
Commuting Takes Its Toll - brahmwg
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/commuting-takes-its-toll/
======
jasonkester
Back in my days of working in an office, I used to move to a new apartment
every time I changed jobs so that I could stay within walking distance.

Being young and minimalist helped a lot with being able to pull it off, but
I'd definitely recommend it for the benefits. Especially living downtown
(Portland in my case) and having a short to medium sized stroll through the
city to work, it's amazing what a difference it makes to your sanity compared
to sitting in traffic for 45 minutes.

I would interview for jobs and the first thing I'd ask the recruiter was
whether they were in Portland itself or out in the suburbs. They'd say "yeah,
definitely Portland" then set up an interview and give me an address out
towards Beaverton. I'd have to cancel.

Moving to LA, the difference was even more pronounced. I set up shop in a
shabby little neighborhood in San Gabriel, the shortest distance across the
sea of concrete that contained the office I was contracting at. They had guys
driving in from the hills above Mission Viejo and even Yucaipa, 2.5 hours
away. It was insane. Those guys never seemed overly happy with the situation.
But I bet their houses looked nice.

Fortunately, we don't have to worry about this anymore. Enough shops have
caught on to the benefits of having everybody remote that a fella can pick up
a gig from anywhere in the world these days. I haven't commuted more than 50
feet in a decade.

~~~
zmmmmm
It all falls down though as soon as you have any significant priority in your
life other than work however. Just a partner who works elsewhere will put you
in a quandry, and a family will totally do you over (schools immediately
elevate to trump just about any other priority).

I think there's a lot to be said for living close to work, but there's even
more to be said for cities investing well provisioned, fast and inexpensive
public transport. The intangible benefits from a happier, more flexible,
mobile workforce are huge. Where I live I am extremely fortunate: I am 45
minutes away from work by train, but 95% of the time I can sit down and work
on my laptop for 80% of that time. So I see my "effective" commute as about 15
minutes.

~~~
iaresee
I'm in strong agreement here. The character and nature of the commute play a
huge role. There's a big difference between sitting in a train for 45 minutes
and sitting in a car in traffic for 45 minutes. Being able to free your mind
from the stresses of conducting a vehicle make a longer commute far more
tolerable long-term IMO. Investing in public transportation is where it's at.

------
bfrog
I commute by bike, my commute is easily one of the most enjoyable parts of my
day, around 30 minutes each way, in all weather. Every day is like being a kid
again, its exciting when it rains or snows or the wind blows or the sun is
out.

I don't think commutes are the problem, its the typical mode of transport
humans choose is the problem.

~~~
cwp
Yeah, the mode matters, but really 30 minutes is an easy commute regardless of
the mode. If you were to spend, say, 90 minutes going each way, that would
take its toll too. (Though there would also be benefits to getting that much
exercise.)

~~~
arm
I don’t know about that. I think the motivations you have for starting to
commute by bike in the first place make a big difference.

In my case, I had been using public transit (buses) as transportation for more
than ten years, and frankly, I was completely fed up with it. For my current
commute, the buses would never come on time (either 10+ minutes late, or just
a bit too early). Then, when I’d finally catch my first bus, it would always
reach the last stop _just_ late enough for me to see the second bus (that I’d
have to transfer on to) reach the stop I’d have to get to and leave.

That’s not even mentioning all the other annoyances, like:

• (sometimes) waiting more than an hour for a bus to arrive

• the commute regularly taking 1.5 hours each way because the buses would
regularly come too late or too early (on the _very_ rare occasions when I’d
catch both buses instantly, the commute would become a blissful 45 minutes; I
truly treasured those days…)

• etc.

Finally, I got completely fed up of it and was desperately searching for some
other way to get to my destination. After doing some research, I realized that
I lived right next to a huge bike trail that could take me almost half the
way, so I ended up getting a bike. Frankly, it was the best decision I’ve made
in a long time. My commute is now 2 hours each way, but unlike the situation
with the buses (where I was just waiting half the time), with the bike, I’m
actually doing something (riding it), so the time passes by so fast, I always
find it unbelievable when I realize that, somehow, two hours have just elapsed
without me even noticing it.

~~~
freshyill
Can I just vent for a second about how an early bus is so much worse than a
late bus… and they have complete control over it too. A late bus will
eventually show up. An early bus, well, you have no idea it was even early.

