Parking and commutes

[Cloud]

How far away from your door do you park?

How far is your commute?

Long commutes and far-away parking lots suck. I remember them, but I'm lucky, 'cause mine are close, close.

[elSicomoro]

I used to park at this massive park-n-ride lot (Cornwells Heights) to take the commuter train into Philadelphia. It was so big that they ran shuttles to take people to and from the trains. When I got off the train from the city, it could take up to 15 minutes to walk back to my car...and I'm not a slow walker.

The longest commute I've ever had is 45 minutes. When I lived in the northeast part of Philadelphia, I never really had the fortune of working anywhere near home.

[Rhianne]

About two arms lengths, sometimes three - it depends if I have bags to carry or not!

I drive about twenty miles to work which takes me less than half-an-hour.

[Razzmatazz13]

My commute is about 30 minutes because the roads are so twisty-turny that I can't drive very fast on them...and I have to park in the back of the parking lot for work...so walking into the store and getting my vest at the BACK of the store and then walking back to the front to clock in..is about a 10 minute walk. (see: my iowa commute page thingie for photos )

[lumberjim]

i have a shite, heinous, perilous commute, and i park behind Buca di Beppo, next door to the dealership....and walk around the back ...In the morning, I walk through a fog of ode de dumpster...and at night, (assuming i get out before they close) I walk through a wave of garlic and hunger pheromones.

[Happy Monkey]

I've got no parking spot, so I park anywhere from 10 feet to two (long) blocks from my door. My commute is 30-45 minutes, depending on traffic and (perpetual) roadwork.

[wolf]

My current commute is about 15-20 minutes, depending on route, traffic, and stops at the WaWa.

When I move my commute will be 7 minutes, including a stop at the WaWa.

At home I currently have to park between 40-50 yards away from my door. I don't have much control over this, as the building layout is such that I have a minumum of 30 yards of sidewalk to the door.

At work my arrival time is such that I get to use a visitor parking space most of the time, so I'm right across from the door. A full parking lot with no handicapped spaces open means that I have to park around the side of the building, which is not a problem in the daytime, but too dark and isolated for nighttime use. People do fairly regularly threaten to kill me, after all.

As far as the handicapped spaces thing goes, as I know there is a potential for outcry ... my office has five, and I won't park in one unless there are at least two remaining open when I pull in, three if the handicapped nurse is working and her car isn't already parked. We have HR's permission to do this because of the scary side parking lot effect. The handicapped spaces don't get a lot of use. My other option is to park in one of the Ambulance spaces. I've done that too. The car gets moved as soon as a regular space opens up.

[Hoof Hearted]

My car is parked in the garage and hubby's car gets parked in the driveway, about 25' from Jeep door opening to house door.
I don't work so my commute is nil.
Hubby's commute is all of a mile, maybe a little bit more, but certainly under 1.5 miles. Two country roads, one stop sign.

His previous commute when we lived in WA state was 55mi one way along the Columbia Gorge. Nice to view the first few times, same-ol-same-ol every trip afterwards. The ice storms were the worst...icicles up to 16" long SIDEWAYS off the phone poles and fence posts. Nearest gas station was 40mi from his work. Only two roads to drive there, Columbia Gorge or the Bickelton Hwy. Whole lotta nuthin'.
When we moved across the country, he said NO MORE COMMUTE. And that is how we house shopped; "What's in THIS specific area?"

[dar512]

No parking for me. The walk to the commuter train is about 8 minutes. The train ride is about 20 minutes. The walk from Union station to Sears tower is about 3 minutes.

[HungLikeJesus]

Originally Posted by wolf

...
A full parking lot with no handicapped spaces open means that I have to park around the side of the building, which is not a problem in the daytime, but too dark and isolated for nighttime use. People do fairly regularly threaten to kill me, after all...

Yeah, but that's just the Cellar being the Cellar.

[Clodfobble]

I don't commute anywhere these days, except the grocery store a couple of times a week. But back when I did, it was about a 10 minute drive, maybe a 1-2 minute walk from the parking garage to the office door.

The job before that was a 15 minute drive in the mornings, 30 minute drive in the afternoons. Traffic patterns are stupid here.

[HungLikeJesus]

Slightly off topic but...

I just got off the phone with a friend of mine who recently came back from a six-month work assignment in Germany. He said, I can't believe how fat everyone here (in Detroit) is. Fat people, fat cars, fat houses, fat roads, ...

I think all of these things are related, including the long commutes, the large amount of time we spend in our cars, and the small amount of time we spend walking.

[manephelien]

No parking. I live a 10-minute walk from a commuter train station, the train trip takes 13 minutes, and then it's another 15 minute walk to work. I live in a city of about 1 million people. Nyaah!

Now I'm applying for another job (2 interviews to the same place and an aptitude test so far) where the office is right next to the train station, so my total commute would drop from 45 to 30 minutes if I get it. Fingers crossed...

[theotherguy]

30 minute drive and park about 40 ft from the door.

[barefoot serpent]

Where I used to work, if you got there > 8 the west lot was full so you had to drive around to the east lot and a 15-20 min. walk . So I started to carry my bike and rode around the south side on the equestrian trails from the east lot to my office. The 'onlab' parking was for head honchos only.

Now I ride every day.