Tokyo Commuting Poll

[wagyl]

I know that we are not a representative group of people, but we are fucked gaijin, one and all.

As a highly unscientific poll, select what length of time it takes you to do your commute door to door, and the rough proportion of it walking to and from the station etc. and riding public transport.

You can give more than on answer on this poll. Due to the limits of the poll system, I can't stop you fucking with things but please give one result for time, and one result for proportion.

I think there will be a few working from home types, due to the nature of this board. Cyclist commuters can think of their time on the bike as the same as walking. Car commuters can go fuck themselves, bourgeois scum.

Commuting to or residing in Tokyo metropolitan area only please (lets be generous and include those Kanagawa/Chiba/Saitama folk). Ex residents can feel free to record their commute back from when they last lived in the Tokyo area.

[yanpa]

What about those of us who have no commute?

[wagyl]

You are less than 10 minutes, all on foot.

This is just an attempt to give some perspective to people from other countries who are prepared to sit alone in their car for hours on end to commute, but recoil in horror at the idea of half an hour in a shared vehicle, where someone else does the driving. And also to show that 20 minutes door to door is pretty unusual outside of those with a home office.

[Samurai_Jerk]

I've got roughly a 40 min door-to-door trip with 18 mins on the train and about 10 mins walking to and from the stations on each end. Throw in a couple of minutes waiting time on the platform for the balance.

[Russell]

Is the time one-way, or two-way?

And why is it necessary to discriminate us non-Tokyoites? Think we don't do any commuting? (hell, I probably beat all of you)

[wagyl]

For clarity, the commute is one way.

My thoughts were that unless we limit this poll to the conditions in the Tokyo metropolitan area, the data will have even less meaning. I encourage you to set up your own poll if you have sufficient interest.

[GomiGirl]

I ride my bike and it takes about 10 minutes. Not including the school drop off.

[wagyl]

I am surprised people are bothering to make a more detailed post of their circumstances too, but it is appreciated, thank you. Back when I lived in Tokyo I used to be about 35 minutes door to door, 15 of them on the train. I preferred to be a little distance away from the station: there were actually a couple of working market gardens on the way to the station and it was nice to see the greenery and buy fresh vegetables -- so fresh they screamed when you sliced them -- within the metropolis. It also helped in getting a car parking space within a reasonable budget (glad I had it but if I had my time again I would just rent when I wanted a car. And I probably would have had less trips out into the countryside as a result. But I never used it for commuting: no parking space there and I'm no bourgeois scum, not that I will show you lot anyway).

[yanpa]

For reference, my previous, unlamented commute: about 55 minutes door-to-door from da western 'burbs (house opposite field, small garden, 12 minutes by bike to Kichijoji, fresh produce available from the farmer who farms part of aforementioned field). 10 minutes walk to the station (or 3~4 minutes by bike, except the bicycle parking place is inconveniently located so by the time bike is parked and to the station has been walked, it makes little difference). 20 or so minutes to the Yamanote Line by convenient semi-express, change to a Tokyo Metro line (10 minutes) then change to another Tokyo Metro line (1 stop, about 3 minutes). By accident I discovered one train from the local station was rarely crowded as it starts a couple of stations down the line and follows a crowded express. As I saw the same people on the train most days, I guess I wasn't the only one who arranged their commute around this particular train. Tokyo Metro trains at those time and in those directions were rarely crowded either (if I wanted to I would have been able to sit most days), so I hardly ever experienced a "full body contact" commute despite leaving at precisely 8:05 every morning. Destination office was one block from the station. Downside: when changing trains, there was a fair bit of walking involved.

In my humble opinion, unless you're stuck out in the remote exurbs with a limited choice of inbound lines and timing, with a bit of creativity you can more often than not find a relatively uncrowded route. (Case in point: the Mrs. works near Tokyo Station so feels compelled to take the Chuo Line... she could easily take a similar route to the one I took to a nearby Tokyo Metro station, which is slightly further away but would cut out a lot of hassle changing at Shinjuku for her...)

[Yokohammer]

Back when I actually commuted, and that is a long time ago, the thing I hated most was being part of the mass march through the stations. I would always find a way to ride less crowded trains, so that was OK, but that heavy "tromp tromp tromp" through the stations with a gazillion other marchers always made me feel like I was part of something that I really didn't want to have anything to do with. You'd have to pay me a LOT of money to do that again.

[yanpa]

True dat... Mind you I have fond memories of a time long ago when more often than not I'd be first out of a train and down the platform stairs with a phalanx of salarydrones right behind me - I always felt like I was leading the charge of some crappily be-suited zombie army into battle.

Let me raise this cup of coffee in tribute to all those currently in close contact with their fellow commuters.

[Samurai_Jerk]

Luckily I generally don't start work till 10:00 so I get to skip the morning rush.

