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America’s Commute to Work Is Getting Longer and Longer (www.wsj.com)

submitted 4 weeks ago by boem@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world

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[-] mPony@lemmy.world 67 points 4 weeks ago

this still smells of propaganda, like it's woven through the whole thing. "The American worker is making peace with a longer ride".
and yet the very first example they provide is someone who works from home twice a week.

I'll tell you this: the commute is even better when you work from home. WFH means less carbon emissions, less time wasted in traffic, and less time literally putting your life at risk from vehicle collisions.

[-] worldwidewave@lemmy.world 29 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago)

As someone that loves going into an office, I wish they let people who didn’t stay at home.

I miss the aspect of the pandemic where people were freer to stay home if they chose, and the roads were so much emptier. It’s better for people to work how they’d like to, it’s better for me trying not to spend an hour commuting, and it’s better for the Earth to have fewer people burning carbon twice a day.

[-] NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 18 points 4 weeks ago

I almost got into a pileup on the way to work this morning. I hate commuting

[-] henfredemars@infosec.pub 3 points 3 weeks ago

Same! Dickhead cut off a truck hauling gravel, forcing truck to evade, nearly running me off the road onto a sidewalk with several people on it.

[-] NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago

Glad it was only nearly!

[-] afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago

Got cut off by a BMW today. I know this might be shocking but the driver didn't have their turn signal on.

[-] GissaMittJobb@lemmy.ml 14 points 3 weeks ago

WFH means less carbon emissions, less time wasted in traffic, and less time literally putting your life at risk from vehicle collisions.

It speaks volumes that all of these problems are car-related. The whole push for WFH is a massive condemnation of how badly people actually feel about the effects of the car-oriented development that the U.S has been spending so much time championing.

[-] mPony@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago

a) what you say is true b) these car-related issues affect other countries just as much : I'm Canadian. c) there are other things that WFH improves as well, but they are far enough behind the car-related problems that they can seem petty by comparison. They aren't petty at all, but they do make a convenient foil for those who argue against WFH.

[-] RippleEffect@lemm.ee 1 points 3 weeks ago

Even if I lived across the street from my office, I would still prefer to work from my home.

[-] Plopp@lemmy.world 8 points 4 weeks ago

Hey! That sounds like pure communism! You go to work where the overseer can keep an eye on you and your productivity!

[-] mPony@lemmy.world 6 points 4 weeks ago

my overseer can see my work just fine. also I fucking rock.

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[-] xmunk@sh.itjust.works 35 points 3 weeks ago

Trains, bitches - and WFH for people who have no business being in an office.

[-] LotrOrc@lemmy.world 11 points 3 weeks ago

Lol I have no reason to be in the office for my job. My company started forcing people back in January. I take the train in. It takes me 2.5 one way, 5 hours total. Doesn't make any fucking sense that I have to make the journey, and it makes no fucking sense that the train ride takes an hour and 45 minutes

[-] Treczoks@lemmy.world 8 points 3 weeks ago

If there only were trains, or trams, or busses. In many areas, public transport consists of "the morning bus" and "the afternoon bus".

And not everyone can WFH. Actually, most people with lower pay grades can't, so they still have to be present whereever they work.

[-] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 3 points 3 weeks ago

wfh for people who have no business being in an office

I don't belong in an office but it's kinda hard to mop the floors where I work from home. 😭

[-] kent_eh@lemmy.ca 2 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

but it's kinda hard to mop the floors where I work from home.

Yeah, the "everyone should work from home" factions seems to forget those of us whose work requires us being able to touch the things we're working on.

[-] theneverfox@pawb.social 2 points 3 weeks ago

Sounds like an engineering problem to me

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 3 points 3 weeks ago

And while we're at it, everyone gets a pony.

I'd love more trains and I'd love more WFH jobs, but that's not the reality in 2024 and just declaring "trains, bitches" is not helpful or particularly cordial to all of the people who have no choice but to make long commutes to their jobs.

[-] shikitohno@lemm.ee 1 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

I would wager most people don't actually have no choice but to make a massive commute. Often it just comes down to policy choices. As a country, we've made deliberate decisions to ignore developing mass transit, just as we've decided homes should be treated as investment vehicles. If we built out and maintained more trains, buses and light rail, congestion could be cut down and more people could travel much more rapidly and efficiently. If we didn't obsess over the idea that property values must go up without fail and encouraged building affordable housing, people could actually afford to live closer to where they work, rather than being pushed ever farther into the suburbs and countryside in search of a place they could afford to live in. Some people make insane commutes chasing higher pay in a neighboring region. I knew of people at one company who commuted from Philadelphia to Brooklyn every day, because NYC pay was higher and Philly rents lower. That said, that's absolutely a conscious choice those people make.

Likewise, not every job is capable of being done from home, but many are, yet workers are still forced to come into the office anyway. This is a choice by company execs, not an inevitable fact of life.

I'm sure there are some jobs that are relatively remote, yet need to be done in person despite the long commutes. Let the people doing them be compensated accordingly, but this is absolutely not something that should be normalized for the population at large.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago

Ah yes, "find a cheaper place to live or get another job." What a 'choice' you're saying people have.

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[-] Magister@lemmy.world 16 points 4 weeks ago

Same in Canada, and I have not moved, I live ~12 miles (~20km) of my working place, 90% highway. Early 2000s it took 30 minutes or less, early 10s ~40 minutes, 2019 before pandemic it was already a good 45+ minutes. 2023+ it is more than one hour (forth, and 1h back).

[-] saltesc@lemmy.world 7 points 4 weeks ago

So you're passively looking for work every day, right? You're not gonna keep doing an additional 10hr shift a week unpaid, right?

[-] Magister@lemmy.world 4 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

I WFH since COVID, best thing ever and only 8h work per day 🙂

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[-] Dagwood222@lemm.ee 10 points 4 weeks ago

I worked in Manhattan and had coworkers who lived in Pennsylvania. Two hours each way. A story I heard was that a bus company recruited drivers who would get up at 4am, pick up passengers, drive to the city, and then go to another job. 6 pm they get in the bush and drive home.

[-] KevonLooney@lemm.ee 2 points 3 weeks ago

That doesn't make much sense. What happened to the bus in the middle of the day?

Parking in Downtown Manhattan can be rented out for $30 - $50 per hour, maybe $80 all day. And that's a car-sized space. Since a bus is two or three of those, it would make no sense to just waste $240+ on an unused bus.

[-] Dagwood222@lemm.ee 2 points 3 weeks ago

Before Hudson Yards went up that space was mostly empty. I've also seen lines of buses parked under the FDR downtown.

[-] HarbingerOfTomb@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago

I have a horrendous 2 min drive to work each day. #fuckcities

[-] LotrOrc@lemmy.world 7 points 3 weeks ago

If it's two minutes do you need to be driving? That seems like a walk or bike

[-] HarbingerOfTomb@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago

Well I wasn't counting dropping kids off at school or daycare, which is the opposite direction. I often walk.

[-] dubyakay@lemmy.ca 1 points 3 weeks ago

I drop off kids and pick them up every day. By bike. There's really no excuse for driving in a city.

[-] ChexMax@lemmy.world 4 points 3 weeks ago

I mean there are plenty of reasons. Some seasons it rains everyday here. Get off your high bike.

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this post was submitted on 04 Jun 2024

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