~~~
kuschku
> An early bus, well, you have no idea it was even early.

Well, you can look at the display [1] showing the ETA for the next 10 busses
at the station, and notice your bus isn’t on it.

Otherwise the app from your MTA should show that info, too.

________________

[1] [http://www.kvg-kiel.de/bilder/service/DFI-Beispiel.jpg](http://www.kvg-
kiel.de/bilder/service/DFI-Beispiel.jpg)

~~~
freshyill
I actually know that bus stop! I studied for a time in Kiel, and the buses
were very reliable.

I'm now in the DC suburbs. There are several different transit agencies that
operate here, and some are better than others. Some do have signs like the
ones in Kiel, but for the buses I take, this is what I get to deal with for
signs: [http://i.imgur.com/Zd2TNVG.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/Zd2TNVG.jpg)

I have enter the stop number on rideonrealtime.com, and then search. If I try
searching for it today, I get an error, because the 14 bus doesn't run on
Sunday (but they don't say that). Believe it or not, their desktop website is
actually a little better than the mobile version.

Even in the fancy new transit hub that recently opened, the electronic signs
only show the published departure times. At off hours, this is fine because
they are generally accurate. During peak traffic times, however, they're
completely inaccurate and you need to go to their terrible website to look up
the actual time the next bus will arrive.

~~~
kuschku
That’s interesting.

KVG actually nowadays has a neat REST API for all their data, btw:
[http://www.kvg-
kiel.de/internetservice/services/passageInfo/...](http://www.kvg-
kiel.de/internetservice/services/passageInfo/stopPassages/stop?stop=23&mode=departure)

Compared to what you describe, this is pretty awesome.

(Btw, I’m studying CompSci in Kiel right now – I’m interested, what did you
study, and when?)

~~~
freshyill
I was there in 2000, on a study abroad program for communications and German.

~~~
kuschku
Ah, so you were there when Kim Dotcom was still living here, running his
startups that were practically a scam.

I only heard of those days – I was 4yo in 2000 :D

------
teddyh
The True Cost of Commuting:

[http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/10/06/the-true-cost-
of-c...](http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/10/06/the-true-cost-of-
commuting/)

“If these numbers sound ridiculous, it’s because they are. It is _ridiculous_
to commute by car to work if you realize how expensive it is to drive, and if
you value your time at anything close to what you get paid.”

~~~
sdoering
Well I commute by car for 30 - 60 minutes (one way) per day. It is about 30km
distance. I know the costs, as I pay them into an account for repairs,
gasoline and so on.

On the other hand the alternative would be 90 - 100 minutes (one way) of
commute by train with (included) 20 minutes of walk. I would have to switch
trains twice. Cost would be about half to a third of above cost.

My time and my sanity (sitting in a car, listening to podcasts and not
encountering the mass of idiots in public transport) is easily worth that much
to me.

So for me the math works - that my tl;dr.

~~~
hudibras
> On the other hand the alternative would be 90 - 100 minutes (one way) of
> commute by train

Well, another alternative is to move somewhere closer to your current
workplace and a fourth alternative is to get a job that's closer to your
current home.

~~~
megablast
I have turned down jobs before because they were no in cycling distance. Do
others just take anything anywhere?

~~~
matwood
Do you have a family and kids? Do you enjoy living in the city?

I cannot bike to work, but I'm sitting on the back porch looking out over the
marsh on this amazing Sunday morning. In the city, if I even had a porch I
would be staring at someones back yard or the building next to me.

------
sethammons
Most people think I have a crazy commute; perhaps I do. It may be worth it. I
commute from the San Bernardino Mountains to Orange County. I wake up at
4:30am, eat a solid breakfast, leave the house at 5:30am, drive for 35 minutes
to the train station, ride the train for 45 minutes, jump off, jog three
blocks to the gym, work out for about 50 minutes, jog back to the train, get
back on for 10 minutes, then walk for about 5 minutes to the office. So an
hour and half ignoring the gym stop. I leave work around 4:30pm or 5:00pm, and
get home about 6:30pm or 7:00pm (so about 2 hours to get home) and eat dinner
with the family. I try to be in bed by 9:30pm.

