# How far/long do you commute for work?



## Eukaryotic (Jan 24, 2005)

Just curious. I am about to start commuting from Toronto to Peterborough Ontario every other week for the next while. It only takes about an hour and 10 minutes from Toronto. I know some people who live in Mississauga and it takes them the same amount of time (an hour) to get to Scarborough in the morning, or vice versa. 

How far/long does it take you to get to work?


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## Dr.G. (Aug 4, 2001)

0 minutes. I am Memorial University's first teleprofessor, in that all of my courses are online. When I have to attend a meeting, or pick up my mail, I am a 15 minute walk from my office, a 7 minute bike ride or a 3-5 minute car drive.


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## MsMittens (Aug 6, 2004)

An hour and a half one way and an hour back. That's only during the summer when I can bike from downtown to York University (where I work). It's all uphill to the campus and downhill from. 

The winter will probably be a two-hour each way via TTC.  UGH


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## Clockwork (Feb 24, 2002)

About three hours a day there and back. I dont care for it, but I like what I do.


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## autopilot (Dec 2, 2004)

1 1/2 hours each way on the bus.

that's 15 hours a week. 15 HOURS.


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## Ottawaman (Jan 16, 2005)

Dr G- that's vey interesting. We have many a debate about the pedagogical implications of alternative education in my department at Carleton University.
autopilot- how do you spend the time? Reading , computing or something else?


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## buck (Jan 10, 2003)

20 - 30 minutes on the streetcar (including wait time)
40 by foot
15 by bike

I used to commute from Markham to mississauga every day, it would usually take an hour or so. My record was 36 minutes door to door at 1 am.

I have done downtown Peterborough to the beaches via the 401 and the DVP in 50 minutes... I had to meet a friend to catch a movie


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## Ramboman (Dec 13, 2004)

20 Minute Drive
45 Minute Bike
1 1/2 Hour walk (without stopping in pubs  )


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## MacDoc (Nov 3, 2001)

About 8 feet. Bed to work.


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## autopilot (Dec 2, 2004)

Ottawaman said:


> autopilot- how do you spend the time? Reading , computing or something else?


ipodding mainly 

(i used to read but i get a little motion sick in some toronto buses...)


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## solidgood (Apr 5, 2004)

South Cambie to Downtown Vancouver:
25 min by bus
15 min by bike

going home takes a little longer (uphill during rush hour).


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## ErnstNL (Apr 12, 2003)

By car,15 mins with heavy traffic. Heavy, for St. John's that is.
7 minutes with light traffic.
Only 8 kms to work!


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## Carex (Mar 1, 2004)

4.5 km to work. 5 minutes on a bad day. I can bike it there in about 7 (downhill, very little peddling). The way home by bike takes about 15 (uphill, lotsa peddling).


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## Dr.G. (Aug 4, 2001)

ErnstNL, my wife is from Calgary, and when I say I want to avoid "rush hour" traffic on Kenmount Road, she laughs at me.


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## K_OS (Dec 13, 2002)

35 Minutes on average depending on how heavy the traffic is in the morning trough Toronto.

Laterz


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## MacNutt (Jan 16, 2002)

It takes me about twelve seconds to walk from my front door over to the bottling facility beside the house. Traffic is usually light.

But I do most of the work from the loft in my house where I have my office.

I'm there now, in fact.


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## MannyP Design (Jun 8, 2000)

My commute to Ottawa is approximately 30-45 minutes on a normal day. A good day is about 10-15 minutes if the traffic is light.

When I first moved here from New Brunswick I used to work out of my home office, which was okay if you're into that sort of thing. I prefer to interact with people face-to-face.


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## jetcurieux (Jan 31, 2005)

Usually 30 minutes tops. On bad traffic days 45 min. And when it becomes clear we live in Canada in the winter, sometimes 1h30.


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## jlcinc (Dec 13, 2002)

Wow, I work from home so unless I need to be on location or in another studio I don't go anywhere but to the desk from the bedroom, I sometimes get up at 6 and work until 10, then take my shower and go back to work, it is great to get so much work done with no phone calls or other interuptions. I couldn't tolerate a hour or two commute, I don't know how you guys do it. I know we have to work but it takes away so much from you life.

John


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## Ena (Feb 7, 2005)

I drive to work. Takes me seven minutes to travel the 2.8 kms. I know I should walk or bike but I really want to get home fast after being on my feet all day and have a decent cup of tea.


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## Bosco (Apr 29, 2004)

5 minutes. Never any traffic though I do see the odd deer. I can't stand traffic anymore. Drives me crazy when I go to Toronto.


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## Heart (Jan 16, 2001)

Most days, 18 feet, bed to office. ( And I am sleeping with the boss ...  )


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## goobertech (Jan 24, 2005)

twenty minute walk to bus stop, ( this includes a stop to scratch a cat or two and life giving coffee at the corner coffee shop) five minute bus ride , an hour by subway, or longer thanks to the Tory's time in office .


