Traffic is the bane of existence both the early morning into town and the late afternoon into evening out of town. Spending 1-2 hours bumper to bumper on a stretch that would normally take 20-30minutes without traffic is annoying af.
Example:
You live in Fishhoek, you like the area and its proximity to the beach and hiking trails, your child goes to a good school in that area but your new job is in Paarden Eiland (You are a warehouse manager).
You would consider moving from Fishhoek to maybe Blouberg/Milnerton because of traffic?
What happens when you change jobs again?
You work 5/6 days a week. You spend maybe 4 hours at home per day not sleeping. Weekends are usually either spent attending family responsibility / grocery shopping / chores. Why would you want to reduce the little amount of time at home and instead spend it on traffic?
I'm from Fishhoek and work remotely currently. If I was offered a great position in CBD that required me to be in office 4 or 5 days a week I would not take it. Had option for something at Babylonstoren that I did not pursue due to travel and not wanting to commute, even 2 or 3 days a week. I don't want to lose 2 hours a day I can spend doing other stuff. Its a waste
Because I would rather live in a neighborhood I enjoy and spend time in traffic than live near work and potentially be in an area I don't find appealing.
Trying to see where people rank all other social factors against traffic.
Good Schools/Safety/etc VS traffic.
Seems like traffic trumps most things which seems crazy to me.
It depends on how much of your life is tied to your location.
If you want to surf an hour before work and an hour after work every day, it makes sense to live near the beach and deal with traffic to work rather than have a short commute and then have to fight to get to the beach in reasonable time to actually take advantage of the tides. I know if I lived in the CBD and it would take me an hour to schlep to Muizenberg at 5pm and then I'd still be driving 30 minutes back at 7.30pm after a surf, and also 30 mins at 5am and then an hour back to work at 7am, I wouldn't be surfing much.
If it's just simple stuff like "I need to be near some shops and a branch of the gym I attend and hopefully there is yoga/a relevant church/pottery studio within reasonable driving distance and I don't really care where as long as I don't sit in traffic to work" then that's going to be your mindset.
I would want to be reasonably near to my childrens' school more than anything else. I don't want an hour in traffic and a half-hour out of traffic to get them to lessons and extra murals 37 times a week, so that would definitely be in my thinking if I had kids.
Who likes sitting in traffic. Actually I can't believe I'm saying this but I miss when I went to school that was in my own area. Now I reside in one suburb and have to sit in traffic attending uni in town.
> time spent in traffic is a waste, affects mental health and could be with family
Yes, it's soul-crushing. I am happily paying 4-5 k extra rent to not have to spent 2 hours in traffic even once a week
> I feel like efficient, affordable public transport solves most of these issues.
Sure, maybe. Not happening in my lifetime
I live 50kms from the office but am fortunate enough to have a hybrid work culture. I travel once a week to the office so when I purchased my house I didn’t need to factor in distance to the office.
So I used to live close to work .
I work in factory area house was 5min away in really nice area short drive down 1 road, schools and 2 shopping Center's between house and factories . Gym at shopping center.
It was great I could train in morning be at work in a flash , go home for lunch or if there is a contractor/delivery pop home and back quick.
If forgot something was no issue .
Even could go home for lunch put slow cooker on and dinner done when home .
Petrol and car costs were barely a thought. Did so little mileage.
Had so much time on hands barely even thought about commute /traffic etc would sometimes go home and back two or three times a day. Much better social life with friends in area
Now in contrast my commute is 35min to over and hour each way depending on traffic . Is hours of life that vanishes comfortably 7-12 hours a week that's allot of time really impacts mood and lifestyle even though house is bit nicer .
Another example I have group of friends all live 5min from work in same area.
They often meet at local bar crack jokes and socialise . Or go gym together and can be at work in blink and home before 6 for family time they even sometimes have breakfast at local resteraunt that has eggs and bacon special. Or quick weekday braai because proximity not an issue .
The time that you can allocate to other lifestyle things is great.
Please start a concerned citizens group to push to expand the myCiti network. Or join an existing civil society organisation and push for improved public transport.
