I have an hour's drive to work and an hour's drive back. And you're right, I dislike it intensely.
The problem isn't that I have a big house in the exurbs, its that in the city where I live, there are no decent, good paying jobs. And the city where my job is, there isn't any affordable housing. So I'm stuck driving my carbon spewing vehicle up and back to work. Despite the fact that it gets around 30 miles to the gallon, I know that I'm not doing the environment much good.
Remarkably it isn't greed or avarice that "drives" me, its the crappy Central Pennsylvania economics.

Huh...I'm probably just going to start a pissing contest but 75 miles (120 mins) each way into Boston is taking its toll on me. Blah.

Commutin, Point taken. Both of you, check out the original New Yorker article. It talks about pissing contests, and encourages you to think about whether you really make enough more to compensate yourself for your unhappiness and transportation costs.

commutin I-99,

Sorry I can't help much. I traded space and money to shorten my commute. It was 2 hours each way, but by train. New York City is probably the only place in the country with decent mass transit.

However, if you're feeling guilty about carbon, you could at least buy the offsets at terrapass.com. There are others too, take your pick.

And definitely ditch AAA in favor of betterworldclub.com if you can. I can't vouch for the quality of the roadside assistence. But, at least they won't use your name to lobby against everything you're for and for everything you're against.

AAA lobbied against seatbelts in the 60s, airbags in the 80s, fuel economy, tolls, safety requirements of all kinds, public transportation, and they lobby for paving everything in sight, always for widening highways.

Good luck finding a way out of your commute.

My commute is 1 hr 50 mins each way. However, average price of apt in Manhattan is 1.5 mil, homes in outer bouroghs start a 600k. Working locally within my union pays $28 per hour less, working outside of union pays even worse. This is a very comman situation here, unless you are wealthy you cannot work where you live. Good intentions not withstanding.

I love my, unfortunately, low paying job at the library and my easy commute of 15 minutes each way from it:) Now all i need is a Hybrid Car and an acre of land and life will be truly Simple:)

I agree - my 70 mile a day commute leaves me exhausted and depressed.

But simplistic, individualistic solutions are not the whole answer. I live in rural western New York, which has had some of the poorest job growth in the country. I am not making a fortune at a "great" job. I don't have a big house in exurbia. I'm just trying to get by. Like many people around here, I truly look forward to relocating somewhere else (once my daughter is out of high school), preferably some place with a modest, decent and affordable house, a moderately well paying and stimulating job, and a short and sweet commute. Is that too much to ask?

My used to be 20 min drive to work is now a very long, lovely bike ride. And guess what! I don't have to waste electricity running on the treadmill when I get home anymore. Ppl all think their situation is different. If everyone's situation is different, and no one wants to change, I think we're all pretty screwed.

Ok, so I'm about to make some enemies...

I live ten minutes walk away from the skyscraper I work in, which is in the centre of downtown in a city with just over 1.1 million people. But I live in a lovely apartment 700$/month inclusive with plenty of room. I walk across the pristine river that runs through our city (you can actually fish and eat rainbow trout from it) and through a beautiful park and I'm there. I'm off work for the next month or so with my newborn daughter, but when I go back to work and my husband takes his time off, I'll walk home on my lunch to breastfeed.

And on the weekends I can bike or bus out to the beautiful Rockies.

What can I say, move to Canada!

This is the husband of the previous post

If I drive to work it takes 32 minutes to get there.
If I skateboard (or longboard) it takes me 7 - 16 minutes depending on how much fun I have on the way.