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## gordguide (Jan 13, 2001)

To get to work, it's about a 12-14 hour drive. Once there, it's a four minute walk every day for three months. Then, another 12-14 hour drive 'till next year.


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## MacNutt (Jan 16, 2002)

I'm bettin here that GordGuide knows a thing or two about bug repellant. 

Care to share what works and what doesn't?


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## Pamela (Feb 20, 2003)

8 minutes here! I WILL NOT commute. What a waste of a life.

Having said that my husband commutes 1 to 1.5 hours each way everyday. But that will all change when he moves over here hopefully. That's one of the many reasons why we're moving.


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## Pylonman (Aug 16, 2004)

By car, 20 minutes good day/45 minutes bad day. 
I travel Coquitlam to North Surrey, going East bound (opposite flow of traffic), only one bridge. (Tha'ts one bad thing about commuting in the Lower Mainland, too many damn bridges 
I've been doing the commute for 7 years and 5 of them without a radio in the car. Nice and relaxing. I could also dream about how to spend that million dollars I was going to win...


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## Pylonman (Aug 16, 2004)

On a side note, Pamela, when are we going to see some of your furniture on your web site? Do we get a preview?


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## Dr.G. (Aug 4, 2001)

"It takes me about twelve seconds to walk from my front door over to the bottling facility beside the house. Traffic is usually light." If the truth be known, Macnutt beats my time to work each morning. When I start upstairs with a cup of coffee, I have to move around the obstacle of four doxies all thinking there is something for them in my coffee cup. So, it takes me at least 13 seconds to nearly a minute to "get to work".

Of course, Heart and jlsinc are probably the fastest to work. Still, it is not a race so long as the work you eventually get to is rewarding.


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## gwillikers (Jun 19, 2003)

10 km to and from, for 15 years now. I am truly blessed. In this city, that little distance is enviable. I don't take it for granted either, I feel fortunate.

There are days where I get to work before a song has played on my fave radio station, instead I've only heard disc jockey banter and commercials for the whole trip. I regret not bringing a CD with me on those days.  

Plus, I have a '99 Toyota, that I bought new, with 32,500 km on it. I'm serious!


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## Brainstrained (Jan 15, 2002)

35 minute walk
20 minutes by bus (including wait time)
10 minutes by bike
5 minutes by car

From spring to fall I like to bike, but during the winter I walk. When the weather is poor, I take the bus. I seldom drive.


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## winwintoo (Nov 9, 2004)

Just thought I'd chime in here. I'm retired so I don't go to work any more but when I did, it was a 5 minute walk across the park. 

We had lots of company in from out of town last weekend and they were all wondering how they were going to get to the airport in time with *traffic* and all and they didn't want to *inconvenience* us. We had to keep reminding them that this is REGINA, you can get anywhere in under 15 minutes, even in the middle of rush hour!

Another reason to move to Saskatchewan!

And my 11 year old car still only has 90,000 Km on it  and that's after several trips to BC and Calgary!

Take care, Margaret


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## SINC (Feb 16, 2001)

My morning job takes me to my Edmonton office, a trip of 9 km one way.

My afternoon job is about 10 feet away from the kitchen table at lunch time.


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## da_jonesy (Jun 26, 2003)

About 15 feet from the bedroom to the home office.

However 7 years ago I used to work at King and Spadina so it was 30 minutes from St. Kitts to Burlington for the Go Station, 50-60 minutes from Burlington to Union Station, 20 minutes from Union to Kind and Spadina (same if walked or took the street car). Total time 1:45 each way... about 3 hours of my day round trip. I don't miss it.


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## dmpP (Jun 1, 2004)

I work about 55km from where I live... only takes me about 45-50 min in my car (depending on traffic)... but then again, I'm out of the house around 6:45am and start working at 7:30... and I generally leave work around 4...


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## thejst (Feb 1, 2005)

I work 2 blocks from my house, and school is a 10 minute bike ride. Winnipeg is great for geting around quickly, just watch out for the pot holes!
and pedestrian crosswalks everywhere....


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## Carex (Mar 1, 2004)

> ( And I am sleeping with the boss ... )


Lucky bastard.


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## PosterBoy (Jan 22, 2002)

I take the 52 window coupe to work, it takes about 30-45 minutes on a weekday and about 45-60 on the weekend, one way.

If I had a car, it would take far longer.

I could probably transfer to a closer location, too, but most of the other stores are boring to work in.


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## JAMG (Apr 1, 2003)

Many will not beleive this but it is true...

51 KM Brampton to Yonge/Wellington = 35-45min average... (427/Gardiner)

I do not pass a convenience store/Bank or Tim Hortons without going way outta the way... but I walk pass 3 Tim Hortons in the 4 blocks from my parking lot to the office and they are putting a 4th in our lobby.


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## anal-log (Feb 22, 2003)

About an hour. I work from home but for some reason it sometimes still takes me an hour to get to my office downstairs.


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## Mrs. Furley (Sep 1, 2004)

Carex said:


> Lucky bastard.


