Waiting for buses and other public transport especially. In college I had no car and continued working a part time job that I previously borrowed my parents’ car to commute to. My options were: spending an hour and a half to commute taking a bus with a reasonable schedule but I’d have to walk over a mile alongside a busy road to my job, or spend three hours to commute due to how two route schedules matched up to drop me off at the entrance to the shopping center.
Each of those options was one way, and this was before smart phones. I wasn’t getting anything done in that time besides listening to music and maybe reading a book while on the bus itself.
And then I learned that on Saturdays, over half the time the bus just didn’t fucking show up at the stop where I got on, and the support phone line would just fucking lie about it.
Plus, if I had a vehicle, the commute would have been only 20 minutes in bad traffic.
Will say, the regular distance power walking helped keep me in great shape though.
I wonder how infrastructure would change if companies were required to reimburse valid claims of mileage or time spent (not the bus/train fare, but paying your wage for the time spent to get to work).
While the intent is good, as written it would probably have the unintended consequence of making it harder to get a job if you happen to live far away from the workplace, which I don’t think is the way to go
I knew as I wrote it that it would be far more complex than just setting a single law down. But the fact that such cost of time and money just to get to work exists suggests the burden isn’t balanced well. The case you mention of distance to a job is more a symptom of the problem of not being more localized for everything. Not just an American problem, but definitely something we deal with outside of a few major urban areas. A pay adjustment doesn’t fix that, it just is a rough patch that wouldn’t work for some.
In all honesty I think it’s connected to the housing crisis bleeding into basically every other political issue, because of how damn massive of a problem it is
I had a job 2.5 miles from my apartment. There is a bus stop on the corner of my apartment, there is a bus stop next to the job. According to the website it was 3 hours to commute by bus to get there…
I wouldn’t be surprised if that bus included connections to other lines on top of it all.
I had to commute by bus for a while. The transfer is where my anxiety peaked. Being miles away from home and hoping not to miss a second bus just to make it to work on time meant my brain was on high alert the whole time.
Bus transfers are the worst…
In my city, we have a pretty good network of busses … IF your goal is the city center.
All the routes just do a spiderweb towards the center. You’re on your own if you needed to go between neighborhoods.
Bicycle? Others take dedicated time to do workouts. This is basically the perfect distance for a short workout (and time in between commuting is also basically optimal for recovery according to research). Keeps you fit and healthy without thinking about doing more sport (which is still a good idea). I’m even faster on that kind of distance than a car.
I could never drive the bus/train, commuting by bicycle is too fun and way more flexible (even than a car, considering less options for driving and parking). The distance would have to be larger than 20 miles (or non-“freedom” units: 32 km) that I would consider something else…
I actually considered getting an ebike once to get to work, but then started mapping out a good route to take and realized the infrastructure isn’t designed for that kind of travel. Bonus, it would be at night, so statistically someone in a car would be a threat to me eventually, because bike lanes are a joke.
I don’t know your distance for commuting. But I consider the bicycle the most superior form of commuting for distances below 10 miles(16km) (personally would even cycle more than double that).
It’s even cheaper, keeps you healthy and often is even faster than a car, considering parking, traffic lights/jams etc… I also enjoy doing that so another advantage.
Yeah plus most jobs don’t like you showing up dripping and smelling like a varsity locker room.
My locale even tried to build in employee showers to encourage bike commuting, but it hits 110⁰F outside and there’s not a cloud in the sky, like LOL dudes you gotta be kidding.
I’d love to live in a place where the humble bicycle was viable beyond recreation.
I can recommend a cooling west for these cases. They are quite effective on the bicycle (moving air enhances the effect). I usually don’t care much about a little bit of sweat, I just turn the ventilation on max then at my office. We even have a shower, but never used it… I think sweat is overrated and often an excuse to not cycle…
Ive run into this too. How many times Id just walk to work for the 1.5hours instead of taking the bus that took just as long, but would drop me off at work either 2hours early, or 15mins late. so Id just walk it.
Waiting for buses and other public transport especially. In college I had no car and continued working a part time job that I previously borrowed my parents’ car to commute to. My options were: spending an hour and a half to commute taking a bus with a reasonable schedule but I’d have to walk over a mile alongside a busy road to my job, or spend three hours to commute due to how two route schedules matched up to drop me off at the entrance to the shopping center.
