The Money Mustache Community
Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Ask a Mustachian => Topic started by: mtn on June 18, 2015, 09:59:28 AM
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We're trying to figure out where we want to live. SWMBO and I work about 11.5 miles away from each other. She has to drive to her job; I will walk/bike/transit. Right in the middle of the locations is out of the question, due to safety. Closer to her work is a fine commute for both of us, but a pretty boring area for being in your mid-20's, and housing is a little bit more expensive (although you get more). Closer to work for me is a really fun area, great commute for me, but her commute would be depending on the time 15 minutes (20 going the speed limit) all the way up to an hour.
20-25 minutes is ok. 45 is not. 60 is unthinkable. Is there a way to set up an RSS feed or something that will track the time of a commute from place A to B at 6 different times, in 15 minute intervals?
I know I can use Google Maps, but I want to do it at for 5:00AM, 5:15, 5:30, 5:45, 6:00, 6:15, 6:30, 6:45, 7:00, and 7:15 AM for MTWTF. Is there a way to do that other than updating it every 15 minutes?
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The desktop browser version of Google Maps (I use Chrome) will do this for you. Under the blanks for start and stop points, there's another option to specify "Leave Now," "Depart At ___," or "Arrive at ____."
I'm guessing you might be on the mobile app because I don't see this same option on my Android phone.
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I don't know that you're going to get useful answers from Google Maps... for instance right now it says if I left work at 6:10PM it would take me 18-40 minutes (to go 4 miles, ay yi yi, glad I have a bike). That seems like a plausible range, but it doesn't really narrow it down much.
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I haven't used it much, but somewhere in Google Maps is a "traffic history" feature you can use to plug in different times.
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The only way to accurately time a commute is to go to the potential house and test drive the commute in real time in real traffic. Everything else is just a guess.
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A similar option to Google is www.waze.com/livemap which lets you pick different times.
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The real estate site that we use (HAR.com) has an INRIX drive time search, as well as the ability to find the drive time from any specific property. We've found it to be pretty accurate. Looks like RE/MAX has it too: http://www.inrixtraffic.com/blog/2014/remax-and-inrix-team-to-help-you-find-the-perfect-home/
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The only way to accurately time a commute is to go to the potential house and test drive the commute in real time in real traffic. Everything else is just a guess.
I did this going home from work a few days when we were considering new houses. It is nice to know what the time to get home was going to be.
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The only way to accurately time a commute is to go to the potential house and test drive the commute in real time in real traffic. Everything else is just a guess.
Even then, though, if you're on a route with any kind of variable traffic, you might have a lucky day or an unlucky one. The GMaps ranges might actually be more useful.
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The only way to accurately time a commute is to go to the potential house and test drive the commute in real time in real traffic. Everything else is just a guess.
Even then, though, if you're on a route with any kind of variable traffic, you might have a lucky day or an unlucky one. The GMaps ranges might actually be more useful.
+1
My home-to-work drive is a very reliable 30-35 minute trip.
My work-to-home drive can vary between 35 and 70 minutes.
If I was going to do the real-time-in-real-traffic test, I'd want at least 3 test results before I would discount the Google Maps estimate, which is supposed to be drawn from historical averages.