What the heck is the point? Why not commute to China, lol. I don't get how people even live in Fredericksburg to work in DC. The jobs can't pay THAT well. Why not live in DC if you work in DC? Or like closer than 200 miles away? I just think its silly.

People dont want to live in the ghetto and will drive 200 miles a day to avoid it. Cant say I blame them too much but personally, I wouldnt want to spend 4-5 hours a day commuting.

There might be a few reasons for what you've stated.

1. The people prefer to live in a more peaceful place than the metro area. I can rationalize with their belief if this is the case. If you have to work with them, why live around them? Most are nothing but materialistic individuals.

2. Where they come from, there might be very minimal job prospects and quite unlikely that they'd be able to reside far out and live comfortably if they had to work as a cashier at a Quickee-Mart.

3. There are people that are close to retirement. Instead of relocating closer to the area for their work, they sacrifice themselves for 5 years and struggle with traffic so that when they retire, it will be where they want to be.

I used to work with an older gal who lived in Gettysburgh PA, that's only like 75-80 miles from here. Closer than the Richmond area, about the same distance as front royal. She probably got up around 5 everyday and got home around 7. They owned a hugeass new house that probably cost only 250K up there, easily 700-800 down here.

comutation Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I used to work with an older gal who lived in
> Gettysburgh PA, that's only like 75-80 miles from
> here. Closer than the Richmond area, about the
> same distance as front royal. She probably got up
> around 5 everyday and got home around 7. They
> owned a hugeass new house that probably cost only
> 250K up there, easily 700-800 down here.

Which she NEVER gets to see or enjoy because...she's always sitting in traffic. I went to work full time when I was 25. I'm 42 now. My commute has never been more than 30 minutes. If I lived in Gettysburg, the drive to DC is 1.5 hours WITHOUT traffic. I'll be generous and say that the typical commute from there is 2 hours (and you know on many days it's more than that). So, I've spent an hour in the car round trip, 5 days a week for 50 weeks a year for 17 years...that's 4,250 hours commuting or roughly 177 days.

If I lived in Gettysburg the math is 4 hours in the car a day, 5 days a week for 50 weeks a year for 17 years...that's 17,000 hours or roughly 708 days.

To be fair, I live in a townhouse which I'm sure pales in comparison to the aforementioned $250,000 home in PA. But 708 days over 17 years of working? In the car? Versus 177 days over the same period?

Some can take the commute some cannot. I cannot. I have a drive of maybe 15 minutes to work with plenty of alternatives in case of an accident ahead. I passed on a better job that was much further away. I also passed on the mansions in Stafford for a small house in Fairfax City. I worked with a guy who lived in Orange County, Va. One day after a snow storm he said it took him four hours to get home. No thanks.

I worked with a guy who was living near the Inner Harbor in Baltimore and driving back and forth to NOVA every fucking day. I can't imagine that, the BW Parkway and Beltway traffic would turn me into a lunatic.

Another guy I knew had a farm in the West Virginia panhandle up past Leesburg. Not as bad, but still he got up at like 3:30 every morning so he could get to work in FFx Co before the traffic got heavy.

The roads in and out of this area suck ass for that kind of commuting. If you south of the Occaquan River you have 95 and Rt. 1 and pretty much that's it. If either one is jammed (and they are always half jammed to begin with) than you're shit out of luck.

People who commute from PA or NJ are crazy.

Most of these people just want an excuse to not be around their spouse.

Fucksticks.

Stabitha Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> People dont want to live in the ghetto and will
> drive 200 miles a day to avoid it. Cant say I
> blame them too much but personally, I wouldnt want
> to spend 4-5 hours a day commuting.


basements are so much more comfortable,right?

Stabitha's comfort Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Stabitha Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > People dont want to live in the ghetto and will
> > drive 200 miles a day to avoid it. Cant say I
> > blame them too much but personally, I wouldnt
> want
> > to spend 4-5 hours a day commuting.
>
>
> basements are so much more comfortable,right?

I don't understand how anyone can live in a townhouse. I remember when they started building them here in the 1980s. They were so sad. We laughed at them. And now they are everywhere.

Rockhound Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Most of these people just want an excuse to not be
> around their spouse.

One of my coworkers finally bought his "dream house" out near Front Royal a few years ago. Huge place on a huge lot. He worked in Alexandria and his wife worked in Bethesda (they had to commute separately). Within two years they got divorced and both moved back to the dc area. It definitely puts a strain on your marriage.

The same happens in NYC. I know several people who have 1.5 hour commutes to the ferry into manhattan each way. You can get a decent SFH in Fredericksburg for $250k that would go for $500+ in NoVA.

Yeah, I know people that take the VRE from downtown Fredericksburg to Fairfax everyday, and people that carpool from Pennsylvania. I've heard of people that take Amtrak from further north to Union Station too.

Before the housing crash, there was some new suburb going up on the West Virginian border past Winchester. A lot of GS and DOD contractors moved out there and would commute to Springfield during the week.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/21/2013 11:14PM by eesh.

eesh Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yeah, I know people that take the VRE from
> downtown Fredericksburg to Fairfax everyday, and
> people that carpool from Pennsylvania. I've heard
> of people that take Amtrak from further north to
> Union Station too.
>
> Before the housing crash, there was some new
> suburb going up on the West Virginian border past
> Winchester. A lot of GS and DOD contractors moved
> out there and would commute to Springfield during
> the week.