...not if you work where I work.

*shudder*


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## agent4321 (Jun 25, 2004)

It takes me about an hour to get to work on a good traffic day. Here's a google map of my commute from a recent thread.


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## autopilot (Dec 2, 2004)

Mrs. Furley said:


> ...not if you work where I work.
> 
> *shudder*


ew, mine either!


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## poisonmonkey (Sep 20, 2004)

22 Clicks from Steeles and Markham to Keele and Steeles
--> my house to York University.

It usually takes 1.5 hours by bus. (On good day)
But I did rollerblade that once... it took me "just" less than 2 hours.


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## enaj (Aug 26, 2004)

7.5 clicks to downtown Toronto - which takes a pathetic 45 minutes thanks to gridlock.Hey Mr. Martin, please, no money for Ontario. 
We live to give!!


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## Roland (Aug 15, 2002)

Used to take me an hour to an hour ten to commute from Guelph to Scarborough. Then I moved back and now it's a 20 minute walk or a 5 min drive.

I'm looking forward to leaving my car in the driveway most days.


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## ehMax (Feb 17, 2000)

For the past month, I've been commuting from Toronto to Kitchener. About 1.5 to 2 hours each way. Thankfully, by the end of this week, it'll only be about a 7 KM trek, and I can take my bike to work... and spend the 3-4 hours I used to be driving on something actually useful.  

I did get through lots of Audio Books though!


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## Ohenri (Nov 7, 2002)

wow...

I've not read all posts here, but my friends and I talk about this all the time. I went from walking 12 mins, to having the shortest commute to work: rolling from my bed to my desk - just about 3 ft. 

I then went from there, to walking 5 mins. Ever since July of last year though, I am now driving to work - 1st time ever. My commute is just under 10 clicks. Takes about 15-20 mins. Sucks considering I must be taking some of the most poorly kept roads in GTA (dufferin is givin me some sufferin, makin me reach for Bufferin! It's just the worst). 

Not sure how I would handle a drive > 20 mins. For those who do the 45 mins+ long drive (in the words of AC/DC):

*I Salute U!*

I think I would lose my mind. 

H!


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## gwillikers (Jun 19, 2003)

enaj said:


> 7.5 clicks to downtown Toronto - which takes a pathetic 45 minutes thanks to gridlock.Hey Mr. Martin, please, no money for Ontario.
> We live to give!!


I feel for ya man. I do 10 clicks in 10 to 15 minutes, so I can only imagine your frustration. There are days where it takes me a long time (snow, accident), but for you to line up every day just for 7.5 clicks just sucks.  

But what can you do? Play some tunes and try and relax. That's the only way.


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## Eukaryotic (Jan 24, 2005)

Luckily, I will be starting in East York and going east to Oshawa, then north into Peterborough - all against the main flow of traffic in the east end which comes from the east in the morning.

I usually don't care too much about the price of gas, but for the next 4 months I'd like to see it stay under a buck


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## rodkin (Jan 7, 2003)

About 30 seconds - from bed to work.

As an aside, if you're spending just one hour (each way) to commute to and from work, and you work 49 weeks a year, that's a total of 61 eight-hour days just getting to and from work. 

I mentioned this to a former collegue one day, and he didn't believe me. He came back an hour later, after he'd worked out the numbers for himself, and admitted I was right. Within two months, he sold his condo north of the city and moved to a place that was five minutes from work.

Just stop and think for a moment about what you could do with all that extra time if you didn't have a crazy commute (which, in Toronto, seems to apply to the majority of people).


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## autopilot (Dec 2, 2004)

rodkin said:


> I mentioned this to a former collegue one day, and he didn't believe me. He came back an hour later, after he'd worked out the numbers for himself, and admitted I was right. Within two months, he sold his condo north of the city and moved to a place that was five minutes from work.


it's a nice idea but most people i fear are not in such a position to move closer to work. ditto on finding another job closer to home.

not that it's impossible; just unfeasible.


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## Dr.G. (Aug 4, 2001)

Employers need then to make it easier to bring work closer to where people live. In my case, I have a better computer and monitor with a faster internet connection that I do in my university office. The actual hours of teaching online are more than on-campus instruction, but I am able to spread it out from 7AM until 11PM.


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## iMatt (Dec 3, 2004)

autopilot said:


> it's a nice idea but most people i fear are not in such a position to move closer to work. ditto on finding another job closer to home.
> 
> not that it's impossible; just unfeasible.


Just watch: over the next 10-20 years a <i>lot</i> of people are going to find a way to make it happen, whether they like it or not. There's already been a substantial start--just look at how many people are now working from home. But there are a lot of things that can't be done at home, so the next big shift is going to have to involve bringing homes and workplaces closer together somehow.

On some level it has to entail undoing the segregation of land uses that was implemented back in the days when "industry" meant "toxic" almost by definition.


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## autopilot (Dec 2, 2004)

well, i intend to be working for myself out of my home by the time 5 years is up anyway. i have no intention of living like this for the next 20 years!!


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