Is He Out of His Mind? This Man Commutes 6 Hours a Day

Outsiders might question Andy Kucer’s sanity for driving six hours to and from work daily. Kucer does.

“Nobody in their right mind would do it,” he admits. “But I’ve never been very normal.”

Every weekday Kucer commutes 240 miles round trip between his home in the rural community of Clear Lake and his job south in San Francisco. That adds up to 57,600 miles and 1,440 hours a year. He’s been doing it for 11 years.

The most common commute in the San Francisco Bay Area is 100 miles or more, according to a recent survey by Rides for Bay Area Commuters, a San Francisco-based ride-share agency.

Kucer starts at 3 a.m., washing his face, drinking coffee and kissing the wife goodby before hopping into his pickup truck and taking to the interstate at about 4.

“You have to be alert,” said Kucer, who keeps a supply of Jolt cola, Rolaids and Vivarin handy. “It’s dark out there, the roads are real curvy. I see a lot of accidents.

“But I’ve been real lucky. I’ve never been in an accident. I haven’t even had a speeding ticket since I was 16.”

His journey to the San Francisco Municipal Railway, where he works as a body-and-fender man, takes about 2 1/2 hours. Kucer said it isn’t unusual to spend half the trip tied up in stalled traffic.

The drive back home tends to take longer, about 3 1/2 hours. An overturned mobile home near the Carquinez Bridge extended the trip to more than six hours recently.

Kucer usually is in bed by 8 p.m., barely an hour after getting home.

“I think I’m 45 on the inside,” said Kucer, 35.

He tries to ease the agonies of his commute by equipping his truck with all the accessories.

“I go for all the comforts. Power windows, air conditioning, stereo,” he said. “Why shouldn’t I? I spend more time in that truck than I do on my couch.”

But he said when his only son graduates from high school in a couple of years, the family will move closer to work.