That's why I will continue to work from home. My old office is about 1/2 mile from Google HQ and pre-Covid it was 45-50 minutes each way unless I stayed in the office quite late.

1/2 mile is like a 10 minute walk.

Please read my comment again. My office is 1/2 mile from Google HQ, but I do not live at Google HQ. I'm about 13 miles away, but at peak commute times pre-Covid the roads were parking lots, and public transportation options take about 75 minutes each way.

Perhaps they commute to/from home rather than the google office.

I don't work for Google. I said that my office is near their HQ.

Yeah but in an American city that walk is going to be awful.

Yep, U.S. cities are designed for cars, not humans.

I guess that's a matter of perspective. I used to drive 45mins one way under light traffic conditions. This was a choice made of keeping a decent paying job and living somewhere with ranked school system. Sometimes, sacrifices are made when thinking of others.

Yeah traffic (or lack thereof) makes a massive difference. 45 min in light traffic... sure. 45 min each way, every day, in heavy, stop and go traffic is soul crushing.

I meant that it was 45 minutes in light traffic. It only got worse if traffic was not light, which it was not more often than it was. I didn't mean for it to be that ambiguous.

I used to complain about my subway commute, but when it stopped I found I missed reading books for 30m twice a day, or alternatively running to work. These activities formed a clear boundary to each workday that I have found hard to replace without a commute.

I used to do 1h30m each way to and from work, five days a week before COVID :)

Does that include time it takes to park, walk to office, hop on elevator, and set up desk for the day. That can add a bit of time.

Door to door. 20 mins walking, 1 hour train, another 5-10 walking.

Pre-pandemic, my commute was walking 20 minutes and then taking a train for 10 minutes. I loved it so much!

Now I just have a dog that I walk for a few hours every day instead haha.

Pretty sure google has their own bus with internet / capability to work on the way.

wasting 40+ min a day for a work-related commute still sucks, internet or not.

-xoogler

Note the article says this is 3 days a week. I also imagine there is a ton of flexibility at Google WRT hours so you can try to time it before or after rush hour.

Yeah, even with the buses into Mountain View.