Commuting: The scourge of the sidewalk/slowlane

[Eskil]

Yes... commuting was the nail in the coffin for me, and looking back - it what was what drove me into wanting out of the 9-5.

Mind-numbing meetings and corporate culture was bad enough, don't me wrong. But spending all that time on trains and trams five days a week (even though yes, I could read or listen to audio books) - often with delays, icy roads, and feeling like you're part of a herd of cattle in line at the train platform really made me think "there's gotta be a better way to make a living" LOL.

 

[wordwarrior]

There's a CBC article on a Statistics Canada study about Canadians' commutes:

Time is money: Here's how your commute is costing you both | CBC News

To me, this is the absolute worse facet of the sidewalk/slowlane. It's the ultimate prostitution of time. Showing up for work eight hours a day (if you're lucky) is one thing. Losing time getting to and from there is another thing entirely, as you don't even get paid for it. It's even worse if you have to spent time driving, which saps your attention, as opposed to sitting on a train or bus. At least, then you can spend the time reading or even writing.

In Montreal, starting in 2020, they'll be closing the tunnel for one of the train lines that runs under Mount Royal from the suburbs into downtown. This is part of the construction of a new light rail line called the REM. Commuters will instead have the option of stopping at a train station three stations short of central station and taking a bus to a subway. To call this disruptive is an understatement.

There's real economic value in either working closer to home or working from home. And, obviously, this is one of the most compelling arguments for the Fastlane.

Anyway, rant over

Edit: fixed typo

 

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