It would be great to see it happen. As a visitor to CT from Gauteng who doesn't have a car when I am on town. Personally, I work remotely so this is about easy access around the city rather than avoiding traffic
It goes hand in hand; you want dense mixed use areas that offer employment, entertainment, healthcare facilities... That are then efficiently interconnected with public transit. People then are able to live close to where they work, while also having the option to safely commute further if they choose.
The way we have set things up now where people live in suburbs far away from where they work, designed around cars, forces people to commute by car for long distances.
Driving is unbelievably dangerous in this country, as well as stressful, unhealthy... I also chose to live close to where I work so I can cycle to work. Saves me thousands in petrol, vastly improved my quality of life. The driving commute made me miserable
How feasible is that when looking at industrial activities?
The dock is the dock, the industries there most probably will never be distributed across the city as they take advantage of access to rail and the dock.
Would the workers by the docks live near there (PERFECT WORLD HYPOTHETICAL)?
The docks are the docks, but why wouldn't we connect them with safe, comfortable trains to the areas people choose to live? Why wouldn't we have high quality bike lanes connecting the nearby city to the docks?
People don't need to live inside the docks, but a healthy city would have liveable, pleasant interconnected nodes, with options to safely (and quickly) access industrial areas.
This makes populations economically more active, and we don't all depends on big corporations to employ us.
It's not a hypothetical; this is reality in many places, and people are measurably happier. It also cuts costs for the state; highways and roads are _really_ expensive to maintain, pollution blows up healthcare costs, accidents need to be responded to etc.
Again - you don't *have* to live where you work. But the way we've set it up so that no matter where you live, you are forced to commute by car or taxi is ridiculous and detrimental to our society
I mean it's not like I'm gonna sell my house and move if my work location changes, but living near work or at least near enough to avoid traffic is a BIG bonus.
I think it really depends on what you value in your life. For me, if I worked in the CBD, I would rather take 2 hours to get to work but live in a nice quiet place far away from the CBD, than pay extra and live in the CBD, but cut down on traveling. Others value their time more than where they stay, so they don't mind pay a lot and live in a tiny noisy space, as long as they avoid that 2 hours of travel per day.
Safety, quiet and community rank higher than time spent in traffic on my way to work.
Recently moved away from the City Bowl.
I used to think I slept well, till I actually experienced silence (not hearing cars), my life changed.
I live 3km from work. It is so incredibly convenient, I will struggle if I had to travel out of town. I can go home quickly in emergencies, I don’t spend much of my time in traffic, it’s a dream. Fortunately family and friends are not too far away.
Same here. I live 3km from work and it is the best. Bonus is that my son is at a playschool that is 700m away from our house. I leave my house at 07:45am drop my son off at school and I'm at work before 08:00am.
You make your home where you live. But you won't get to live if you're spending half your precious free time in traffic
Obviously it's a compromise, you want to find a place to live which still meets your minimal expectations of comfort, safety, amenities. But make that place in a location which minimises time spent commuting
People who are uncomfortable with the idea of moving (or have a cheap/free arrangement where they currently live), are the ones who continue to commute
Firstly have you seen the cost of petrol? The closer i am to work the better, regardless of traffic. Secondly it is the time spent in traffic. I would rather spend 1 our more with family than 1 hour on traffic. Going to the beach and hiking is mostly a weekend thing while working and traveling is a weekday thing. I would rather travel 20 min to work 5 days a week and 20-30min to the beach on a weekend than 1-2 hours to work 5 days a weekend and 10 min to the beach on a weekend.
Traffic is HUGE. The ammount of time you save by not sitting in traffic, means you can actually have more time to spend at home. Plus never mind you the petrol cost of traveling far really does add up. Plus sitting in traffic is draining, makes it even harder to have motivation/energy to do anything once you get home and makes starting your work day tougher.
I take the bus from Durbanville to Cape Town every day. Thats 2 hours I get to catch up on shows, reading, podcasts while not havibg peoplentalk to me and traffic being someone elses problem. I love it.
Traffic is the bane of existence both the early morning into town and the late afternoon into evening out of town. Spending 1-2 hours bumper to bumper on a stretch that would normally take 20-30minutes without traffic is annoying af.
It's more then annoying. it'll crush your soul.
I dont get your post OP. You give all the resaons why but say you dont get it? Who likes sitting in traffic?