What are the pros? I can work, read, or email on the train. I listen to
audiobooks on the drive. I commute with co-workers and can either shoot the
shit or have productive talks. I get paid 150% of what I would work more
local. Where I live, I have an amazing view, wildlife from birds to bears,
seasons, can have any pets I want (I recently started raising chickens that
live in my yard during the day), literally zero crime, very decent schools,
family in the area, ...

There are cons. I only get about one to one and a half hours at the most with
my kids in the evening. I have zero time to do anything else during the week.
I recently started experiencing one of the issues the articled called out:
terrible sleep. Aside from a handful of nights, I've not gotten solid sleep in
the last four months. That could be the commute, or diet, or anything else.

Could I move closer to work? Corona would not cut it (I could save maybe about
30 minutes but that marginal benefit does not balance out), so I would have to
move to something in Orange County. The prices are crazy. I don't know how
people live there. Rent is FOUR TIMES my mortgage. I don't make enough to have
a mortgage out there as I would have zero disposable income and zero savings
(if I qualified for a mortgage).

I've been doing this for five years now. If I could have a decent back yard, a
mortgage that came in at 1/4 (or so) my income, and near a decent school, I
would consider uprooting my family. I don't think that option exists.

~~~
artmageddon
> I only get about one to one and a half hours at the most with my kids in the
> evening.

Does this include weekends? I totally empathize with your situation concerning
prices, but as your kids grow into teenagers, they'll want their own
independence so this time may decrease as it goes on, and the time you have
now with them while they're young... it's not time you'll get back,
unfortunately.

~~~
sethammons
The weekends are with the family, aside from errands. I do see the time
slipping away; my oldest is 17, followed by 10, and 5.

------
ChrisNorstrom
I've got you all beat. My job is a 1 minute jog from my house. Less than a
football field away. It changed my life. My entire life has been altered for
the better and every few days I wonder why we stopped designing cute little
European/American towns where you can walk everywhere. My former commute was
driving 30 miles and 30 minutes to work.

From stress, to car insurance, to gas. All the bad things in my life have
decreased. I have more time, feel healthier, and get more sleep. I haven't
paid for gas or filled up my car in months. All from this seemingly small
change. A 1 minute jog to work. I decided if I ever got a different job I
would move to be as close as possible to it. The benefits are too enormous to
overlook.

~~~
enraged_camel
My commute last year was a 5 minute walk.

At first I loved it, for the same reasons you listed. But then I started to
realize that living so close to work blurred the line between work and life. I
couldn't mentally detach from the job after coming home. Even on evenings and
weekends I'd think about work.

That's when I realized an important purpose that commuting plays, which is a
transition period from work mode to life mode. So now my commute is 15
minutes: short enough that I don't go insane, but long enough to help me put
some mental distance between myself and my job.

~~~
epalmer
My commute into work is usually 17 mins. Going home I take a different but
sane return route that is predictable and has less traffic but takes 25
minutes. I use my commute time to catch up on tech news and security issues
via podcasts. I find this time very valuable. My wife works maybe 6 miles
further intown than I do and her commute is 35 minutes in the morning and with
no sane return route tends to be 45 to 65 minutes long.

My commute is good for me. Her commute wears on her. She is not tech focused
so she does not listen to podcasts.

I would love to walk to work or ride a bike. But with olders kids and school
choices being a driving force for where we live that is not possible yet.

We craft our day around the commute. We are up at 4:30 and at the gym by 5:20.
We strive for 5 days a week at the gym. We probably average more like 4.5.

With the early rise I have to be in bed by 9PM to 10PM most nights.

Gosh now I'm thinking when my youngest goes to college I move much closer to
work. Maybe even rent and not buy since I have 4 more years before I retire.

I'm also lucky at work. I have an office with a door. Power naps most days
keep me productive in the afternoon.

------
rdlecler1
The author doesn't give the breakdown, but I'd be willing to bet that men are
bearing most of this burden. There's a lot of discussion about women being
paid less than men, but the fact is that there is a lot more pressure on men
to favor positions than maximize income generation that women. I know dozens
and dozens of men who commute to and from Greenwich CT daily while their wives
work locally or stay at home. These men barely see their family, but they do
it so that their childrens get a good education.

~~~
ant6n
Do you have any data to back this up?

------
capkutay
The costliest tradeoff for commuting is working out. It's hard to exercise
after commuting due to general exhaustion from the work day. Waking up very
early to work out before the commute can have bad effects productivity for
that day.

