Link: https://www.irishtimes.com/transport/2026/03/06/i-just-couldnt-do-that-drive-any-more-woman-left-job-due-to-three-hour-commute-on-n7/

What makes this Not The Onion to me is how normalized this story is. How did things get to this point? Would she be happy with a job that only had a 2.5 hour commute each way!? Maybe, and that is what makes it existentially funny to me.

For example, an increase in the commuting time for the average respondent by only 15 min would have to be compensated by a net wage increase of almost 12%.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0927537124001271

The analysis relies on data from the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. By determining the average time people spend commuting in metro areas and the average hourly wage in those areas, the analysis calculates the dollar value of a worker's commuting time over a year.

https://www.investopedia.com/commuting-to-work-costs-employees-thousands-of-dollars-worth-of-lost-working-time-11905701

who the fuck takes a job 3 hours away

There are some supercommuters who travel long distances to work in Manhattan. I knew of some who live in Pennsylvania.

The article says the commute took so long because of traffic and congestion on the roads, so the distance itself might not be that far. It’s an unreasonably long commute either way though.

I could maybe understand accepting a job that far away as a temporary solution, like if you are eventually planning to relocate to that area and need to save up first, or trying to break into an industry with limited local opportunities until you get a bit of experience and find something closer.

I remember reading that commute time is the number one predictor for leaving a job. I wonder what the evidence would show if I properly looked it up.

The study that I think of is the one that attempted to quantify how much a 45+ minute commute was worth to employees vs. an equivalent job that had a trivial commut but paid less. It came out to at least $15,000 a year and that was awhile ago.

There are folks who commute by car from Scranton to New York. There are also people who live in Harrisburg and York who commute to Baltimore and DC.

It’s insane.

God damn. I just got back from a "vacation" in New York and I can't even imagine it. Even traveling from uptown Manhattan to downtown Manhattan is already a longer commute than I would be willing to tolerate...

When I get back to DC I’ll probably find a place in West Virginia

Traffic may have been more manageable when they took the gig.

Or, maybe housing costs and limited jobs forced them into this position. I know a lot of people in my area live away from the urban center for more affordable housing, but they work in the urban center because that is where the job opportunities are.

https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/housing-planning/2025/12/05/the-35-hour-35km-commute-kildare-motorists-on-their-m7-traffic-nightmare/

At those speeds I would advise using a bicycle, it's faster and cheaper

Some people do it because of the cost of living differential. If pay in the city is over three times what you could make local, you might be incentivized to take a long commute and deal with it.

I've got a coworker that works in the Bay Area but lives in the Midwest. Another I know works in New Jersey but lives in the Midwest. Corporate RTO initiatives in High COL areas with a salary differential coupled with lower Midwest COL and housing costs make strange things viable.

I live in Tipperary. A while ago I had an interview for a job in Louth, and one of the interviewers asked me if I would be driving the breadth of the country every weekday; her tone of voice and body language suggested this was a perfectly reasonable thing to do, and more plausible than moving house.

I answered no, I'd move, because people who drive across multiple counties 10 times a week are lunatics. Turned out one of the other interviewers was a lunatic.

Bikes aren't allowed on motorways, and if you sneak past the checkpoints you have a good chance of dying.

So it was a long way to Tipperary?

Deirdre Gowran

Glory to her and her House!

Unless you live in Waterford, the song is accurate.

It pisses me off that I have to drive 25 minutes to work everyday. Idk how anyone accepts a 1 hour+ commute.

What's really fascinating to me is that I hated our 35-40 minute commute, but now I drive even more and don't mind it.

I took the early retirement and am now working as a real estate photographer. Yesterday I drove 120+ miles for a job. No problem. I've had several days with over 100 miles, no problem. Monday I'll drive 50 miles for one job, then another 50 miles to another job, then 25 miles back home.

The differences are that it's not rush hour, and it's to different locations. It's more like exploring the area. There will be jobs I'm not looking forward to, I'm sure, but so far I really enjoy it. I even enjoy the drive, which is something I haven't done in many years.

My only concern is that my car is approaching it's 30th birthday, but I haven't had a single problem as a result of pressing it back into daily driver duties this way.

Imagine judging someone because they couldn't find affordable housing (in this market) closer than 3 hours away from their job

It's a 44 km commute. She's not doing that much mileage. The car is running nonetheless of course.

Oh no my pension isn't enough, I still need to work.

Knew quite a few ppl like that. They took the train/car into a city hours away and then stayed in hotel a few days then went home as for weekly routine. Its always the same reason family and affordability.

the analysis calculates the dollar value of a worker’s commuting time over a year.

That money comes out of the workers' pockets, not the bosses', so it doesn't count. If it showed up on corporate budgets we'd have robust universal public transit in 30 minutes

So an e-Bike would cut her commute by an hour?

Long commutes are absolute BS, there are 24h in a day, 8 at work, 8 asleep, if you have 3 hours to work and two hours back, you have all of 2 hours a day to yourself, there need to be laws against that.

E-bikes have a typical range of 50km, can travel 25km/h, 2 hour commute if you can charge it there. The numbers work out.

But you then have to bike 4 hours every day, which is still some light exercise, in dangerous car traffic since I suspect there is no safe bicycle infrastructure.

Wait, what kind of fucking lunatic commutes across the rockies‽