A Black Hole of Happiness

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by Pretty Little Flower
Interesting. I live in the city, and my commute times are short, but can vary widely from a percentage-of-total-commute standpoint, based on highway traffic, or construction on city streets. The western suburbs are popular places to go to get more house for your money and a good school district, and the people who live there claim they are not much farther than, say, South Minneapolis. For example, I have a friend who lives in Plymouth, and she always gave me an as-the-crow-flies distance to Minneapolis from her house. But when she worked downtown, she had to deal with 394 traffic, which can be a bear, even with the sane lane. But I suppose if you lived in certain parts of southeast Minneapolis, you could also be relatively close to downtwon mile-wise, but still have a long commute due to the lack of reliable highways in that area. I suppose the addition of light rail has eased that problem, though. I am less familiar with commuting issues relating to St. Paul, but I have a friend who commutes all the way from Afton, which is a serious hike, but he has a lead foot, and it is a straight shot down 94. So I guess people's commuting experiences can really vary, even if you are closer to the city.

Do you mean to suggest that people's commuting times are not directly proportional to the distance from their house to their place of work as the crow flies? That's absolutely incredible.