Long Commute/Lifestyle Blocks?

[Zardnaar]

Two questions really and they're kinda related.

1. What is a long drive for you to get to work?

2. Are lifestyle blocks a thing overseas?

Lifestyle Blocks are rural living but within driving distance or a town or city. You probably don't have any immediate neighbors but still reasonably close to town.

Generally a 5-10 minute drive is close to work, 20 minutes is a long drive imho but some people drive half an hour or more.

If you're driving an hour or more because of traffic and/ or distance might wanna get a new job imho but some do it.

Speed limit here is 100 km/h so if it's not congested you can do 40-50km in 30 minutes without to much effort. 5 minute drive can get you 5km outside urban area depending on location.

Informal term but here's the government take.

https://www.settled.govt.nz/blog/bu...dJtlf21Nh4yQ6OnzGbTiNtmVZiKAOJUxoCjNwQAvD_BwE

 

[AmazonQueen]

I've never driven to work but when I lived and worked in London I had a one to one and a half hour commute every morning and evening. We had people in the office who did 2 hour commutes every day.
At present I have a 15 minute walk to work. Much better.

We do have what you call lifestyle blocks. We call them the countryside.

 

[Zardnaar]

I've never driven to work but when I lived and worked in London I had a one to one and a half hour commute every morning and evening. We had people in the office who did 2 hour commutes every day.
At present I have a 15 minute walk to work. Much better.

We do have what you call lifestyle blocks. We call them the countryside.

Countryside is more out in the wop wops.

Hence why I'm asking just wondering where people draw the line.

 

[AmazonQueen]

Countryside is more out in the wop wops.

Hence why I'm asking just wondering where people draw the line.

We don't draw a line between rural areas close to towns and rural areas distant from towns. If we did our only countryside would be in the Scottish Highlands and the less populated parts of Wales.

 

[Zardnaar]

We don't draw a line between rural areas close to towns and rural areas distant from towns. If we did our only countryside would be in the Scottish Highlands and the less populated parts of Wales.

Depends on who you talk to here. Once you leave urban areas technically you're in the countryside but there's a difference between 5 minute drive and come to town once a month.

Terrain is also part of it. There two points here 27km apart but it's a 5 hour drive between them.

 

[Narz]

Commute now is 7-10 minutes.

Driving loads is terrible and something people never really adapt to.

My longest commute was around 35-40 minutes (from Bronx to midtown manhattan) but 40min on subway is much less bad than 40min driving.

 

[Zardnaar]

Commute now is 7-10 minutes.

Driving loads is terrible and something people never really adapt to.

My longest commute was around 35-40 minutes (from Bronx to midtown manhattan) but 40min on subway is much less bad than 40min driving.

How far is that as the crow flies? It's different looking at a map of NYC vs being there.

 

[EgonSpengler]

My commute is long - 60+ minutes if I don't dawdle - but that's partly by choice. I don't drive, and don't want to, but I live in an urban area that allows me to do that. I suspect most Americans couldn't stow their car, even if they wanted to.

I've never heard the term "lifestyle blocks" before, but I wonder if they're similar conceptually to "exurbs."

An exurb (or alternately: exurban area) is an area outside the typically denser inner suburban area, at the edge of a metropolitan area, which has some economic and commuting connection to the metro area, low housing density, and growth. It shapes an interface between urban and rural landscapes holding a limited urban nature for its functional, economic, and social interaction with the urban center, due to its dominant residential character.

 

[Bamspeedy]

50 miles to work one way, takes under an hour usually. more than half of it on rural highway (55 mph speed limit), slowing down through a few small towns. part of it on interstate (70 mph speed limit). But only 3 days a week. Been doing it for 22 years.

Bad snowstorm in winter, commute time doubled.

 

[El_Machinae]

My commute is about an hour and a half, including 20 minutes of walking. I don't drive, so that's mostly bus. Bus is really stress-free, especially if you don't mind standing. Got a bit sticky with masks for a while there, because it's super easy to notice who's not wearing a mask.

I do have people who live out in the countryside, surrounded by forest or field, and who commute into work. Inevitably it's a truck being driven to the downtown so they can earn their six-figure. I'd say the average commute time on that front is about 40 minutes, but every single one of them drives off peak hours.

 

[Samson]

I have a very short commute by most peoples standards, it is 7 minutes if it is clear (though 10 - 15 is more usual now most people are back in the office. I live on the edge of the london commuter zone according to this map, I think a lot of it would count as "lifestyle blocks" according to that definition. I think there are quite a few people who comute further than that to london.

Spoiler Map of South East England :

For reference, that map is about 300 km wide.

 

[Aiken_Drumn]

I think door to door, anything beyond an hour is utter madness and a road to depression.

A nice 20 min stroll is perfect.

 

[PhroX]

Well, I don't drive, but I consider the half-hour walk to work I used to have to be about my limit for commuting time. No job is worth giving up more of my life than that for. Nowadays, I've a 10 minute walk, and it's much nicer. I can even go home for my lunch break.

 

[Grendeldef]

I feel under 15mins is short by any means of transportation, up to 30mins fine and by car up 40mins is fine but to avoid longer than that I've scheduled my goings & comings to/from office outside rush hours. Going by roller skating or cycling needs some time to shower afterwards but I wouldn't count it as transportation time. It doesn't take any longer at office than it does at home.
The longest single drive to office took some 5½ hours but then again it was almost 5 hrs from garage to out my yard, some ~60m.
I noticed the starting snowfall in the evening but the amount only when I tried to drive out of the garage. Not gonna fall for that again or if do at least I'm only driving 4WDs these days.

 

[AmazonQueen]

I feel under 15mins is short by any means of transportation, up to 30mins fine and by car up 40mins is fine but to avoid longer than that I've scheduled my goings & comings to/from office outside rush hours. Going by roller skating or cycling needs some time to shower afterwards but I wouldn't count it as transportation time. It doesn't take any longer at office than it does at home.
The longest single drive to office took some 5½ hours but then again it was almost 5 hrs from garage to out my yard, some ~60m.
I noticed the starting snowfall in the evening but the amount only when I tried to drive out of the garage. Not gonna fall for that again or if do at least I'm only driving 4WDs these days.

When I lived in London I worked flexi so mostly I was able to travel outside rush hour. Didn't make the journey quicker as trains & tubes are less frequent but at least we weren't crammed in like sardines. Often had to stand for much of the journey even outside rush hour.

 

[really]

We do have similar to lifestyle block here in Ireland but I don't think people think all that much about it.
Around me there are a lot of small farms - they don't generate enough income to support a family full time, so people farm part time (hobby farming probably) and then work in the nearest city.
The population seems much more dispersed here - this generates a lot of private car traffic to get into town - 30 to 40 mins to go 12km into the centre of town.
Some people commute a huge distance.

Houses built by people like myself would be classified as urban generated, rural one off houses. These get a lot of criticism as they generate car traffic, don't work with public transport, and are more expensive to provide services to, hollow out small towns and villages, fragment farm land.

 

[Narz]

How far is that as the crow flies? It's different looking at a map of NYC vs being there.

About 8 miles

 

[Birdjaguar]

When I worked my last real job, I had 30 minute drive mostly going against the rush hour flows (20 miles). I never minded it. Prep time thinking on my way to work; decompression on my way home.

 

[Nick723]

Living in the UK, my commute into the London office is 90 mins door to door (walk, train, tube).

I used to live in London and then it was a 30 min walk, but try buying somewhere to live in central London

 

[Birdjaguar]

@Nick723 Welcome to Off topic!