What's a reasonable drive time to work?

[sourcreamnchives]

Thinking of going for a job that would mean an hours drive (in fact slightly over) daily. Currently work local so this would be a big undertaking for me. Not to mention how much petrol I'd be using. For perspective can I ask your daily commutes?

My dh drives 1hr 15 min to and from work, on top of 12 hour shifts and it's killing him. I drive the odd 1hr 30 depending on the job, I only do it (in normal times) once a week but I wouldn't want to do it everyday.

Costs dh about £70 a week on petrol

I have done various. A lot depends on the time you are making the commute.. An hour in rush hour is less fun than an hour earlier in the day... Having done it a lot I am most comfortable with a 45 min max commute.

Depending on what my childcare is on a given day, my commute can be an hour and a half (have to drive half an hour in the opposite direction of work to do drop off at my parents house but hey, it’s free childcare!) or half an hour. The half an hour days are a LOT less stressful.

Not a commuter currently, but my longest commute was about an hour.

I once knew someone who commuted 90 miles, which took her 1 hr 45 on a good day. I would have really struggled.

Pre - COVID a 5 mile journey to work would take me 45-60 mins thanks to the appalling road network in Hull. At the moment it takes 10 minutes which is a novelty! A colleague who travels from Leeds to Hull takes around 50-60 mins and loves the commute in summer but not so much in winter.

I hate traveling for a long time before and after work. Plus, the longer your commute, the more chance there is of things going wrong that are outside your control (road works, accident, horrendous weather, etc), so you end up having to leave that extra time as well, on top of the actual drive time, to make sure you aren't late.
Do you have dc to drop off collect ? - makes it 1000x worse than if it is just you you are organising.

All that said, it depends on your options. If this is your dream job, or fantastic jump in money or opportunity, sometimes needs must.

or
If you need to work in a certain environment (city centre, or sea fron) but want to live rurally or can't afford to live near work, then sometimes this is the trade off you take.

However, a long drive both ways, each day is a negative about a job IMO, so t depends how many plus sides there are to the new job to make it worth while.

I used to drive 1 1/2 hours each way on rural roads pre lockdown. It was really tough going, particularly in winter. Next year I am going to retire rather than go back to that.

@Mumthedogsbeensick I would walk if it took that long to drive!!

I wouldn't want to drive more than half an hour.

I would hate that, I was cross today because my 6 minute commute took 15 due to road works!

I used to do a 50 min commute (according to google maps) but the traffic/accidents would mean on average it would take 1 hour 15, and sometimes would take 3 hours. Never, ever again. Don't do it!

I now have a five minute commute and still don't take it for granted.

80% of the population travel for less than 30 minutes

80 mile round trip each day, via rural roads, hour and a half each way, on top of a 10 hour working day in a physical outdoor environment. 20% of my net income goes in fuel costs alone! Hate it, hate the job, but nothing more local in my sector. Miserable driving home wet through or muddy, especially in winter - think carefully, a long drive is physically and mentally exhausting, especially if it is dark both ways, as it is for several months of the year!

My commute these days is about 10 seconds , but in the past I have done 90 minute commutes. Not fun, and a massive waste of time.

I do 50 mins and love it. Use it to decompress from stressful job, listen to podcasts/audio books and treat as my time so walk into busy house ready with parent head on

@elstamum - my plan too after I have seen this winter out! Doesn't help that the blasted music system in my poor, aged old car has given up the ghost! Cannot fit a generic one, has to be original manufacturers part and even a second hand one would cost more than the car is worth😂

Before Covid it took me an hour to do a 30 min drive to work - I hated it.

Now stuck WFH and I'd give anything for than an hour in the car on my own.

12 mins plus 5 to drop off at nursery.

I don’t enjoy a commute so mine is 30mins.

My DH regularly travels 3+ hours but that’s just the nature of his role.

It’s entirely down to you and your job.

Mine is just under an hour, over if traffic really bad. It averages at 50 mins but in school hols can be as little as 35 as it’s not that far (20 miles) but the city I have to drive into and across has dreadful congestion.
I do about 15k miles a year but car is electric so only costs pennies to charge at home.

I don’t mind the time as listen to podcasts etc but the traffic gets on my tits tbh.

I did do a 1hr 40 commute each way by car and that was too much, totally exhausting. Fortunately it was temporary whilst relocating.

Currently about 15 mins. In the past I have done 2 hours. It was only for 6 weeks while we moved house. I don’t think I could have done it indefinitely without an end in sight.

I officially start work at 8:45 but I leave home at 6:30 to arrive at 7. I then stay still 5:45 so my drive home takes 50isj minutes. If I left at 8 it takes me well over an hour. So worth leaving earlier to not be sitting my traffic feeing frustrated!

I’ve done an hour commute on country roads with no traffic and that was ok.

I’ve done a just over an hour commute on busy roads which was stressy hell.

I now cycle for 20 mins.

Speaking from experience, I'd say working closer to home is SOOOO much easier - especially if you have children. I've worked 35 miles and 24 miles away from two different employers, both taking about an hour to an hour and 15 each way. In snow, it took 2/3 hours one way. I really felt like I was losing time with my children and was always so stressed. I now work 0.2 miles from home and can walk there in 5 minutes. It's an amazing commute.

Mine was 35 miles and took 55 minutes if the traffic and the M3 were OK. I did that in an automatic and it was fine. Would say that 55 minutes is too long in a non-automatic though.