Ummmm, you don't know anyone

There was a story in the Washington Compost about 10 or 15 years ago about a woman who had just retired. Big deal, except that she had been commuting for something like 20 years from Arlington to Jersey City every day. Her comment was that she really loved her job and very much loved her neighborhood and house. So, yes, some people will go some pretty ridiculous extremes.

comutation Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I used to work with an older gal who lived in
> Gettysburgh PA, that's only like 75-80 miles from
> here. Closer than the Richmond area, about the
> same distance as front royal. She probably got up
> around 5 everyday and got home around 7. They
> owned a hugeass new house that probably cost only
> 250K up there, easily 700-800 down here.


Knew a guy when I worked for the government who drove in from north of Gettysburg. Left his place every morning at 4, got in the parking lot at 6, slept for an hour, and worked 7-5 Mondays - Thursdays and had every Friday off for flex time. Reason: cost of living. His house cost about the same quoted above, with the same valuation. He was able to save a lot of money to put his kids through college and build a retirement, while his wife was able to work locally part time to essentially pay for utilities and groceries and be home for the kids. The trade off what that he didn't see his family too much 4 days out of the week.

Ditto Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> Knew a guy when I worked for the government who
> drove in from north of Gettysburg. Left his place
> every morning at 4, got in the parking lot at 6,

With no traffic delays, you can drive from the PA border (rt. 15/Gettysburg) to Tysons in an hour. It's probably easier than driving from Annapolis, which is really just as far away.

But leaving at 4AM every morning is fuckin nuts, and I'm sure the evening drive to Gettysburg is consistently 2 hours long. Screw that.

Commuter Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> There was a story in the Washington Compost about
> 10 or 15 years ago about a woman who had just
> retired. Big deal, except that she had been
> commuting for something like 20 years from
> Arlington to Jersey City every day. Her comment
> was that she really loved her job and very much
> loved her neighborhood and house. So, yes, some
> people will go some pretty ridiculous extremes.


That's about a 4 hour drive, and if you go by train, Metro to Amtrak, it probably works out about the same.

I have a buddy who works for an architecture firm in NOVA but they were sending him to a job site in Baltimore every day for about 6 months. He wound up renting an apartment up there and only came back to NOVA on weekends.

Ditto Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> > Knew a guy when I worked for the government who
> drove in from north of Gettysburg. Left his place
> every morning at 4, got in the parking lot at 6,
> slept for an hour, and worked 7-5 Mondays -
> Thursdays and had every Friday off for flex time.
> Reason: cost of living. His house cost about the
> same quoted above, with the same valuation. He
> was able to save a lot of money to put his kids
> through college and build a retirement, while his
> wife was able to work locally part time to
> essentially pay for utilities and groceries and be
> home for the kids. The trade off what that he
> didn't see his family too much 4 days out of the
> week.

I wouldnt make that commute for one penny less than $1 mil a year!

Of course a Repuklicant would care where someone commutes from. Sick capitalist creeps would rather have them in a cell next to the desk they have to work in on a daily basis. Control is the name of these freaks and where you can live.

Stabitha Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Ditto Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > > Knew a guy when I worked for the government
> who
> > drove in from north of Gettysburg. Left his
> place
> > every morning at 4, got in the parking lot at
> 6,
> > slept for an hour, and worked 7-5 Mondays -
> > Thursdays and had every Friday off for flex
> time.
> > Reason: cost of living. His house cost about
> the
> > same quoted above, with the same valuation. He
> > was able to save a lot of money to put his kids
> > through college and build a retirement, while
> his
> > wife was able to work locally part time to
> > essentially pay for utilities and groceries and
> be
> > home for the kids. The trade off what that he
> > didn't see his family too much 4 days out of
> the
> > week.
>
> I wouldnt make that commute for one penny less
> than $1 mil a year!


Keep it real,Stabitha. You would drive 30 miles for a minimum wage job if you had a car.....and the job.

I've always wondered how people who commute so far figure out a pissing and shitting schedule. I usually have to take a big shit and piss right when I get home and my commute is never more than 30 min either way. WTF?

ReallyNotReally Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I've always wondered how people who commute so far
> figure out a pissing and shitting schedule. I
> usually have to take a big shit and piss right
> when I get home and my commute is never more than
> 30 min either way. WTF?


LoL! I thought I was the only sicko thinking to myself, "Where and when do these people get a chance to take a shit?"

Haha, I though the same thing when I read this thread the first time. The worst thing is when you really need to take a piss and you're stuck in bumper in bumper. But to hold it for something like two hours? Holy crap. They probably burst through the door and jump on the toilet everyday.

I knew a secretary at a govt facility in Tyson's that would come from the Berkley Springs area of WV. Take whatever highway to Hargarstown, then 70 to Frederick, 270 to 495 and then into the Tyson's area. it was like a 2 hour commute in the morning and then 3 home. Crazy.

I worked with a guy who commuted from Charlottesville. He only had to be in the office 3 days a week and worked from home on Monday and Friday. That's a fuckin long ride though. He said a lot of times he would just get home and go right to bed, and then wake up and drive all the way back to Crystal City.