Some tips to limit commuting

It's back-to-school time. If your morning commute is tougher, increased school traffic might be the culprit. So, now is a good time to ask: Are you happy with the commuting aspects of your life?
If you're like most Americans, you put the most miles on your vehicle getting to and from work. A recent survey of 60,000 commuters by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (www.bts.gov), shows that 91 percent of us drive ourselves to work.
Another recent report confirms what I am hearing from my clients: The costs of commuting are increasing, and the working poor are the hardest hit.
According to the Surface Transportation Policy Project, the average American family spends 19 percent of the household budget on transportation. For the lowest-income families, transportation gobbles up 40 percent of the budget. That's more than health care and, in some cases, housing.
So what can you do about these depressing numbers? If you are working now and commuting more than you'd like, consider asking your supervisor for a condensed schedule. Four 10-hour days would decrease your commuting hours by 20 percent. Telecommuting may also be an option. At the very least, try to stagger your hours to miss the worst of the traffic.
Some ideas
When it's time to change jobs or homes, or if you are looking for a job now, put your commute at the top of your list -- at least as an experiment.
Here's how that might look:
ULimit your job choices to companies that are no more than 20 minutes from your home, whether that's by car, foot or public transit.
UIf those companies offer no possibility of work in your field, re-evaluate what you mean by "field." Can you think of yourself as a set of skills instead of as a job title? When you do that, do you have something to offer to those companies closest to you?
UIf your geographically targeted companies pay less than you'd like, factor in the costs of transportation. Will a short commute offset the wage decrease? Will your quality of life improve enough to make the decrease worthwhile?
There is another, exciting solution to these problems, but it will take a while to implement. Engineers around the country are working on new modes of transportation. One, personal rapid transit (PRT), has become something of a groundswell, with nonprofits and private enterprises nationwide devoted to its implementation.
How system works
PRT consists of individual "cars" on an elevated rail. As the commuter, you drive, walk or bike to a station, swipe your fare card and input a destination. Within minutes, an empty car pulls off the main track and into your station. The cars can accommodate up to three adults or some combination of adults, kids, bikes, strollers, wheelchairs or packages.
Mike Lester is an engineer and the chief operating officer of Taxi 2000 (www.taxi2000.com), one of nearly two dozen companies that are partnering to bring PRT to Minnesota. Their system, the Skyweb Express (www.skywebexpress.com), was just demonstrated at the Minnesota State Fair.
One of the benefits of the system, Lester says, is that the rider can hop on anytime because the cars are always circulating on the track.
"Not needing a schedule is going to allow working couples more flexibility," he says. "Also, depending on how far you travel nonstop, your commute will be faster so you can have a larger area to job-search in. It's going to give employers more candidates for an opening."
Compatibility
Peter Vickerman, a city planner and a board member of the nonprofit Citizens for PRT (www.cprt.org), says it's frustrating that so many conversations in his profession start and end with "Where will the turn lane go?" Because PRT systems take far less room than roads and can be moved or extended, they would be compatible with more projects, he says.
Vickerman is also troubled that people live so far from their jobs. "You see people living far away so they can have a larger house," he says. "They're choosing not to have enough time because they choose to drive an hour to work."
Unfortunately, he could find himself in the same bind soon.
XAmy Lindgren, the owner of a career-consulting firm in St. Paul, Minn., can be reached at alindgren@pioneerpress.com.