~~~
mahyarm
I put a power rack in my home, trying to treat my fitness like I treat
brushing my teeth. I just need a few more bits of equipment to ship in and I
will see how it will compare to going to the gym and wasting all that time
there.

------
logingone
In London the argument for companies being in zone 1 is that meeting with
people from other companies is easier. So for the few who have external
meetings the entire company has to drag itself every morning and evening
through the overcrowded, unpleasant London underground, arriving at work late,
flustered, or miserable. What a way to start the day. If the companies moved
only slightly out of centre, zones 2 or 3, the majority would be happier, and
the few who meet outside would have a 10 or 15 minute, relatively pleasant,
tube ride to get to a meeting.

~~~
tfgg
Locating the office in zone 1 also allows people to live in lots of outer
London areas. If you site the office in zones 2/3, you have to choose _which
bit_ of zones 2/3, potentially meaning people have to move house or commute
even further. It's a higher cost to the company, but gives them access to a
larger proportion of the labour market.

------
PebblesHD
Under this document's classification of commuters I would fall into the
'extreme' category, travelling just over 1hr30m each way to get into Sydney
from rouse hill in the west. I would say there is definitely a noticeable
difference in my office between those of us who travel long distance and those
who live closer to the office, usually in attitude and propensity to drink
multiple coffees in a day.

Problem is, I would love a shorter commute, but my lifestyle is simply
incompatible with life in an apartment or tiny, semi-detached town house, so
I'm left with having a nice place to come home to but a long journey to get
there, which for the most part I feel is a worthwhile trade so far.

~~~
hudibras
>my lifestyle is simply incompatible with life in an apartment or tiny, semi-
detached town house

But your lifestyle _is_ compatible with spending 15 hours a week (60 hours a
month, 700 hours per year, or the equivalent of 17 additional 40-hour
workweeks annually) commuting?

~~~
dbalbright
It's probably less for him and made for family. People will sacrifice a lot
for their kids.

~~~
hudibras
I'm certainly not going to judge anybody's decisions when it comes to raising
their children, but a long commute means many hours away from the kids. When
they're grown, will they be more likely to remember the nice yard and school
or the extra time spent with Mom and Dad?

------
ZanyProgrammer
The experience of taking BART from Fremont, then MUNI, was very exhausting for
me. Even assuming BART was running on time, there was at least 15-20 minutes
of MUNI (riding _and_ waiting) tacked onto my BART commute (Fremont->Civic
Center). The MUNI part tended to really drag my spirits down.

------
tcopeland
I commute from Herndon VA into DC a couple times a week. It takes about 1:15
each way. But I ride the Loudon Country transit bus, which has decent-size
seats and aisles. So as soon as I get on the bus, I pop open my laptop and
work on whatever coding I need to get done.

The real beauty of it is that I don't bring a mifi card or anything like that,
so I _can 't_ get online and read HN or whatever. Instead, if I run into an
issue, I have to read the code of whatever I'm working on and experiment in
the REPL to figure it out. So it's been really productive in a couple ways.

