Modern Vespa

http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/19/health/driving-traffic-commute-consequences/index.html?hpt=hp_bn10

Article on CNN. But a bit down the page and you find...

Changing your commute?

After several years, the daily drive to and from work in high-traffic areas can really get under some people's skin.

"It was something that was taking an enormous toll on my overall happiness, on my ability to deal with stress, on the amount of free time that I had," says Micah Puett, who used to live in Atlanta and worked for Turner Broadcasting in the 1990s.

It wasn't until Puett moved to Denver and found himself in a similarly perilous commuting situation that he realized how much the driving was affecting him. He made a bold choice: centralizing where he lives and works.

Puett now lives in a more urban neighborhood of Denver, where he can walk and bike around. In the warmer months, he'll ride a motor scooter, and two weeks might pass without him using a car. Since he is a contractor, Puett can be selective about which companies he works for based on travel time. (He'll accept longer commutes if they're short-term commitments.)

"Having lived the way I live now, you couldn't pay me enough for me to live out in the suburbs, or live anywhere, and commit to a 45-minute or hourlong commute every day," he says. "There's no amount of money that I would accept to do that."

When I lived in the Denver Metro area I met people who commuted from Cheyenne, WY to the Denver Tech Center (S of the city center, nearly 120 miles each way). In AZ, I know of people who commute from Tucson to N Scottsdale (probably 140+ miles one way). In both cases the people said quality of life was one of the reasons for living where they did.

I thought they were nuts then, I think they are nuts now.

Long commutes are nuts. Every time get caught in a commuter traffic jamb it reminds me of how lucky I am. I have a one mile commute within my historic neighborhood. No highways or traffic lights. Only three stop signs and never any real traffic. It usually takes two to three minutes.

I only live 4 miles from my office on the bike trail, maybe 5 or 6 on the road. My commute takes 15-20 minutes by either bicycle or motorcycle, but often 30+ by car waiting for backed up traffic at lights, and on a few bad days I've had it take 45+. With the addition of the scooter I expect those to be a lot fewer now.

But I'm contemplating taking on a much longer commute next year, only maybe two days a week. Most of it will be on Highway 1 along the ocean though, an uncrowded and beautiful drive, and doing that a couple of times a week doesn't seem all that crazy.

My 60 miles a day (roughly 2 hrs of commute) on motorcycle is tiring and definitely diminishes my quality of life. Sigh. Mix of city riding and freeway riding and dodging cagers... Ugh. Takes years off of ya.

I have 60 mile commute, round trip. But when I ride my scooter, it is way more fun.

Being stuck in the car all winter... UGH!

My commute is way more fun on a Vespa or motorcycle than it was in a car. In fact, that is why I got my Vespa five years ago. Of course, it is less than 15 miles each way. I might feel different if I had a long way to go. I think I would change either my home or my job if my commute were longer.

My commute has health benefits.

Running up and down those 13 steps to my basement shop at least a dozen times a day helps to maintain my girlish figure.

I commute 15 miles each way. Our rush hour starts at 7 in the morning, and 3:45 in the evening. I leave the house at 6 and leave work about 3:15. Takes me about 20 mins each way (very pleasant time on a PTW!).

I just turned down a promotion to section chief because it required me to be there from 8-5, making the commute an hour each way in the midst of the nastiest tempered drivers. I'm too old to give up that much of my life for another 8%...

I too take the stairs in an effort to keep my girlish figure. Sadly, she runs faster than I do...

<rimshot>

Cheers!

John

My commute is 1.4 miles. About a month ago I locked myself out of my shop so I walked home, got my spare key and walked back.

When I lived in LA I agonized (okay very briefly) over whether I should rent a rent controlled apartment in Santa Monica because it increased my commute by 50%. From 4 miles parking space to parking space to 6.

My husband and I both hate to commute so when we looked for a house we drew a circle in a 5 mile radius from his office. I was already working out of my house so where I worked didn't really matter. We didn't look anyplace outside that circle.

Well, I have the body of a twenty year old.


It's in my crawlspace.


Badump Bump!

Weeee!

Back in the day when I commuted between Orange County and Hollywood (45 to 60 minutes one way), I enjoyed both trips. The morning commute was very early in the morning with "little" traffic, the ride home was accordingly early, before the major rush, with music blaring and me arriving at home relaxed and with all the work stress blasted off. It did put some miles on my car, though (that's all I had then).

My commute takes an hour to do four miles. That's walking, to stroll by the harbour as well as to slow gravity down (no! no! don't settle on my hips!). I do like firm thighs - even my own (tch).

Scoot-comoot is about 10-15 mins, and fun, even though it's directly into the CBD. Scoot parking is free but gets full at about 7:30am, so that's an early start. I do that Fridays when I can wear scoot gear all day and avoid the change into a suit. Summer holidays (empty city, no suit), I sometimes scoot every day ... but then I have to take the PX fro a longer run (such a hardship) to clean it out ..

Bus takes about the same time as walking, thanks a longer route through traffic.

Car? I'd never contemplate it. it's about 20-25mins to get in and park in a parking station ... but Sydeny CBD car parking is $25-$50 a day!!


.. love has made me sometimes contemplate a 40 mile commute - but only ever by train (75 mins door to door) - it'd be 90mins by car, say 75mins by scoot and every minute stressed!!

No proof without pics.

My commute is about 64 miles round trip. This was not by my choice. My original company was only 13 miles away and I used to bike to work. Then it got snapped up by a voracious competitor, and thus I have become a drone. If I didn't have my Vespa to ride to get here, I would be screaming barkers by now.

60 miles a day isn't bad, but 2 hours a day? Ugh That's a slow commute. I have this problem of nodding off when I've been in slow moving traffic for too long. Doesn't seem to happen on the scooter, but it does when driving! Yikes!

You still do.

My commute was two hours each way into NYC. Maybe an hour and a half on the train, then a PATH train ride. We switched to a leased 12-seater van for the long part and shared the driving. Still took two hours.

No matter where one lives or works in the NY/NJ area, it takes an hour or more to get to work. I've seen Rte 46 stop-and-go at 2 AM.

I used to commute an hour to Salford U. from Bury (then Sale) on my scooter. Not fun in a Manchester winter.

Retirement is so much better.