Everyone thinks their traffic is worse...
Thursday, October 06 2005 on other
I am not sure why people do this. They all like to claim that their traffic is as bad as it gets. I was told when I got here that traffic is terrible and that I don’t want to live in Amsterdam and work where our office is in Vianen. When I lived in Seattle, the papers all claimed that the traffic there was worse than any other city in the US. San Francisco liked to complain about its traffic. Miami gets them quite a bit. Traffic isn’t really bad anywhere, assuming you use some common sense when deciding where to live and work. My advice: live somewhere that doesn’t make you spend half your average day in stop and go traffic. If traffic patterns change, then either move or quit. No matter where you live, there will be bad days, but if bad days are everyday, change something.
If both of those options don’t work, then I hope you have good reasons for putting yourself through that. For me, I want a fun place to live. Working in Holland means that to get a fun place to live, I have no choice but to live in Amsterdam. Downside is that Amsterdam is expensive. Upside to that is that most people feel (mistakenly I believe) that they can only afford to live in the country and work in the city. So most of the traffic is coming from the outside in. I go the other way. I had the same commute from downtown Seattle into Redmond, Washington.
I made the mistake of living in a cheaper area at the cost of a longer commute one time and I will never make that mistake again. Living in Nutley, NJ (childhood home of Martha Stewart) and working in New York City meant that I saved about 1000 dollars a month in rent. But I spent an additional 60 hours per month trying to get there and back. I found that to simply be too expensive when it comes to overall quality of life.
Today I see the loads of traffic trying to get into Amsterdam as I sail by going south on the A2. I am in Vianen no more than 25 minutes after leaving my place in the middle of Amsterdam. For some reason all those people heading the other way feel that saving a few hundred euros each month makes the dozens of hours they lose every month worthwhile. I hope their reasons make it worthwhile…
Comments
admin said on 10.08.2005 at 3:27 PM
No, I have seen Utrecht. It is way too small a town to consider. And being a bachelor has nothing to do with it. If a commute becomes too long, there is no reason not to change one of the parameters: work or home. The time of loyalty to any single company beyond reason went away 30 years ago.
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peter huppertz said on 10.07.2005 at 1:27 PM
I tend to think that you're making one or two assumptions too hastily here.
First, while you think that, if you want a fun place to live, you have no choice but to live in Amsterdam, my wife and I (even though I understand what you mean) wouldn't want to live there if it were the last place on earth.
I also think you're wrong on Amsterdam being the sole place worth considering - The Hague and Utrecht, and (to a certain point, Rotterdam) have similar qualities to offer to any expat. At almost similar prices. It's just that Amsterdam has this reputation...
Anyway, us living on the "platteland" (the countryside) is not because we can't afford to live in Amsterdam (my guess is we could), but we simply don't want to.
Second: when you say "If traffic patterns change, then either move or quit", I'd add to that "if you're a bachelor who's not tied down to anything specific".
You know, someone like you.
If, on the other hand, you're taking care of a family and raising kids, either "move or quit" simply may not be on your list of available options, especially because the net income of the vast majority of the Dutch (and that includes me) is a good deal lower than yours.
Which, I hasten to add, I do not see as a problem. I'm happy for you that you're doing so well, and that you're able to afford it!
In my case (the kids have been raised) it's a different matter altogether. We have come so attached to the place we live that we have determined that this is the place where we'd like to die. Not as much as "this is not our land", more the other way 'round... like in "we are of the land". Much like Native Americans think about their surroundings, or so I'm told.
So.
When Captaris International decided to move, I was just lucky that they moved to a place that wasn't any further from my house. But if this would've been the case, I'm not sure whether I would've quit - my loyalty towards the team is probably above average.
My wife went through the same process, and for her, it didn't work out as good as it did for me. You should be able to spot her somewhere along the A2 northbound. But she likes her work, she likes the people she's working with... and so, she chooses to endure the traffic. As she says herself: the quality that this adds to her life compensates for the fact that she looses 36 hours per month (5%) because of this. Especially since she spends most of this time listening to news radio. thus being kept abreast of what happens in the world.
But she's not gonna leave this particular spot on the earth we happen to have the privilege of living on. That's probably what you get when you "settle down".
Yet, traffic still sucks. And, since complaining about weather and traffic are Dutch national pastimes: with or without your approval, the subject will come up.
You might as well get used to it - which is easy when you're travelling the A2 in the right direction, to make a lot more money than we do.
Relax and enjoy! :-)