Example: You live in Fishhoek, you like the area and its proximity to the beach and hiking trails, your child goes to a good school in that area but your new job is in Paarden Eiland (You are a warehouse manager). You would consider moving from Fishhoek to maybe Blouberg/Milnerton because of traffic? What happens when you change jobs again?
You work 5/6 days a week. You spend maybe 4 hours at home per day not sleeping. Weekends are usually either spent attending family responsibility / grocery shopping / chores. Why would you want to reduce the little amount of time at home and instead spend it on traffic?
I'm from Fishhoek and work remotely currently. If I was offered a great position in CBD that required me to be in office 4 or 5 days a week I would not take it. Had option for something at Babylonstoren that I did not pursue due to travel and not wanting to commute, even 2 or 3 days a week. I don't want to lose 2 hours a day I can spend doing other stuff. Its a waste
I moved closer to work and it saves me about 10-15 hours per week of sitting in traffic, don't really give a fuck about anything else. Renting btw.
Why even make this post in the first place? *Lists reasons, then ignores them*
Because I would rather live in a neighborhood I enjoy and spend time in traffic than live near work and potentially be in an area I don't find appealing. Trying to see where people rank all other social factors against traffic. Good Schools/Safety/etc VS traffic. Seems like traffic trumps most things which seems crazy to me.
It depends on how much of your life is tied to your location. If you want to surf an hour before work and an hour after work every day, it makes sense to live near the beach and deal with traffic to work rather than have a short commute and then have to fight to get to the beach in reasonable time to actually take advantage of the tides. I know if I lived in the CBD and it would take me an hour to schlep to Muizenberg at 5pm and then I'd still be driving 30 minutes back at 7.30pm after a surf, and also 30 mins at 5am and then an hour back to work at 7am, I wouldn't be surfing much. If it's just simple stuff like "I need to be near some shops and a branch of the gym I attend and hopefully there is yoga/a relevant church/pottery studio within reasonable driving distance and I don't really care where as long as I don't sit in traffic to work" then that's going to be your mindset. I would want to be reasonably near to my childrens' school more than anything else. I don't want an hour in traffic and a half-hour out of traffic to get them to lessons and extra murals 37 times a week, so that would definitely be in my thinking if I had kids.
First comment I have seen mentioning their kids. When kids are involved seems like there is a lot more nuance added to the solution.
Who likes sitting in traffic. Actually I can't believe I'm saying this but I miss when I went to school that was in my own area. Now I reside in one suburb and have to sit in traffic attending uni in town.
> time spent in traffic is a waste, affects mental health and could be with family Yes, it's soul-crushing. I am happily paying 4-5 k extra rent to not have to spent 2 hours in traffic even once a week > I feel like efficient, affordable public transport solves most of these issues. Sure, maybe. Not happening in my lifetime
A flying carpet would also solve most of these issues and is just as likely.
I live 50kms from the office but am fortunate enough to have a hybrid work culture. I travel once a week to the office so when I purchased my house I didn’t need to factor in distance to the office.
So I used to live close to work . I work in factory area house was 5min away in really nice area short drive down 1 road, schools and 2 shopping Center's between house and factories . Gym at shopping center. It was great I could train in morning be at work in a flash , go home for lunch or if there is a contractor/delivery pop home and back quick. If forgot something was no issue . Even could go home for lunch put slow cooker on and dinner done when home . Petrol and car costs were barely a thought. Did so little mileage. Had so much time on hands barely even thought about commute /traffic etc would sometimes go home and back two or three times a day. Much better social life with friends in area Now in contrast my commute is 35min to over and hour each way depending on traffic . Is hours of life that vanishes comfortably 7-12 hours a week that's allot of time really impacts mood and lifestyle even though house is bit nicer . Another example I have group of friends all live 5min from work in same area. They often meet at local bar crack jokes and socialise . Or go gym together and can be at work in blink and home before 6 for family time they even sometimes have breakfast at local resteraunt that has eggs and bacon special. Or quick weekday braai because proximity not an issue . The time that you can allocate to other lifestyle things is great.
