It really does.
On an average day, assuming there’s no traffic or road blockages, I spend about two hours commuting to and from work. It’s much the same for the First Lady.
There was no real choice in the matter — I work an hour away in one direction, she works an hour away in another. Our apartment is almost exactly equidistant from the two points.
Having grown up in Houston and worked there for almost two years, I thought I had grown used to an unusually long commute. In fact, I sort of took a perverse pleasure in guzzling all that gas – I listened to my satellite radio; I handled all my phone calls; and I had plenty of time to come up with great story ideas.
But in the past year here in Florida, the almost endless driving has — in the words of Yglesias — slowly grinded my spirit into dust. To say nothing of my paycheck – last summer’s gas prices nearly drove me insane and broke.
I really wish I could walk or bike to work, which almost certainly means that I’m officially no longer a Texan.
Anyway, I can certainly relate to the good people who’ve taken to the Internets in an effort for better public policy regarding transportation. Though I’m skeptical about the efficacy of an online petition, I really like the idea of having more non-driving options.
If you’re like me, check out Transportation for America’s site.
In some parts of country, there’s just no option. But larger cities should do better, no question.
Yeah…I only have a 15 minute commute, and I’d love an efficient way to get to work without driving. And by ‘efficient’ I mean a way that doesn’t mean two buses and 45 minutes of my life.
For five years, I drove for about an hour and a half each way from Jacksonville to Gainesville several times a week for grad school. When I finally got a job in Jacksonville I was overjoyed because I no longer had to deal with the commute. However, driving from my home to my new job site in town takes just as long because of traffic.
Yay, houston! They just fixed I-10 recently around the West side and now it’s a pleasure to drive.
I’m originally from Caracas though and we have pretty good public transportation–subway system and several buses (not terribly organized but easy to use once you get the hang of it). For some reason, however, rush hour traffic can be around 3 hours inside city limits. The kind of bumper to bumper traffic where people sometimes just get out of their cars and turn them off for a bit. It’s terrible, but bycicles aren’t really an option and there’s little money to keep expanding the transporation infrastructure.
same situation for me. i live in hyattsville, md and trying to get to the metro sans car is arduous. the bus that goes to the nearest metro station comes about once an hour and takes about 30-45 minutes to get to the train station. it’s easier for me to drive 10 minutes to the station and park.
i find the metro system in DC to be pretty extensive as are the buses, but there is major room for improvement.