[Taro Toporific]

Let me raise this cup of coffee in tribute to all those currently in close contact with their fellow commuters.

Ditto. Been there. Done that. Have 25 years of t-shirts.

--My first Tokyo commute (planned, lasted only 1 year): 22 minutes on the Yamamote Line and a fun walk through Harajuku's Takeshita Dori and a short-cut through Togo Shine. (Rent 80,000 yen inside the Yamamote Line)

--My second Tokyo commute (unplanned/forced for 14 years): 90 minutes door-to-door, daily battle at Tokyo station against the zombie army to change trains, 5 flights of stairs ON FUCKING CRUTCHES (Rent 110,000 yen, just outside the Yamamote Line)

--My third Kanto commute (planned, 10 years): 30 minutes door-to-door, no change of trains, 2 flights of stairs grrr (Rent 120,000 yen, facing a Yokohama prefectural forest)

--My current commute, 0 minutes most days, 5 days a month a 30 minute drive or 23 minutes train to Shibuya (no rent, own a cardboard box covered with a blue vinyl tarp on the banks of the Tamagawa in Minami-Denenchofu)

True dat... Mind you I have fond memories of a time long ago when more often than not I'd be first out of a train and down the platform stairs with a phalanx of salarydrones right behind me - I always felt like I was leading the charge of some crappily be-suited zombie army into battle.

When I do commute, the keitai zombie hoards at the station (especially the ones running down the platform stairs) constantly smash into me on crutches and run away without apology since the Japanese most warm-hearted and polite people in the world.

evil-Keitai-Zombies.jpg

[yanpa]

Let me raise this cup of coffee in tribute to all those currently in close contact with their fellow commuters.

Ditto. Been there. Done that. Have 25 years of t-shirts.

--My first Tokyo commute (planned, lasted only 1 year): 22 minutes on the Yamamote Line and a fun walk through Harajuku's Takeshita Dori and a short-cut through Togo Shine. (Rent 80,000 yen inside the Yamamote Line)

Dat's freaky. Kind of. My first commute was that, but the other way round. Shacked up just off Meiji-dori, shortcut through the shrine, past the cluster crepe places, then up Takeshita-dori against a thin flow of mainly salarydrones, then 20-odd minutes down the Yamanote to Shinagawa (again, mainly against the inbound flow). Coming back, if early in the evening a detour through the back lanes to the north of Takeshita was necessary to avoid a non-fun battle with the crowds; later in the evening against the flow of returning salarypersons and shop staff (the area shuts down early, ghost town by 10pm).

[Coligny]

(the area shuts down early, ghost town by 10pm).

Darkcity by 8pm here...

[FG Lurker]

No one here drives to work?

When I worked downtown (Osaka) it was about a 15 minute drive. Now it's about an 8 minute walk.

[Russell]

So, Wagyl, what is the result of your poll?

Or is that still under investigation?

[wagyl]

The results, or at least the raw data, are there for anyone to see.

As to an interpretation of the data, I would first say that sample size is low, and that we are not a representative group.

The purpose of the poll was to give a little perspective to a person considering living in Tokyo, as to what is an unreasonably long commute. It was mostly in response to these two threads
viewtopic.php?f=33&t=30366
viewtopic.php?f=33&t=30392
the OP of which has gone silent anyway. I felt that he was being a little bit too picky about commuting times, and severely limiting his options as a result.

I had expected a few longer commutes, as over an hour door to door is pretty common in the Tokyo salaryman world, and it is easy for it to take an hour to get across Tokyo if the place where you live has not been chosen to be convenient to the place where you work. After all, half way around the Yamanote takes 30 minutes alone. As the results show, there are a few work at home people here, and a few who live in very urban areas close to their workplaces, which I suppose reflects the refined readership of this esteemed organ.

I think this thread has only been revived this time because it is the last poll made on the site, so it still appears on the Home page.

[Samurai_Jerk]

No one here drives to work?

When I worked downtown (Osaka) it was about a 15 minute drive. Now it's about an 8 minute walk.

One reason I live in the city is so I don't have to drive.

[AlbertSiegel]

Well, I mostly work from an office I have set up in my house. Since I work as a Journalist, I'm usually at my PC when I'm not out for an interview or getting footage. I do have an office in Roppongi that I can work out of, but it's about one hour door to door (I live in Itabashi-ku). I can also work out of the FCCJ if I want to be lazy and make it only a 45 minute trip, but I hardly go there these days. Anyway, I have a way better computer at home and I prefer my dog over the people I would normally see otherwise.

[Coligny]

Real journalists use Clark Nova...

3.jpg

Now for the dog... Being in japan it might be one of the only way to have a meaningfull conversation with a living creature.

[Taro Toporific]

More efficient Japanese training...

Train-timing.gif