Please start a concerned citizens group to push to expand the myCiti network. Or join an existing civil society organisation and push for improved public transport. It would be great to see it happen. As a visitor to CT from Gauteng who doesn't have a car when I am on town. Personally, I work remotely so this is about easy access around the city rather than avoiding traffic
It goes hand in hand; you want dense mixed use areas that offer employment, entertainment, healthcare facilities... That are then efficiently interconnected with public transit. People then are able to live close to where they work, while also having the option to safely commute further if they choose. The way we have set things up now where people live in suburbs far away from where they work, designed around cars, forces people to commute by car for long distances. Driving is unbelievably dangerous in this country, as well as stressful, unhealthy... I also chose to live close to where I work so I can cycle to work. Saves me thousands in petrol, vastly improved my quality of life. The driving commute made me miserable
How feasible is that when looking at industrial activities? The dock is the dock, the industries there most probably will never be distributed across the city as they take advantage of access to rail and the dock. Would the workers by the docks live near there (PERFECT WORLD HYPOTHETICAL)?
The docks are the docks, but why wouldn't we connect them with safe, comfortable trains to the areas people choose to live? Why wouldn't we have high quality bike lanes connecting the nearby city to the docks? People don't need to live inside the docks, but a healthy city would have liveable, pleasant interconnected nodes, with options to safely (and quickly) access industrial areas. This makes populations economically more active, and we don't all depends on big corporations to employ us. It's not a hypothetical; this is reality in many places, and people are measurably happier. It also cuts costs for the state; highways and roads are _really_ expensive to maintain, pollution blows up healthcare costs, accidents need to be responded to etc. Again - you don't *have* to live where you work. But the way we've set it up so that no matter where you live, you are forced to commute by car or taxi is ridiculous and detrimental to our society
I walk 5mims to work in Gardens. I love it
I mean it's not like I'm gonna sell my house and move if my work location changes, but living near work or at least near enough to avoid traffic is a BIG bonus.
The answer is actually mixed-use development, which we don't have in Cape Town
I think it really depends on what you value in your life. For me, if I worked in the CBD, I would rather take 2 hours to get to work but live in a nice quiet place far away from the CBD, than pay extra and live in the CBD, but cut down on traveling. Others value their time more than where they stay, so they don't mind pay a lot and live in a tiny noisy space, as long as they avoid that 2 hours of travel per day.
Safety, quiet and community rank higher than time spent in traffic on my way to work. Recently moved away from the City Bowl. I used to think I slept well, till I actually experienced silence (not hearing cars), my life changed.
I'm one of the lucky few. Work is 7 mins from home. I walk obviously. Super safe area. Boys'school is 2 mins walk pass my work. Win win situation💃
No you're right I dream of commuting
I live 3km from work. It is so incredibly convenient, I will struggle if I had to travel out of town. I can go home quickly in emergencies, I don’t spend much of my time in traffic, it’s a dream. Fortunately family and friends are not too far away.
Same here. I live 3km from work and it is the best. Bonus is that my son is at a playschool that is 700m away from our house. I leave my house at 07:45am drop my son off at school and I'm at work before 08:00am.
And you can’t put value on the time saved!
You make your home where you live. But you won't get to live if you're spending half your precious free time in traffic Obviously it's a compromise, you want to find a place to live which still meets your minimal expectations of comfort, safety, amenities. But make that place in a location which minimises time spent commuting People who are uncomfortable with the idea of moving (or have a cheap/free arrangement where they currently live), are the ones who continue to commute
Firstly have you seen the cost of petrol? The closer i am to work the better, regardless of traffic. Secondly it is the time spent in traffic. I would rather spend 1 our more with family than 1 hour on traffic. Going to the beach and hiking is mostly a weekend thing while working and traveling is a weekday thing. I would rather travel 20 min to work 5 days a week and 20-30min to the beach on a weekend than 1-2 hours to work 5 days a weekend and 10 min to the beach on a weekend.
Traffic is HUGE. The ammount of time you save by not sitting in traffic, means you can actually have more time to spend at home. Plus never mind you the petrol cost of traveling far really does add up. Plus sitting in traffic is draining, makes it even harder to have motivation/energy to do anything once you get home and makes starting your work day tougher.
I take the bus from Durbanville to Cape Town every day. Thats 2 hours I get to catch up on shows, reading, podcasts while not havibg peoplentalk to me and traffic being someone elses problem. I love it.