I wouldn't want to do it every day, since it makes for long days - but a few
times a week it's not bad at all.

~~~
fosco
James?

That's good to hear, I live 10 min from Herndon and had to drive to northern
Arlington for a bit, with no traffic its 20minutes...But typically it was 1 hr
each way.

I think the metro system needssom. Work to improve its service in DC. More of
a NYC business model. 15-18 bucks a day is not realistic during peak times for
commute and parking

------
elliottcarlson
For a bit over ten years I spent on average 1.5 hours each way commuting to
NYC from Staten Island. The commute took a toll on me, on my marriage, and
just my overall happiness. Inclement weather, an accident, or constant road
construction would often increase a one-way trip to nearly 2 hours. I couldn't
stay out late, because of the bus schedules, and if I fell asleep on the bus
after a certain hour and missed my stop, there was no bus to take my back to
where my connection to my second bus was. It was frustrating. Coupled with
being too married to my job and overall stress, it led to separating from my
wife.

I then moved right in to the city, a 15 minute walk to work. My overall
happiness increased significantly. I could hang out with friends, stay out
late if I wanted to - and I almost always found my place to be the place
people would want to be at (somewhat opportunistic due to locality - but
that's 100% fine by me). The price I paid was nearly quadrupling my rent. I
felt like I deserved to treat my self to one year of this - and I quite
enjoyed it - but the high rent was just not sustainable when you factor in
alimony and past debt.

I then moved to a place about 30-40 minutes away from work. The commute was
nice, the distance is about just right, and the rent was $700 less than my
Manhattan apartment. I immediately saw a drop off in how many people would be
coming to visit me - once again, I am fine with that and understand the
circumstances there. The problem is that now my building is raising my rent by
$300 - and the expensive commute costs really don't offer much savings
compared to living in the city anymore - this spot has been "discovered" and
will now just keep going up like the rest of the commutable areas to NYC.

So, this Monday, I am moving back to Staten Island - I will have twice the
amount of space, dropping another $1000 from my current rent, and my commute
will be about 1hr. I now have the opportunity to work from home a bit more, so
by breaking up my week and staying home on Wednesdays, it will take the stress
off of commuting in every day. A lot of the people I work with and manage work
remotely - and they live all across the country - they don't have to worry
about commuting in in the morning, and can live where they want to live --
sure, there are other disadvantages to working remotely, but as the
availability of high-internet speeds and technologies make working remotely
easier and more common place. As this improves, and more companies understand
and embrace remote work mentality, I see the necessity of being chained to a
big tech hub like SF or NYC to be far less important.

~~~
ckib16
Ahhh..the Staten Island to Manhattan commute. I know that world well my
friend.

Nice work on getting a remote job. That must make things much easier.

------
99_00
Because business in a city tend to be clumped together it's impossible for
everyone to live close to their work. Cities don't have a large unused space
between homes and work which people send hours crossing everyday.

~~~
eru
They could clump the people together (and up!) just like the businesses.. Just
like mahyarm says.

Look at Singapore or Hong Kong.

~~~
kuschku
Or even mixed use, like in European cities!

~~~
eru
Yes. They do mixed use in the Asian cities, too.

And there's also not-so-mixed use eg in some German suburbs. Though by
American standards, it's still very mixed. Ie you have to walk ten minutes to
the nearest shop, instead of three.

See
[https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/Sonnenweg,+47918+T%C3%B...](https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/Sonnenweg,+47918+T%C3%B6nisvorst,+Germany/@51.3143352,6.5082608,667m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x47b8af9f74549ae3:0x98dd0331fbb93a05)
for an example.

------
Diederich
I live in Mountain View and commute every day to San Francisco. This is more
than 50 miles in each direction, and the freeways are terrible.

But since I have been doing it, for the past four months, my wife has bought
me a whole set of new pants. Smaller pants.

I ride my bicycle about 2.5 miles on each end of Caltrain.

10 bicycle miles per day, with high consistency, has markedly improved my
health.

10 bicycle miles is not much. But I push hard, each of those four separated
segments, to be well winded.

I have always hated exercise, and never did it consistently. But I
intentionally set myself up to be "forced" to exercise.

It is a 55 minute train ride on the front and 45 minutes on the back. And I
get most of my best work done on the train. Because I catch 5:57am and the
3:37pm trains, I always get a good seat. My wifi is generally good.

So it makes for a relatively long day, but I physically feel better than I
have in a long time, and working on the train and early in the office gives me
a lot of high quality "heads down" time every day, which is so important.

As stated elsewhere, the commute itself is less important than the quality of
the commute.

------
barrkel
I commute by motorcycle. My commute is one of my favourite parts of the day.

~~~
asteli
I've started to do this. I find myself cracking a grin when encountering
traffic, it's magical. However, the risk tradeoff takes some willfulness to
ignore. On Thursday, one of my moto-commuting co-workers was struck by an SUV
that executed a surprise lane change. Laid it down at 60mph, escaped with
barely a scratch.

Calculating mileage and maintenance costs is easy compared to factoring in
your risk of bodily damage from your commute. Commuting on a motorcycle is
fun, but I haven't figured out whether it's 'worth it.'

------
jejones3141
Before moving to Pittsburgh, I was commuting from Des Moines to Marshalltown
in Iowa--60 miles, an hour's drive each way. I didn't drive, but it was still
a pain and major time waster.

