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[imogen]

It seems that people frequently resolve the 2-body problem by sharing a long commute between two workplaces, either splitting the driving distance as evenly as possible or shifting the commuting-burden back and forth every few years over the long term. 

How many hours a week do we spend en route, and what are the implications of this compromise, both personally and professionally?  Have you grown accustomed to your commute, or do you find it increasingly exhausting?  If a lot of faculty members commute (perhaps from a big metropolitan area to a rural SLAC), does the institution organize a shuttle or help facilitate carpool arrangements?  And if these options are available, do they work for you?

I'd be interested to hear about ways people have found to recuperate the driving time in some way, so it's not just a wasted hour (or two, or three) in which we can neither catch up with partners/kids nor work on research and teaching-prep.  Audiobooks?  NPR?  Dictating your celebrity-academic memoir to S.O. via cellphone headset?  Drag-racing? (Please don't say drag-racing.)

Thanks! 

imogen

[prephd]

How many hours a week do we spend en route, and what are the implications of this compromise, both personally and professionally? 

I do about 3.5 -4 hours a day, 5 or 6 days a week. I take a train, so it's a pretty easy commute. Personally, I miss out on a lot of "down time" with the SO. I can't cook or garden or do any of those things on the weekdays, and by the weekend, I'm so exhausted all I want to do is relax.

Professionally, I can't always stay late at the office when I'm working on something, and usually can't go out for drinks with colleagues after work. I can't stay in town for dinner, etc., because I need to catch the train to get home. I also lose a lot of sleep (or, my sleep rhythms are disrupted because I often sleep on the train).

Have you grown accustomed to your commute, or do you find it increasingly exhausting? 

Both. I'm used to it, but I can't wait for it to end. We chose our location because it's halfway between my work & school & SO's work. But he's recently switched jobs & we're looking to move closer to mine in the fall. Hooray!

If a lot of faculty members commute (perhaps from a big metropolitan area to a rural SLAC), does the institution organize a shuttle or help facilitate carpool arrangements?

Yes. Also, I'm federal, so I get a transportation subsidy.

And if these options are available, do they work for you?

Yes.

I'd be interested to hear about ways people have found to recuperate the driving time in some way, so it's not just a wasted hour (or two, or three) in which we can neither catch up with partners/kids nor work on research and teaching-prep. 

Thank goodness I take the train & don't drive. I can take my laptop (my wireless works almost the whole way), my books, my cell phone, etc. and get lots of work done. I nap a lot. I read the newspaper & drink my coffee in the morning. I schedule out my day. I do end up carrying a lot of junk back & forth just to keep myself occupied on the train. Invest in a good backpack.

I wouldn't do it if I had to drive, at least not where I live. I did a 2-hour round-trip driving commute during a different part of my life, 3 days a week, and I actually loved it, but it was rural roads, 70 mph all the way, gas was 98 cents a gallon, and I listened to lots of NPR.

[zharkov]

For driving, an hour one way is nothing, an hour and a half is doable for the right job, so I said 3 hours.  I've commuted that long, but not now.

Audiobooks (novels) and the Teaching Company audio courses are great ways to keep the drive shorter.

An hour or so on the train, plus a subway ride, say, can stretch to 1.5 hours, but the benefit that you can read and work on the train. 

[englitprof]

My response--2 hours round trip--is completely hypothetical, since I'm currently a full day's drive from spouse right now.  Given the cost of gas, 2 hours is the most reasonable distance for commuting, assuming we lived together.

[madhatter]

In my last job, my commute was about 15 minutes from home, 20 minutes from day care.

I recently interviewed at a small college that's about 45 minutes from home. I don't think I'm getting that job, but I consider that commute tolerable. I do listen to a lot of NPR podcasts in my car. I would be willing to commute a little longer, but that's mostly because I'm unemployed and beginning to feel desperate. In truth, I hate commuting.

[bms2000]

I used to commute an hour each way for graduate school, and then for my first job in industry. I hated every minute of it. There was no way to do it other than to drive. Books on tape helped relieve the boredom somewhat. But I decided to turn down a different industry job in favor of continued adjuncting because it would have involved a 90 minute+ commute. Some people are fine with that, but I find it a torture.
My current job is a 30 minute train ride, and I can easily walk to the stations on both ends of the trip. A job would have to be really, really stellar to make me want to give that up.

