What's been your longest and your shortest commute? (Arlington, Alexandria: transfer, construction)

[terrence81]

My shortest was 1 mile to work. Usually had a 3 minute commute in Shirlington.

My longest: temp job in Chantilly from south Arlington. Took between 45 minutes to 1:15 one way. I started working 7:00 am to 3:30 to avoid the traffic. Which is so not how I want to live. I am NOT a morning person. Nowadays I rarely get to the office before 9:00.

[ICS67]

Shortest: 12 seconds from my bedroom to my den when I was able to work at home. (Actually, since you asked for door to door, and the two rooms are adjoining, 2 seconds).

Ok, for real now.

Shortest: 30 minutes, from Connecticut & Van Ness via Metro to 18th & Pennsylvania NW, circa 1982-83

Longest: 1 hours 25 minutes on average from South Reston to L'Enfant Plaza, 1998-2003 -- walk/Fairfax Connector/Metro Orange Line/walk.

Now I know why I enjoy retirement so much :-)

[Forehead]

Longest is probably now...Lake Ridge to D.C., up the I-95 HOV lanes. On a perfect day, 30-40 minutes, but always have to give myself an hour minimum. On a bad day, I don't want to talk about it.

Shortest...probably when I was 15 and doing volunteer work at a nursing home. 10 minute walk through a few neighborhoods and a small patch of woods. Or do pre-career jobs not count?

[OrangeFish]

Longest: In Massachusetts, from Cape Cod to Boston. On a good day it was 1 hour 10 minutes one way. On a bad day it was close to 2 hours one way.

Shortest: Now, from Annandale to Arlington (Ballston). Usually 20 minutes. I also work from home frequently.

[sportsterjohn]

Shortest 1 mile in Herndon. Longest distance Herndon to Laural Md (40 miles, usually between 60 and 75min. Longest time wise, Herndon to DC. Drive to herndon / monroe park and ride, 5a bus to L'Enfant then a 6 block walk to my office. usually 90 min.

[NOVA_almost_native]

Shortest is now. I work at home.

Longest: I spent a little more than a month working in Reston while living in south Alexandria. Perfect morning: 39 minutes. Terrible morning: 70+ minutes. I don't remember how long it took in the evenings, but probably about an hour.

[bmwguydc]

The shortest (outside of the house) was about six blocks, all in Georgetown. The worst part was M Street, as it was a N-S commute, with mostly stop signs, and one could get stuck on M for an extra two minutes at a light. It was under five minutes by car, and less than 10 walking, unless I got into a discussion with a neighbor along the way.

The longest would have to be from Georgetown to Baltimore, about an hour with regular traffic, and about an hour and a half returning in the evening. It would have taken just as long by train, as Georgetown would require a transfer to Metro, then a walk or bus from Foggy Bottom/Rosslyn. So, it made sense to drive, and it had a finite end in sight, not a commute that was projected to continue.

[Kembek]

The longest:
In terms of distance: Fort Washington to Bethesda - 41 miles, an hour to get there.

In terms of time: Springfield to McPherson Square -20 miles, an hour to get there via bus and Metro.

The shortest:
In terms of time and distance: Springfield to Quantico - 19 miles, 25 minutes

[marie5v]

shortest: Old Town, Alexandria, straight down Mt. Vernon parkway to a location in Alexandria, Fairfax County near the Hybla Valley/route 1 area. About 8 minutes.

longest: Woodbridge/Lake Ridge to Fredericksburg, down 95, off rush-hour but still horrible. 45 minutes - 1.5 hours.

[hilsmom]

Longest - Reston to Ballston the 2 years I worked FT after having my daughter. Because daycare dropoff 4 miles down the road was part of it, it took a good hour and 15 minutes to get door to door, sometimes longer. I'd drop her at her sitter's house, drive to the park and ride to get on a bus, bus to the metro and walk the last 10 minutes. It is shorter to drive, but then I would have had to actually brave traffic AND wait until HOV on 66 opened up, getting me into the office too late. My office gave me $50 to take public transport a month, it saved wear and tear on my car and I could read a paper instead of wanting to hurt all the other drivers on the road.

Shortest - the days I work from home for my current job. I sometimes don't even leave my bed - just grab my laptop computer desk and get started for the day.

If you want a commute that ISN'T working from home, I worked in 2 jobs in Arlington while I was living in Shirlington that I drove to - one in Ballston and one in Courthouse. 15-20 minutes tops. SOOO easy.