In Pittsburgh, I found a minimal-walking bus path that required a transfer. It
made the path slightly longer than the 5.6 miles from apartment to work, but
still roughly a tenth the distance of Des Moines to Marshalltown. Surprise--it
took about an hour each way, and longer if, as was far too common, the first
bus in the morning was late or the second bus in the evening was late. What's
wrong with this picture?

I'm back in the Des Moines area now, and hoping for a much closer workplace.

~~~
legulere
Busses simply are the worst way of commuting. They're slow, they're shaking
you around the most, they stop the most, they let in most cold air when
stopping, they're usually the dirtiest and most unpunctual.

Busses simply suck.

------
gricardo99
Older article. Should have 2005 in the tittle.

------
CM30
I can definitely agree that commuting for a long time each day takes a toll on
your psychological health. My first 'real' job had a 1.5/2 hour journey each
way, right through the centre of London and then out on the other side.

It was absolutely exhausting, and utterly killed any motivation for me to
actually do anything what I got back in each night. Oh sure, I had ambitions
when I started the journey each evening, but they were damn well as good as
dead when I'd finished it.

Fortunately, my current commute is much better, only taking about half an hour
a day and not involving the London Underground in any way. Could it be better?
Probably, but it's reasonable enough for now, and isn't anywhere near as
mentally exhausting.

Living nearer work? Forget it, a lot of companies here are located in the most
expensive areas of the city. Unless your family are wealthy enough to pay for
a luxury apartment in the city of London, or maybe somewhere likes Mayfair or
Knightsbridge, you're likely going to be commuting to any job round here. Even
the cheaper places have rents high enough you'd likely end up living on the
breadline with a typical developer salary.

------
ajdlinux
I consider myself extremely lucky to have a job in a city where I can afford
(on my fresh-graduate salary) to live near the city centre, 15 minutes' walk
from the office. I know I'll probably have to move further away if I find
myself married with kids, but until then, I very, very much like where I am.

------
jib
I commute for about 1.5h each way. About 40 or so of those is biking, the rest
on a bus with wifi. The bike part is exercise I would have needed to do
anyway. The bus part is either working, or reading things I would read anyway.
Sure, I would prefer a shorter trip, but the trade off of being able to live
next to a beach and go swimming after work is worth it for me. Not to mention
few neighbours, no noise etc and other benefits of living in the country. Much
happier since I swapped from a 30 min bike commute from the suburbs.

------
princetontiger
The worst part after a commute is coming into an open office. People sneezing,
coughing, talking.

But, that topic requires another completely different article. :)

------
jheriko
I never used to mind a commute when I was driving it... now that I have to
take a train it is the worst part of my day.

It very obviously takes its toll on me.

------
insulanian
Commute time is my reading time. I truly enjoy it!

------
galfarragem
My 2 cents: the relationship between commute time and annoyance is
logarithmic.

------
kylestlb
Article is a decade old, FYI.

------
shiftpgdn
Why are we still commuting at all? The vast VAST majority of jobs can be done
from home yet there is some sort of idea in management circles that if you're
not in a cubicle you're not getting work done.

Think of how much better everyone's lives would be if only those who
absolutely needed to be in an office (Doctors, mechanics, etc) went to work
and everyone else just stayed home.

~~~
ubernostrum
I worked full-time remote for four years. Now I work a job which expects me to
be physically present in the office.

And... I'm kinda happy about the current job. Four years of being remote
taught me how isolating it can be, how easy it is to end up feeling utterly
detached from what my co-workers are doing, lacking in human interaction
during my working hours, and being in an office and around people again every
day has done a lot for me.

So I wouldn't be so quick to send everybody to work from home all the time.

~~~
alkonaut
The perfect balance for me would be commuting or traveling 1-2 days a week for
meetings, and working remote the rest of the week. When commuting 1h or more
the time spent commuting should be spent doing phone meetings etc so you can
start working as you leave the house, otherwise the work day can end up being
10-11h which is obviously not compatible with having a family.

~~~
draugadrotten
I've done 2 days a week of 2 hour commute and 3 days remote. It works, sort
of. The 2 days in the office gives the social interactions and keeps
relationships smooth. The 3 days remote provides calm time for productivity.
However, I've also worked 5 days in office with 7 minutes bike ride. This is
incredibly good. Every day is shorter. I will optimise any new job for
shortest possible commute - it's really a winner.

