If you were offered a job that required a two-hour commute via bus, would you take it? (New York: house, income)

[Peppin0]

Suppose you lived two hours away from New York City. You see an ad on the internet sporting just the job you're looking for, however, it'll be in Downtown Manhattan. Also suppose that there was a bus that picks up a 10-minute walk from your house and would drop off a 10-minute walk from your office. Would you take the job?

Cons:

4 hours and 40 minutes is a large chunk of time taken out of your day.

Buses are pretty uncomfortable.

Bus tickets are usually comparable in price to trane tickets and gas prices
(Yes, I'm trying to start a movement to spell the mode of transportation as trane so that it parallels the spelling of plane, another mode of transportation).

Pros:

It's a bus ride; you theoretically could read, work on a laptop, talk on the phone, or even sleep (all of which you might even be doing at home) during the time you're on the bus

Your salary would be a lot more than the salaries you could get around your area.

You don't have to deal with car maintenance issues that usually comes with a ridiculous driving commute.


So what do you guys think? Please let me know if you could think of any more pros or cons!

[millerm277]

Personally, I think money and material possessions are rather worthless when I have no time to use or appreciate them.

That's >25% of the hours I'm awake per day being spent on commuting. I'd have a grand total of 4 hours at home per day during the week. (8 hour workday, 4 hour 40 min commute, 7.5hrs sleep).

You are not going to get much that's productive done on a bus, you don't have enough space.

[Becca8377]

Absolutely not. You couldn't pay me enough money to make me commute for almost 5 hours per day. I'd move closer to Manhattan or pass on the job.

[Chava61]

I think it is too big a commute to be worthwhile unless one is willing to move to be closer to the job.

[VA Yankee]

A two hour commute each way for a marginal increase in income, not worth it to me, my time is more valuable. The sad part is there are people now who do this commute...

[meli722]

No way. I would be working more then enjoy living outside the city. I would have a beautiful house outside the city, they I would never get to enjoy. My sanity is worth more. The commute isnt worth it

[Opin_Yunated]

I don't take a job anywhere I cannot bike to. For me that is a 15 mile radius. Proximity to work is worth a lot more $$$$ than additional salary, when you do the math on paper.

[Alsuarod]

I would take the job and see what it takes, giving it a try is better than doing nothing and for me, money is money.

[OhBeeHave]

Would that be two hours under ideal conditions? What happens when it rains/snows/accident shuts down a lane of traffic/or crazy holiday traffic? What happens if you get stuck working late? Will you miss the bus? How frequently does the bus run?

[barkomatic]

There was a guy who commuted to our Manhattan office from Philadelphia and it was awful for him--I believe it was about two hours. He often arrived already stressed out, was frequently late and missed work often enough that it became a performance issue. He eventually had to leave his job.

The *only* way I might do a commute that long is if you can convince your new employer to let you work from home 3 days a week. Otherwise, I would advise against a trip longer than 1 hour--even that is a lot.