish I could bicycle more conveniently. Train would be excellent. I'd enjoy a motorcycle a lot more than a car, but I'm worried about safety.", "timestamp": 1314654681}, {"author": "Leah", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/213847418669322?comment_id=213914691995928", "anchor": "fb-213914691995928", "service": "fb", "text": "I'm with Nathan, I've got a gorgeous ~25 minute bike path commute and it's one of the best parts of my day. It was definitely a factor in where I chose to live.", "timestamp": "1314655381"}, {"author": "Jeff Kaufman", "source_link": "https://plus.google.com/103013777355236494008", "anchor": "gp-1314657407532", "service": "gp", "text": "@allison\n I agree that there are reasons to take on a less pleasant commute. The thing is, people don't usually do a good job predicting how much they will dislike their commute, and then they're stuck with it. So tradeoffs: necessary; bad tradeoffs: not.", "timestamp": 1314657407}, {"author": "Jeff Kaufman", "source_link": "https://plus.google.com/103013777355236494008", "anchor": "gp-1314657708516", "service": "gp", "text": "@David Chudzicki\n being worried about motorcycle safety makes sense: you have about 20x more deaths per mile traveled.", "timestamp": 1314657708}, {"author": "Jeff Kaufman", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/213847418669322?comment_id=213931298660934", "anchor": "fb-213931298660934", "service": "fb", "text": "@Deanna: for the boston area nursing schools, were you considering driving in from outside the city or living closer in?", "timestamp": "1314657860"}, {"author": "Allison", "source_link": "https://plus.google.com/103741579182942078941", "anchor": "gp-1314658134594", "service": "gp", "text": "@Jeff Kaufman\n It comes down to people needing to think more about their choices. As individuals, we could be more open about how we make those type of decisions so others are more aware of the tradeoff and more likely to think about it, but huge societal changes need to happen before that kind of thinking become prevalent.", "timestamp": 1314658134}, {"author": "Deanna", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/213847418669322?comment_id=213937975326933", "anchor": "fb-213937975326933", "service": "fb", "text": "I'm driving from outside the city, Ashland to be more specific. I've gotten accustomed to the small town nuances and the quiet atmospshere having lived in Amherst for 4 years and a rural college town in FL.", "timestamp": "1314658790"}, {"author": "Jeff Kaufman", "source_link": "https://plus.google.com/103013777355236494008", "anchor": "gp-1314660126066", "service": "gp", "text": "@allison\n I'm not sure that's the issue. Thinking more about choices can actually make people make decisions they are \nless\n happy with later. The linked lesswrong article describes an experiment where people were asked to choose between a house closer to work and another with a spare bedroom for grandma to stay in when she came to visit. In actual experience the shorter commute makes people much happier than the spare bedroom. Mostly because the commute is daily and the extra bedroom only gets properly used a few times a year. In the case where people thought more about the decision, though, they were more likely to opt for the extra bedroom. The author of the lesswrong article speculates that this may be because of the availability heuristic: if examples come easily to mind we think a phenomenon is more prevalent [1]. The idea of grandma coming to visit was more positive and just as available as the idea of a shorter commute. Even though grandma would come visit so much less often than they would be commuting.\n
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\n[1] a classic example is asking one group of people to estimate the percentage of words ending in \"g\", and another group about the ones ending in \"ing\". The second group generally gives a higher number.", "timestamp": 1314660126}, {"author": "Mac", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/213847418669322?comment_id=213948888659175", "anchor": "fb-213948888659175", "service": "fb", "text": "Over years of working in Mass and southern NH, it has seemed to me that one should not choose a place to live by where your work is. Nowadays, work is so risky that I picked a nice place to live and have put up with whatever commutes happened. T commute _is_ quite nice in terms of leaving the driving to someone else. A prior gig in Cambridge was via rail from 495. Every morning passing under 128, I felt very grateful NOT to be in a car. And for long (highway) commutes, books on CD are truly wonderful.", "timestamp": "1314660418"}, {"author": "Allison", "source_link": "https://plus.google.com/103741579182942078941", "anchor": "gp-1314661063505", "service": "gp", "text": "@Jeff Kaufman\n Yes, people can think wrongly and statistically do on this issue, but that doesn't mean that thinking about choices is bad in general. It does mean that on average people aren't aware about what they want on certain fronts. For example, now that I've had this conversation, I'll be more likely to factor commuting into my housing choices. Is not