srsly

There and Back Again: The Soul of the Commuter

sometimes i read The New Yorker. they have an interesting article on commuting in the latest issue. according to census statistics Americans average 51 minutes each way. i drop tessa off at her office in the morning and then go to my office. if we back out of our spot at 7:30 we’ll get to tessa’s office at about 7:50, i’ll walk into my office at about 8:05. going home takes about 40 minutes. i can make it across town in 10 minutes but we spend a lot of time getting on the freeway, then getting from the freeway to our place. so i spend around an hour in the car, give or take, every day. that’s not so bad. when i commuted from tacoma to seattle i wanted to shoot myself most days. i don’t understand how people do it. i got used to it eventually, i guess i gave in. i read a lot, i had an ipod, i never slept.
it seems kind of ridiculous that i’m glad in only takes me 20 minutes to go 5 miles. but it could be a lot worse. new yorkers have an average 28 minutes to work. that means some people have an hour just getting there. and these people live in the same town that they work in. never mind the people that don’t actually live in the city. 3.5 million people are “extreme commuters” that go 90 minutes each way. that’s three hours of your life, every day, getting to and from work. it took a little over an hour to ride the bus between seattle and tacoma. i could never do this. most of these people drive by themselves too. all these people driving their own cars to the same place…
apparently there’s a real estate “joke” that says “drive until you qualify.” that is, drive away from your job until you find an exit where you can afford a house. that has to be one of the more depressing things i’ve heard in a while. that’s a terrible choice, but it’s still a choice. it turns out that time is a purchasable commodity. if you’re willing to spend a little more money, you can live a little closer to work and have an extra half hour with your family every day. i really can’t let that happen. i’m 10 miles by bike to work. that’s a healthy ride every day. much farther than that and it would start to take too long. i like going to work by bike, even though it takes me longer than it does to drive. i probably wouldn’t exercise otherwise. aside from that, if i lived too far to bike i’d probably have a horrible commute by car. and we just can’t have that.
we’re so spoiled in this city where it is possible to live 15 minutes away from your job. it’s one of the reasons i like living here. i hope it doesn’t get to the point where it takes a long time to get to work. i spend enough time at work without having to waste more time just getting there. this means when we go look for a house we’re probably going to be paying a little more. and i’m ok with that. i’d rather have a smaller house closer to work than a big one that i’m never at because it takes so long to get there from work. there is no idyllic place where i could have a house where the stress of commuting and work would melt away as i pulled up the drive. but now that i’ve put this down in writing where everyone can see i’m going to have a 5 acre lot on the water with a giant modern house that’s a 30 minute drive and a ferry ride away from my office.