Can you get used to an 1hr+ car commute?

33 comments

1. Half pint?

2. It would get old real fast. I am 25-30 mins away from work and if I move it will be closer if possible

3. When I used to commute, it was an hour each way – shit traffic in rush hour, exactly as you describe.

   I have worked at home for 10ish years now, and honestly don’t think I could stomach a commute longer than about 20 minutes now. Even then, it’d have to be really worth it for me to consider going into an office at all.

   But that’s me, and my opinion. I know people who love being in the office and commute close to 2hrs each way each day

4. Is that hour on motorway or dual carriageway?
   You’ll be tired at first but you’ll get used to it.
   I did 4 years travelling between Bridgend in South Wales to Bristol.
   Quickly adapt

5. I commuted for about 80 mins each way for about 8 years. To begin with it was soul destroying. Then it became routine.

   I’ve now worked from home for nearly 5 years and would never accept a role with a commute of any length ever again.

6. No. Commutes are hell if every day.

7. It’s not for me, I have a personal 30-ish minutes each way rule.

   My wife, otoh, did it for many years and it never bothered her, she just stuck an audio book on and chilled.

   Do factor in price of fuel and increased wear on your car though. Those costs really do rack up.

8. Yep like others have said, I would not do it now, but simply because I love my WFH lifestyle, and my industry is now fully remote, so it’s here to stay.

   However, I’m aware others may not be so lucky. I used to to a commute by car that was 45mins on a good day, just over an hour on a bad day.

   It was fine. I like my own company and it was nice to have those periods of solace. I used the time to listen to podcasts and audio books, or explore some albums – I would never otherwise get the chance to listen to some albums cover to cover.

   It only became a drag when I had reasons to get home sooner – ie new baby. I was missing a chunk of time seeing them by having to leave early and get home late.

   But the actual commute itself was fine.

9. Yes, did it 5 days a week before the pandemic. It feels less appealing nowadays…

10. I did this for years, maybe 15.. I could never go back to it again, absolutely no way.

11. I used to have one and it wasn’t so bad. I just used that time to listen to audiobooks and podcasts.

12. Did it for years. You get used to it pretty quickly and actually I found that I could use it to really leave work behind. The journey home let me mull over stuff that happened through the day, by the time I was home I could think of other stuff. The journey in let me plan out in my head stuff I wanted to get done.

    If the opportunity is great, don’t let it be the only thing that blocks you from taking it but do take it into account when weighing up your decision.

13. Sure. It’s pretty normal in some parts of the world. I lived in Sydney for a while and an hour or so commute wasn’t considered particularly out of the ordinary. Not sure I could do it now though.

14. I love a commute if it’s driving. I see it as part of my work day and I find the drive a real positive on my wellbeing. I get to listen to my music as loud as I like, I get to sing and dance as much as I want. It’s almost as if I have a mini party before work to get me pumped. Also, I’m not the type to enjoy social interaction so early on, so to have an outlet before the work day “warms me up” for social interaction. The journey home is a wind down so that I’m ready to fully relax as I’ve processed the work day.

    With all that being said 45 minutes to 1 hour is my absolute limit but other factors like job satisfaction etc come into it too.

15. Yes. Routine commute is 1 +1/2 hrs motorway each way with longer journeys thrown in for good measure. You get used to it. Podcast etc are essential. If you can, travel early in the morning. I’m often on the road 6-7am to beat traffic.

16. How often and what car is surely the question.

    Work from home for 3 days, with a couple of zoomy car commutes in the Aston, whilst pumping SH Mafia. Awesome.

    Commuting 5 days solid in your beat-up volvo. Less so

17. Did it twice and hated it after a year both times, first time I moved closer to the job and second time I got a wfh job so no commute. I would only do it if I had no option e.g. the money on offer was worth it and far more than I could get locally.

18. TLDR – You’ll be fine for a while, but it’ll get to you over time.

    I did it for a while going from Leeds to Manchester. Most of it was Motorway in terms of distance (maybe 35 miles M62, 5 miles local roads), but in terms of time it was about a 50:50 split. it would take about 50 minutes in no traffic whatsoever, 60 minutes in standard traffic, and closer to 70 minutes in rush hour. Of course, if there had been any sort of accident on the M62, it would take hours, because our Highways teams seem desperate to close motorways for the slightest fender bender.

