Midas Announces Winner of ''America's Longest Commute'' Contest

Winner Drives Away with $10,000 in Gas Money and Free Car Maintenance

How far are you willing to drive to work? For Dave Givens of Mariposa, Calif., the answer is 186 miles - one way - good enough to take first place in the search by Midas, Inc. (NYSE:MDS) for "America's Longest Commute." Givens out-drove thousands of other entrants to take home the grand prize of $10,000 in gas money as well as an array of Midas maintenance services and products.

"He's the ultimate road warrior. 2006 is Midas' 50th anniversary, so we know a thing or two about staying power," said Rick Dow, senior vice president and chief marketing officer for Midas. "We commend his perseverance and commitment to his job and to his family. We also want to lighten his load a bit by providing some gas money relief as well as some maintenance services and products to improve his mileage. Let's face it, he needs all the help he can get!"

Givens, an electrical engineer with Cisco Systems, Inc., in San Jose, Calif., drives a 186-mile one-way commute five days a week, a round-trip journey of 372 miles that takes a total of seven hours. He has been making the lengthy commute since 1989.
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"I was thinking that a few people would have a commute like this," he told us. "I really didn't think I had the longest one. "I am totally stoked about winning. But, on the other hand, it is really pointing out to me that it's quite the dubious award. It makes you wonder if this is right lifestyle."

With his family still sleeping, Givens heads out the door at around 4:30 a.m. from a horse ranch at the edge of the astonishing Yosemite National Park. On a good day, he can make the 186-mile trip to Cisco's sprawling offices in less than three hours. It takes about nine cups of coffee, XM satellite radio and audio books to make the drive tolerable. (From The Register).
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"I have a great job and my family loves the ranch where we live," he said in explaining why he makes the commute. "So this is the only solution." ...

The "America's Longest Commute" Contest, held in honor of Midas' 50th anniversary, drew close to 3,000 entries nationwide. "We were impressed with the responses," said Dow. "Apparently, there are a lot of Americans putting a lot of miles on their cars to get to the office each day. Consequently, it's more important than ever that commuters properly maintain their vehicles."

Participants were asked to report the mileage of their current daily commute, defined as the most direct route, one way, in miles, from their principal place of residence to their principal place of lawful employment. To be considered, participants had to currently drive a minimum of four days a week, each week of the month, and have driven for a minimum of three months. Long distance cargo or other delivery and public transportation driving were not considered a daily commute. Motorcycles, buses, and all forms of public transportation were not eligible forms of transportation for daily commute.

For a counter-point, see "Cisco man's 7-hour commute is killing Yosemite: Communing with nature or Exxon?," which also includes the story of a longer daily commute, including plane, from the UK to Switzerland and back. From the letters:

1. This guy's commute is about 8.4 times that of the average American (50-minutes, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.)

2. (a.) That means he is spending 6 hours of every day on the road. Assuming, generously, that he takes 30 days off per year what with vacations, holidays and all that, at 6 hrs x 230 days, that's 1,380 hours per year that he wastes in the car rotting his intestines out with coffee and brainwashing himself with Tony Robbins tapes. 1,380 hours is 57 and a half days, so he is effectively tossing away two months of his life every year just so he can claim he works at Cisco. Now since he has done this for 17 years, that's 17 x 2 months, or 34 months, so in effect, he has wasted almost three years of his life hauling his own ass around, traffic jams, sucking road smog, and adding to global warming.

(b.) Let's say that the average car is driven 20k miles per year. The average car produces 77.1 pounds of hydrocarbons per year, 575 pounds of carbon monoxide, 38.2 pounds of nitrogen oxides, and 11,450 pounds of carbon dioxide....and uses 585 gallons of gas. Mr Givens, with his earth-hostile attitude, driving 372 miles per day, for the conservatively assumed 230 days per year, drives 85,560 miles per year, or 4.278 times the average. Therefore in 17 years, Mr Givens, while Awakening the Giant Within, has belched out 5,607 pounds of hydrocarbons. He has spewed 41,817 pounds of carbon monoxide, and 832,712 pounds of carbon dioxide into our planet's atmosphere, more than one pound for every acre of Yosemite. Now according to our buddies at the Wikipedia, CO2 has a density of 1.98 kg/m3. Converting to SAE, over 17 years, Givens has gifted us with 6,736,750 cubic feet of carbon dioxide. Stacked on top of each other, these cubic feet would be as high as 513 Mount Lyells, the highest peak in Yosemite.

3. And from, "Commuting To and Fro":

An article in the October, 2005 issue of Scientific American Mind outlines the adverse effects of long-term commuting.

When accidents snarl traffic and bad weather cripples mass transit, images of frustrated commuters often lead the nightly news. But the normal, everyday insanity that commuters endure is the bigger story.

Mobility is a prime mover in today's job markets. Workers who want to "make it" have to be flexible and willing to take the punishment. Move to another branch office? No problem. Still want that nice house in the country? Absolutely. The result of our desires is that more and more people commute, and more travel longer than ever. The percentage of Americans with a commute greater than 90 minutes a day nearly doubled between 1990 and 2000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

It's not just the risk of accident that makes long-trip commuting hazardous. According to the article, each additional minute of travel time correlates with an increase in health problems. These range from headaches and backaches to digestive problems and high blood pressure, sleep disturbances, fatigue and problems with concentration. And, of course, the biggest problem of all: increased stress.

Index Keywords: car-culture