that the kind of thinking what you want to achieve? Can the result be achieved another way? (and if so, should it?)", "timestamp": 1314661063}, {"author": "Nora", "source_link": "https://plus.google.com/113094098963272518436", "anchor": "gp-1314668383995", "service": "gp", "text": "I agree with many of your commenters that commute by train/bus can be much more pleasant than driving (at least when it's not so jam-packed that I can't open up my book!). I wonder if getting on public transit is sort of a sunk cost\u2014I ride for 20 minutes now, and find myself thinking that surely 30 or even 50 minutes on the same train wouldn't be that much more terrible. I do still feel reluctant to consider a job farther uptown, though, and commute was a factor in where I choose to live. That said, I think I do like a short commute as a way to mentally prepare myself for work, which I suspect comes from living fairly far from my K-12 school.", "timestamp": 1314668383}, {"author": "Jeff Kaufman", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/213847418669322?comment_id=214004441986953", "anchor": "fb-214004441986953", "service": "fb", "text": "@Walker: renting can make one more flexible in terms of being able to live near where you work (when where you work changes) but has other downsides. On the other hand, it currently seems to me that if I'm living somewhere in cambridge/arlington on the T I'm going to be able to get anywhere I want to work relatively conveniently.", "timestamp": "1314668556"}, {"author": "Todd", "source_link": "https://plus.google.com/112947709146257842066", "anchor": "gp-1314715265129", "service": "gp", "text": "I hate commuting. I consider anything over 10-15 minutes to be a horrible travesty. A lot of people I've talked to about this think I'm overly picky to have that attitude.", "timestamp": 1314715265}, {"author": "Jeff Kaufman", "source_link": "https://plus.google.com/103013777355236494008", "anchor": "gp-1314716020189", "service": "gp", "text": "@Todd\n I agree with most of the commenters, and I think the mode matters a lot. Would you consider a 30min walking commute to be a horrible travesty?", "timestamp": 1314716020}, {"author": "Todd", "source_link": "https://plus.google.com/112947709146257842066", "anchor": "gp-1314716249548", "service": "gp", "text": "Yes. I'm probably a lot lazier then most of the commenters. I had a commute at one point that was a 10 min drive, 20 min light rail ride, then 10 min walk, and that definitely was preferable to a 40 min drive, but I still found it onerous. Part of it is just that the sheer length means getting up that much earlier (or, if you don't care about that, just having that much less time in your day).", "timestamp": 1314716249}, {"author": "David Chudzicki", "source_link": "https://plus.google.com/106120852580068301475", "anchor": "gp-1314717127881", "service": "gp", "text": "Also relevant: For me, the tradeoff is between living somewhere we like living (due to proximity of and easy access to things we like to do) and a longer commute. I think that\u2019s maybe the only consideration that could lead me to choose a longer commute.\n
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\nSimilarly, a friend is starting a post doc at Stanford soon, and is planning to live in an area of San Francisco that he really likes. I think it\u2019s pretty common advice to live in an area you like, and then commute if necessary \u2013 then at least you\u2019re forced to be in the area you like sometimes.", "timestamp": 1314717127}, {"author": "Todd", "source_link": "https://plus.google.com/112947709146257842066", "anchor": "gp-1314717898994", "service": "gp", "text": "Speaking as someone who went to Stanford... when you say \"an area of San Francisco\", do you literally mean \"an area of the city of San Francisco\", or just somewhere in the Bay Area? If the former... tell him NOT TO DO IT. The pain, oh the pain... far better to leave on/near Stanford's campus (which is a plenty nice area in itself, and not so expensive as SF) and commute into SF to enjoy that when desired, rather then being required to commute constantly. Though if this person was already at Stanford, they probably know enough about the situation not to need my input.", "timestamp": 1314717898}, {"author": "Allison", "source_link": "https://plus.google.com/103741579182942078941", "anchor": "gp-1314719347605", "service": "gp", "text": "@Todd\n I agree. On the other hand, I knew plenty of people that did something similar and seemed to enjoy it. If their social lives revolve around the city, it makes sense since it's a choice between commuting to work or commuting to friends. Choosing to commute to friends often leads to losing them. I'd personally opt to for the other side of the spectrum: take a longer commute for less noise and better access to hiking.", "timestamp": 1314719347}, {"author": "David Chudzicki", "source_link": "https://plus.google.com/106120852580068301475", "anchor": "gp-1314723837984", "service": "gp", "text": "@Todd: Yeah, he means in the city. I'll give him your warning, but I think he has some good reasons it makes sense for him.", "timestamp": 1314723837}]}