Personal Preferences on Commute Time (Phoenix, Scottsdale: houses, quality of life, to live in) - Arizona (AZ) - City-Data Forum

Rhaethe · 07-09-2014, 01:52 PM

When folks come to the board to ask about specific areas in Phoenix, I read them, and one of the things that always comes up is, naturally, commute times. Reading different people's opinions and reactions, I find intriguing, as I myself live in Atlanta and commutes here are notoriously bad.

To illustrate: I have an good one at 40 minutes to work, 1-1.5 hours return. Not excellent, but good. If I were to drive to work and return at say, 3am, it would be 20 minutes, either way. My boss is at 2 hours one way or more, depending. Most people I work with average 1-1.5 hours minimum either way. That is just the way it is. It isn't that way "on the map", but traffic makes things as they are.

So, anywho, I find it interesting reading reactions and opinions on commutes and driving distances here. And I am curious. Let's say your home was at 702 W Deer Valley Rd (Yes, that is the Phoenix-Deer Valley Municipal Airport ... I am so very creative when picking random spots on a map). What is the furthest on the map, be it west, north, south, east ... that you would be willing to go for workplace?

DetroitN8V · 07-09-2014, 02:02 PM

If I worked at the Deer Valley airport, I'd live where I currently do in N Scottsdale. That would put me at about a 20-25 minute commute. The difference here is that there are good communities spread all over, so the need to commute far to live in a nice area doesn't really exist. People typically move here for a higher quality of life and minimizing the commute plays into that.

new2colo · 07-09-2014, 02:21 PM

45 minutes/60-90 minutes is not a good commute time in Phoenix. The average commute time of Maricopa County residents is 26 minutes.

It takes me between 9-12 minutes to drive to work each way depending on what lights I hit and if a light rail train is cruising up Central.

The person who lives farthest from my office has a commute time similar to yours, but most people live no more than a half hour away with traffic.

Zathras · 07-09-2014, 05:02 PM

I commute about 40 miles, mostly highway, and it's 'reverse rush' direction for me for the bulk of my drive, which makes it pretty smooth, all things considered. It's about 35 minutes each way. I would not want to go much farther, or drive in worse traffic.

KurtAZ · 07-09-2014, 05:33 PM

I am at 30 miles..about 30-45 minutes depending on traffic.

John7777 · 07-09-2014, 05:38 PM

One time I lived in Scottsdale and worked in downtown Phoenix. I got sick of the commute and moved around the corner from work. I could drive to work in 90 seconds or less. That's what I call a good commute time.

asufan · 07-09-2014, 05:54 PM

It seems most people want to stay within 20 minutes maximum. The thing with Phoenix is, there's not really a central core where all the jobs are, surrounded by miles and miles of undesirable areas like many cities. The jobs are spread out amongst the suburbs and also some in central phx. I think here, people feel if you are working in a nice area, like Chandler, Scottsdale, Tempe, etc, there's no need to drive 20 miles to your house when there are great houses within a 5 mile radius. For me, I'm self employed and my commute is 0.0 to my home office 90% of the time, but I used to drive as much as 34 miles each way and it was not fun.

Rhaethe · 07-09-2014, 05:55 PM

So from the responses I am seeing so far, average commute in minutes with average traffic is very roughly equal to how far the destination is in miles?

That is super nice if so.

asufan · 07-09-2014, 06:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rhaethe

So from the responses I am seeing so far, average commute in minutes with average traffic is very roughly equal to how far the destination is in miles?

That is super nice if so.

Yeah, I doubt some of those times, especially the 40 miles in 35 minutes with MOST of it against the rush. But if they can do it, that's great (would need to average 65 MPH the whole way). When I drove the 34 miles it was mostly the opposite direction of rush hour and took ~45-50 minutes.

DetroitN8V · 07-09-2014, 06:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by asufan

Yeah, I doubt some of those times, especially the 40 miles in 35 minutes with MOST of it against the rush. But if they can do it, that's great (would need to average 65 MPH the whole way). When I drove the 34 miles it was mostly the opposite direction of rush hour and took ~45-50 minutes.

I bet she meant 40 miles in total, 20 miles each way = 35 minutes. That would make more sense.