The era of the 'super-commute' is here

[DCReid]

I don't have access to the full article in the Bizjournals link below but my google search did say that the DC area had the biggest increase over the past years. I did find this study from 10 years ago and DC was already very high along with California metros. I met LA people who would wake up at 4 am to drive from Antelope valley (Palmdale) to get to their job in Orange County; I met one DC person who lived near Hagerstown and worked in DC, but was proud of her 5000 sf house. Had co-workers who worked in DC and lived in Fredericksburg, VA, and Martinsburg, WV. Even had a co-worker who worked in DC and lived in Gettysburg, PA partly because she had several horses. Even heard of one or two people who lived in North Carolina and worked in DC 2-3 days a week...

https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/...hot-spots.html

https://www.census.gov/content/dam/C...-03_poster.pdf

[Centropolis]

Originally Posted by DCReid

I don't have access to the full article in the Bizjournals link below but my google search did say that the DC area had the biggest increase over the past years. I did find this study from 10 years ago and DC was already very high along with California metros. I met LA people who would wake up at 4 am to drive from Antelope valley (Palmdale) to get to their job in Orange County; I met one DC person who lived near Hagerstown and worked in DC, but was proud of her 5000 sf house. Had co-workers who worked in DC and lived in Fredericksburg, VA, and Martinsburg, WV. Even had a co-worker who worked in DC and lived in Gettysburg, PA partly because she had several horses. Even heard of one or two people who lived in North Carolina and worked in DC 2-3 days a week...

https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/...hot-spots.html

https://www.census.gov/content/dam/C...-03_poster.pdf

Two hour (one way) commutes for blue collar tradespeople were common to job sites when I worked in the Bay Area including coming in from Sacramento/Central valley.

[Crawford]

Yeah, the DC area is definitely one of the supercommuting hubs. It also has unusually bad traffic, with all the twisty roads and not particularly extensive road infrastructure.

[dave8721]

Pretty common for Firefighters who work 3 days and then are off 4 to live in the Naples or Ft. Meyers areas and commute to Miami ~3 hours. They sleep at the station when working anyway.

[uaarkson]

Detroit’s commuter shed encompasses almost the entire southern half of Michigan.

[The North One]

Originally Posted by uaarkson

Detroit’s commuter shed encompasses almost the entire southern half of Michigan.

It does. People commute into Detroit all the way from the Port Huron area and those other little villages around like Imlay City. Which is wild to me, but there's a whole community of rural middle of nowhere residents who just drive into the metro all the time. It's about a 50 min drive to most places so I guess it's doable. But like just move closer WTF. Super long drives just don't seem to faze some people.

[jd3189]

These super commutes can't be good for long term health and sustainability. It kinda makes sense but it ultimately doesn't in the end of the day. Why spend 2+ hours every workday driving in shitty traffic just to go to work when you could work closer to home or even at home? You could save a lot on gas, car repairs, mileage, etc. Plus might even save a few more years of prime health.

Especially in California, it doesn't make sense to me. Folks are still paying a lot to own a home in the IE or high desert and have to commute to LA daily with a gas guzzler? Their choice I guess, but that sounds like hell as an urbanist.

[Trae]

Originally Posted by jd3189

These super commutes can't be good for long term health and sustainability. It kinda makes sense but it ultimately doesn't in the end of the day. Why spend 2+ hours every workday driving in shitty traffic just to go to work when you could work closer to home or even at home? You could save a lot on gas, car repairs, mileage, etc. Plus might even save a few more years of prime health.

Especially in California, it doesn't make sense to me. Folks are still paying a lot to own a home in the IE or high desert and have to commute to LA daily with a gas guzzler? Their choice I guess, but that sounds like hell as an urbanist.

It may not be an everyday commute but hey you can buy a home in the high desert or low desert (palm springs-indio) in the 300k range easy. most of the IE between Pomona (honorary IE) and Riverside/San Bernardino will run you $500k+. so if you for some reason love california and can't see yourself leaving, plus already have a decent enough paying job here then I can see it. I knew people that commuted from Highland, CA to the Mid-Wilshire area DAILY pre-pandemic. They'd leave at 5am to arrive at work by 7am and then leave by 3:15pm to get home by 5:30pm. Crazy and that's "just" 80 miles.

[Dariusb]

For people who have done the long-term super commutes by car, I wonder how many cars/trucks they've had to replace? I can imagine all of that driving would burn up engines.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by Dariusb

For people who have done the long-term super commutes by car, I wonder how many cars/trucks they've had to replace? I can imagine all of that driving would burn up engines.

Super commutes (assuming highway miles) are actually less taxing on a drive train than stop-and-go city driving. My wife drives ~30 miles to work but 25 miles of it is on the freeway so it's not as bad if she had a 10 mile commute full of stop lights and bumper to bumper traffic.

[uaarkson]

The short answer is, a lot of people can’t afford to live where they work, and can’t get good work where they live. That’s how fucked up everything is now.

[3rd&Brown]

I'm technically a super commuter (Philly to NYC) but I only have to do it 4 days a month so the trade offs are worth it to me.

[liat91]

Met someone who commuted from Bath, PA to NYC. Also heard of one from Keene, NH to Boston.

Hey, some people don’t mind driving and the feeling like they live in Valhalla.

[craigs]

Originally Posted by liat91

Met someone who commuted from Bath, PA to NYC. Also heard of one from Keene, NH to Boston.

Hey, some people don’t mind driving and the feeling like they live in Valhalla.

My cousin living in Boston drove to his mom (my Aunt) in Keene in two hours, tops. I was present when he did that drive several times. He thought it was no big deal.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by liat91

Met someone who commuted from Bath, PA to NYC. Also heard of one from Keene, NH to Boston.

Commuter buses run between Allentown and Manhattan, so Bath to NYC isn't really an atypical commute.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by craigs

My cousin living in Boston drove to his mom (my Aunt) in Keene in two hours, tops. I was present when he did that drive several times. He thought it was no big deal.

Keene to Brattleboro and then 91 to 90? I used to drive from Peterborough (close to Keene) via southern NH down in to MA via Nashua.

[Innsertnamehere]

Super Commuting has definitely picked up in Canada too.

Southern Ontario has seen a ton of new growth in Niagara and Simcoe Counties as well as other areas like Brantford and Guelph which traditionally were "too far" for commuters from the GTA.

With the rise of remote work, no longer. People are willing to tolerate it more if it's only 2-3 days a week, apparently.

[dimondpark]

People in Northern CA have been 'super commuting' en masse for around 30 years-every couple of years an article comes out by an author who thinks he/she discovered something new-LOL.

[homebucket]

Originally Posted by dimondpark

People in Northern CA have been 'super commuting' en masse for around 30 years-every couple of years an article comes out by an author who thinks he/she discovered something new-LOL.

I didn't read the article, but I'm guessing they're not really implying that it's new per se, but just that it is now happening in their region. Just that super commuting is now more popular than ever before and expanding to numerous regions around the country.

Hopefully it'll spur more HSR development around the country as well.

[craigs]

Originally Posted by JManc

Keene to Brattleboro and then 91 to 90? I used to drive from Peterborough (close to Keene) via southern NH down in to MA via Nashua.

He would take Massachusetts Route 2 to Route 140, which becomes New Hampshire Route 12 at the state line and goes straight into Keene. It's super easy.