Each of those options was one way, and this was before smart phones. I wasn’t getting anything done in that time besides listening to music and maybe reading a book while on the bus itself.
And then I learned that on Saturdays, over half the time the bus just didn’t fucking show up at the stop where I got on, and the support phone line would just fucking lie about it.
Plus, if I had a vehicle, the commute would have been only 20 minutes in bad traffic.
Will say, the regular distance power walking helped keep me in great shape though.
I wonder how infrastructure would change if companies were required to reimburse valid claims of mileage or time spent (not the bus/train fare, but paying your wage for the time spent to get to work).
This could be a fantastic idea, and maybe a hammer blow to the “return to office” bullshit.
Sure, I’ll go into the office. Pay me 25% more to account for the travel time.
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While the intent is good, as written it would probably have the unintended consequence of making it harder to get a job if you happen to live far away from the workplace, which I don’t think is the way to go
I knew as I wrote it that it would be far more complex than just setting a single law down. But the fact that such cost of time and money just to get to work exists suggests the burden isn’t balanced well. The case you mention of distance to a job is more a symptom of the problem of not being more localized for everything. Not just an American problem, but definitely something we deal with outside of a few major urban areas. A pay adjustment doesn’t fix that, it just is a rough patch that wouldn’t work for some.
In all honesty I think it’s connected to the housing crisis bleeding into basically every other political issue, because of how damn massive of a problem it is
According to a video I’ve seen, actors get paid for their commutes
Only outside the TMZ, which is why basically everything in LA is filmed within it.
An interesting little quirk for sure
I had a job 2.5 miles from my apartment. There is a bus stop on the corner of my apartment, there is a bus stop next to the job. According to the website it was 3 hours to commute by bus to get there…
I wouldn’t be surprised if that bus included connections to other lines on top of it all.
I had to commute by bus for a while. The transfer is where my anxiety peaked. Being miles away from home and hoping not to miss a second bus just to make it to work on time meant my brain was on high alert the whole time.
Bus transfers are the worst… In my city, we have a pretty good network of busses … IF your goal is the city center. All the routes just do a spiderweb towards the center. You’re on your own if you needed to go between neighborhoods.
Bicycle? Others take dedicated time to do workouts. This is basically the perfect distance for a short workout (and time in between commuting is also basically optimal for recovery according to research). Keeps you fit and healthy without thinking about doing more sport (which is still a good idea). I’m even faster on that kind of distance than a car.
I could never drive the bus/train, commuting by bicycle is too fun and way more flexible (even than a car, considering less options for driving and parking). The distance would have to be larger than 20 miles (or non-“freedom” units: 32 km) that I would consider something else…
2.5 miles is thankfully about 15 minutes by bike - less if you’re pushing it or running an ebike
I actually considered getting an ebike once to get to work, but then started mapping out a good route to take and realized the infrastructure isn’t designed for that kind of travel. Bonus, it would be at night, so statistically someone in a car would be a threat to me eventually, because bike lanes are a joke.
I don’t know your distance for commuting. But I consider the bicycle the most superior form of commuting for distances below 10 miles(16km) (personally would even cycle more than double that).
It’s even cheaper, keeps you healthy and often is even faster than a car, considering parking, traffic lights/jams etc… I also enjoy doing that so another advantage.
Depends on geography
In a more mountine town ive lived in with a bike you can be very fast downslope
Upslope?
20 min for 2km and you will be sweaty as hell at the end
10 and sweaty as hell if you are fit
Yeah plus most jobs don’t like you showing up dripping and smelling like a varsity locker room.
My locale even tried to build in employee showers to encourage bike commuting, but it hits 110⁰F outside and there’s not a cloud in the sky, like LOL dudes you gotta be kidding.
I’d love to live in a place where the humble bicycle was viable beyond recreation.
I can recommend a cooling west for these cases. They are quite effective on the bicycle (moving air enhances the effect). I usually don’t care much about a little bit of sweat, I just turn the ventilation on max then at my office. We even have a shower, but never used it… I think sweat is overrated and often an excuse to not cycle…
Ive run into this too. How many times Id just walk to work for the 1.5hours instead of taking the bus that took just as long, but would drop me off at work either 2hours early, or 15mins late. so Id just walk it.
It was glorious the day I finally got a bike.