[prytania3]

I commuted about an hour and a half each way for 10 years. A really good ride was 50 minutes, but that was rare in city and suburban traffic.

[prephd]

I should say that by the time I give up my long, long commute, I will have done it for 3 years. Long enough so that I know it's possible, and yet, so long that I hope to never have to do it again.

[drspouse]

I said 2.5 hrs because we live in the town where my (academic) job is and it's 1/2 hour bike, 20 mins drive (including finding parking) or 25 bus, but mrspouse commutes 1hr 15mins to his (nonacademic) job - it's on the train and he reads or listens to the radio.

He has time to do his share of cooking during the week and as he leaves early, he's back early enough to eat together, maybe do some light household repairs. He says he'd never do it if he had to drive, though, as you can sleep on the train if you need to.

[poiuy]

I commute ~ 55 miles (~ 1.25 hours) each way door to door, about 4 days a week.  It's about the outer limit of what I can take.  It's made easier by the fact that I am against traffic both ways (most goes in the other direction), and also with the sun (i.e. I am not squinting into a rising or setting sun) each way. 

Books on tape, music, NPR.   Unless I get another job, this seems to be my situation for the foreseeable future. 

The cost of gas is killing me though.  When I began this job, gas was $ 1.30 per gallon.  Now .... 

There's no public transit options, alas.  I've tried off and on to carpool with others, but it's not worked.  I must try again though. 

[normative_]

3.5 hours each way with the car, 5 with bad traffic, with a second apartment near the uni

train / public transport is possible, but is 5 hours

Formative, on the other hand, lives 10 minutes from her office

[prephd]

3.5 hours each way with the car, 5 with bad traffic, with a second apartment near the uni

train / public transport is possible, but is 5 hours

Formative, on the other hand, lives 10 minutes from her office

Ouch, and I thought mine was bad. How many days a week do you do that drive?

I do have a friend's place I can crash at if I've got a late night / early morning combo, but I've only done it, on average, about once a month.

[normative_]

3.5 hours each way with the car, 5 with bad traffic, with a second apartment near the uni

train / public transport is possible, but is 5 hours

Formative, on the other hand, lives 10 minutes from her office

Ouch, and I thought mine was bad. How many days a week do you do that drive? 

2 days a week: one day to my apartment in university town, one day back later in the week

[wanna_writemore]

Husband and I each commute an hour each way.  I teach 3 days/week, but have tended to go in four.  Most semesters, Husband has to go in 4 days.  The commute sometimes gets tedious, especially on days when I'm tired and just want to be home already.  I listen to the radio and have an iPod car adaptor.  I can usually avoid much traffic, so it's not a difficult or stressful drive.  Driving is more stressful for Husband. 

We're starting our 3rd year of this.  Unless something unexpected happens, we expect it to continue indefinitely.  We hope to have kids in the near future, and I'm not sure what that will mean, but we're in the same discipline and both have tt jobs.  That just doesn't happen often, so we can't just throw it away. 

With the price of gas and the time investment (driving is the only option here), I'm going to try to avoid going in a fourth day this year.  I think it's made it harder for me to get research and writing done, although part of that is that I've just not been accustomed to working at home.  When I had a short (5-20 min.) commute, I kept work at work and relaxing at home.  I need to learn how to work at home more effectively and in a more disciplined way (I'm great at procrastinating).  This year I really need to ramp up the research and writing, so I think that means (in part) more staying home and just focusing on that on non-teaching days. We'll see how it goes.

[matilda_a]

I have a 2 hour each way drive if I leave at six and get to work an hour early, otherwise it is three hours (a three and a half hour train trip each way either way). As my teaching is all clumped into a few days, I try not to go in any more than I have to, but I worry that my colleagues will think ill of me for not being in the office all the time (though unless they explicitly knock on my door they would have no way of knowing either way). Another member of staff only goes in two days a week, but she is the chair's wife, and so I imagine will get away with it either way. What have been your experiences? Are you looked down on if you minimise your on-campus days due to a long commute?

Having grown up speaking German and now being very rusty at it, I've been listening to German audiobooks in the car to improve my vocab - seems to make the trips go a lot shorter and I feel like I'm doing something useful.