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Comment by cdubzzz | Hacker News Reader

We have one mega commuter at our office who seems perfectly content with the travel and he has been doing it for as long as I have been here (so at least four years). He has a 20 min. drive from his home in WV to the train station and then a 2+ hour train ride in to the city. Yesterday on the way home, there was an accident ahead of his train and it took him _five hours_ to get home.

I really can't comprehend it. I recently went from a 25-30 minute commute to a 45-60 minute one and I'm already regretting it a little because I just feel much more tired when I get home.

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A train ride is easier on you than a drive in traffic. He probably naps on the ride home.

In the same way that commute preferences are different for my colleague and me, they are different for everyone. My commute is also by train (metro) and I find the additional time that I have tacked on to be surprisingly draining.

My previous, shorter, commute required a line change so I was only on each train for about 5-10 minutes. My new commute is all on one line for at least 30 minutes (and more often 45+). So I have more than tripled my time on the train, and I think it is precisely this that makes me get to the end of the commute feeling so much more tired.

But that wasn't really the comparison. The comparison is train versus driving a car, and I'd agree with GP – car commutes are a million times worse. I'm sure not everyone agrees with this, but your comment doesn't even address it.

There are trains and there are trains. When I commuted from Baltimore to D.C., the 15 minutes I spent on the Red and Orange to get from Union Station to my office was much more draining than the 45 minutes on the Amtrak from Baltimore to D.C.

It is: I have a similar 15-20 minute drive to the bus and then a 30 minute express bus ride into the city. It's much faster and less stress than driving, but the total amount of time I spend travelling still gets to me.

Personally, quiet train with comfortable seat > driving > nearly everything else > standing on a loud, packed train.

> He has a 20 min. drive from his home in WV to the train station and then a 2+ hour train ride in to the city.

A train commute is not the same as a car commute (as castratikron (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12865204) also notes). I have a two hours' walk to work, and I love it; it is calming. Half that time in a car would have me a frothing mess of rage (I say with authority, having briefly had a 90-minute commute a while back).

I love walking and would do it more often, but how have you kept up the health of your knees? If I walk (like walking from A > B in one go) more than about 2 hours a day by the 3rd or 4th day my knees start to feel it.

> I love walking and would do it more often, but how have you kept up the health of your knees? If I walk (like walking from A > B in one go) more than about 2 hours a day by the 3rd or 4th day my knees start to feel it.

I dunno. I used to spend time on a treadmill, too, and that really killed my knees, so it's not just some super strong joints. I think you just get used to it; I started when I was 20 (though I've scaled it up over time), and that probably helps.

You walk four hours each workday? Why not bike?

2 hours (my wife works in the same place, and I usually ride home with her). I don't like biking as much as I like walking.

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