    I did get used to it. I made a flask of coffee, made sure to have snacks in the glovebox, and started listening to plenty of podcasts. I actually found it helped tune-out of work. Some people struggle to switch off, and I can at times, but with that journey between work and home, it really helped that.

    The issue was that I ended up shattered, it’d mean being out of the house from around 7.30am until 6pm, and my energy for doing anything significant on evenings quickly dried up. Even when I did, I’d often be tired and not fully there. I’d be pretty terrible at football (compared to just ‘bad’), I’d be desperate to get home to bed if I went out for drinks with friends. And that gets worse and worse over time.

    I’ve since got a different job where there is barely any commute, and there is not a chance I would go back.

    Of course, there is perhaps more of an openness to agile working now post-COVID, and a friend of mine recently started doing the same, but is allowed to work from home 2-3 days a week. So depending on the role, that might be something you could negotiate.

19. I did an 1hr 15 each way (59 miles) for 5 years and it wore thin. Also, you run your car into the ground.

20. No. I recently changed from a 15 minute commute on foot to a 30 minute commute on motorbike. I do not enjoy it at all and dread winter. No way would I do an hour

21. About 25 years ago for a year. Would not recommend it.

22. Nope. Nope. Nope. You’ll be OK at first but you will very quickly learn to hate it. Summer maybe not so bad, but spring and Autumn you’re blinded by the low sun, and winter, just forget it.

    I’ll never do it again, it’s soul destroying

23. I did an hour commute for about a year, and whilst it wasn’t terrible, parts of my life did suffer (not enough time for exercise and cooking from scratch). I wouldn’t do it now.

24. I used to have a 1 hour and a half commute with no traffic, majority of it on the m25, so of course there was a lot of traffic. Never got used to it, hated every minute of it and was nearly completely put off cars/vans for life because of it. Even considered moving into London so I never needed to own a car again in my life. Then I stopped having to do it.

    Edit: I wasn’t very well paid though so I’m not sure if that would’ve helped.

25. I actually commuted for 3 years from one side of London (Ilford) to the other (Heathrow).

    North Circular every day, average speed cameras at 50mph doing your head in.

    It was shift work as I was driving coaches at the time. Until that one day.

    Worked from 2pm – 11pm, drove back on a very quiet A406, somehow fell asleep heading towards Arnos Grove, I remember being in Lane 1 and ended up in Lane 3.

    Thank God the roads were empty. Pulled into the next safe spot and took an hour’s nap.

    I suppose it depends on your profession, but this was up to a 90 minute drive one way every day. Really knocks it out of you.

26. I drive about an hour an 20 minutes each way and have for 3 years. Used to get the train before that but much prefer driving. It can be annoying but you get used to it. Listen to audio books or podcasts or something educational. Make use of the time.

27. I could do it outside of rush hour on some quieter roads but not in stop-start traffic.

    Used to travel an hour and a half each way to work for 5 years in rush hour. Only 12 miles but it was stop-start the entire way.

    Now drive to work at odd starting times so never have to deal with any traffic.

28. 1 hour each way is a no go for me, that would be drive me crazy

29. Until very recently my other half was commuting from near Portsmouth to Slough daily via the A3. He got used to it, used to use his time to listen to podcasts etc.

30. I personally couldn’t – after going 100% remote I might take a job with a commute of many twenty minutes maximum but anything longer I would avoid.

31. I had a 1.5 hour commute for about a year. I don’t enjoy driving at the best of times, so it wasn’t fun *at all*. However, I did it for my career and I was able to leverage that experience to get a better paid (and much closer!) job at the end of it, so the tradeoff was ultimately worth it.

    Since then I’ve been offered a couple of other roles that would have resulted in a pay rise in return for a longer commute, but I’ve turned them down. Hopefully, I’ll never have to put myself in that position again.

32. This really depends on you as a person. I thought I would be fine with it then after a year I was so over the drive. It was an hour on the motorway and got to the point where I just hoped someone would crash into me so I didn’t have to drive it. However my mum has been doing it for ten years, back roads though and has no issue.

33. Yes, did it for 10 years. Make sure that you have a good selection of audiobooks or podcasts to play.