Daily commute distance

Hi

I was just doing some research about daily commute distance in another country
… and I was surprised to see Taiwan in the top 5 of the world longest daily commutes!

Warning: This is obviously not a very reliable source, but there must be some truth in it … Taiwan 17.5 km ! That’s huge… but so easy on a scooter, isn’t it?

What about you?

twdistance

I live 1.7km from my job.

In the U.S. my farthest commute, in the L.A. area, was 28km. I only did that commute for a year and hated it the entire time, because with L.A. freeway rush hour traffic it would sometimes take me 1.5 hours :angry:

2 Likes

I have no idea about distance, but it takes me around 10 minutes on the scooter, a half hour on the bus.

I have no commute at all since I work from home–unless you count walking downstairs from the bedroom to the living room.

I have always wondered about the distance. Xindian to Taipei Main Station takes 17 minutes by MRT, about 30 by bus.

We may have a long commute in terms of distance, but it is far easier in terms of convenience and time. By taxi it can take 10 to 15 minutes to get say Xindian to Xinyi or Neihu. People who live in Ankeng probably take an hour to go downtown Taipei by bus/mrt combo, but 10 or 15 minutes tops by highway.

Define “commute.” In the US millions hop a jet Sunday night or Monday morning to their work for that week, returning on Thursday (if they’re lucky) or Friday/Saturday. They use a rental car during the week to get to their client’s place of business. Does commuting include the flight distance?

Aside from the years I spent flying out on Monday and in on Friday, my daily-drive commutes ranged from 3.2 km to 112 km (one way).

So yeah, not sure I trust that data!

2 Likes

It’s not a great survey. Some of the survey data could be based on only 1 input from one person from the country, and some could be based on 1000 from the country.

Those are some strange numbers and I’m not sure distance is important. And by what method of transport car, bus, bike, walk, donkey…?

Duration is more reflective of commute. Many places in world may drive or travel short distance, but it takes and hour or longer. Do they have data on commute duration?

Japan and Bangladesh are similar, but they are transporting the same. Japan is mostly public transport, what about Bangladesh? Bus?

delete.

delete.

It maybe not a great survey, but it’s interesting for discussion. In Taiwan, I’ve had different commutes; 500m (2 min walking); 10 km (20 min by scooter); 15 km (30 min by scooter), 23 km (40 min by scooter), and there are others, by you get the idea. Currently I’m 6 km by scooter (12 min), which is the perfect distance. Ever since I’ve had a scooter, that’s all I’ve used. Anyways lived in the South, however, and never in 打狗!

Hmm, 20km here, 1hr by scooter (horrible journey), 1 hr by scooter/mrt (okay in the wet) and 55mins by bicycle (by far the best journey).

I take about 45 mins incl walking from my MRT stations, pretty easy and never delayed.
If I drove might be a little quicker.
Longest was when I lived in Taoyuan and took train to Taipei to work and back. Well over an hour . Also when I drove 40 mins from Miaoli to Hsinchu , didn’t like that especially in the heat.

Taiwan is generally an easy commute although freeway 3 is susceptible to jams I find.

I think western cities are often well over an hour for commuting.

2 Likes

I’d tend to agree. In the West, it was an hour and a half commute twice a day to attend uni (at least I could sleep!) When I worked at a kindergarten in the West, it was 45 or more minutes by bus (early childcare educators are very underpaid). For my mother a thirty minute drive to work is nothing.

Wow! I couldn’t handle that. If this were a competition, you would be the winner so far!

10 minutes by taxi, about 30 minutes by bus (takes a long route), about 40 minutes by walking, and by scooter…? What, you think I’m crazy?

Nah, that’s worse than average, but not THE worst. I remember a guy here who said he commuted 2.5 hours each way.

Now that’s a tough day!

Funnily enough I don’t mind, the scooter one I did for 2 yrs until a new MRT line opened - I would never do it again, it was a horrible experience.

The scooter/mrt is fine, I always get a seat on the mrt and it’s roughly 25mins I can sit and read so I like it.

The bike is my fav by far, just under an hour on mostly the riverside pathson a cheap road bike but I usual do it around 7am and 5pm so miss a lot of the heat and people. If I could I would do it every day that way.

There are people that live in Taoyuan, New Taipei City, and Keelung that commute to Taipei. So it’s believable.

To you folks who ride your bikes to work: How, especially in the summer, do you not end up a sweaty puddle by the time you arrive? At least on my scooter I have the breeze between stop lights.