Did you know there's a new sect of the population on the rise?
They're called "Extreme Commuters" and they spend a minimum of 90-minutes EACH WAY getting to and from work. 90 minutes? That's insane! That's a minimum of 3 hours added to your day...turning an 8-hour work day (with a 1-hour break) into a TWELVE-hour day. Think they're crazy? There's more of them than you might think. 3.4 million of them to be exact, and that number is only getting larger. They're actually the largest growing segment of commuters (according to the recent census), and they more than triple the nation's average commuting time of 25.5 minutes each way.
Leading in the nation of "extreme" commuters -- New York (5.2%), New Jersey (4.6%), West Virginia (4%), Maryland (3.7%) and California (3.5%). If you're wondering...Minnesota comes in 46th in the nation with 1.6%, and my home state of Michigan ranks 30th with 2.1%. And if you're really, really curious...Nebraska comes in last.
Ok, ok...so what does this have to do with anything?
Three days a week, my commute is about as long as the average sneeze. One quick trip and 2 miles later, and I'm at the office. The other two days, I have to drive 45 minutes each way...adding an hour and a half to my work schedule. It's kind of a drag, when all my co-workers take off and are home within minutes...and I know that I won't get back to my house until closer to midnight. It's worse when the weather's bad. Sometimes I'll swear all the way home wondering, "WHY ME? Why am I the only frickin person to make this drive?"
And then I learned about extreme commuters...and what some of those poor saps have to go through...and it makes me thankful, that although my commute is annoying...it's not as extreme as it could be. And I have a mighty fine car to make the drive in ;)
See? It's a blessing and it's informative.
Here's a link to the Extreme Commuting Article in USA Today if you're interested: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2004-11-29-commute_x.htm
They're called "Extreme Commuters" and they spend a minimum of 90-minutes EACH WAY getting to and from work. 90 minutes? That's insane! That's a minimum of 3 hours added to your day...turning an 8-hour work day (with a 1-hour break) into a TWELVE-hour day. Think they're crazy? There's more of them than you might think. 3.4 million of them to be exact, and that number is only getting larger. They're actually the largest growing segment of commuters (according to the recent census), and they more than triple the nation's average commuting time of 25.5 minutes each way.
Leading in the nation of "extreme" commuters -- New York (5.2%), New Jersey (4.6%), West Virginia (4%), Maryland (3.7%) and California (3.5%). If you're wondering...Minnesota comes in 46th in the nation with 1.6%, and my home state of Michigan ranks 30th with 2.1%. And if you're really, really curious...Nebraska comes in last.
Ok, ok...so what does this have to do with anything?
Three days a week, my commute is about as long as the average sneeze. One quick trip and 2 miles later, and I'm at the office. The other two days, I have to drive 45 minutes each way...adding an hour and a half to my work schedule. It's kind of a drag, when all my co-workers take off and are home within minutes...and I know that I won't get back to my house until closer to midnight. It's worse when the weather's bad. Sometimes I'll swear all the way home wondering, "WHY ME? Why am I the only frickin person to make this drive?"
And then I learned about extreme commuters...and what some of those poor saps have to go through...and it makes me thankful, that although my commute is annoying...it's not as extreme as it could be. And I have a mighty fine car to make the drive in ;)
See? It's a blessing and it's informative.
Here's a link to the Extreme Commuting Article in USA Today if you're interested: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2004-11-29-commute_x.htm
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