For years I commuted by train/bus to school/work until I could afford (the extra $200ish per month) to switch to driving to claw-back an hour of time I spent commuting each day. If traffic devolved to the point that I wouldn't be able to drive to work anymore I /would/ adjust, but I'd be generally less happy for it.
This is fair, but it's also fair to point out that the reason why public transit in the US tends to be so much slower than driving for commuting is precisely because we've invested far more money and land and policies into driving.
Now that I live in Munich, doing folding scooter + train is faster than driving to work. Mostly because public transportation here is good, rather than bad, because they've chosen to invest seriously in multiple modes of transport, rather than just one.
Fair point, but arguably that's a bit short term thinking. What if at the same time(driven by increased ridership) public transport improved to the point where it's not an extra hour, but instead about the same time or only slightly longer than driving?
I don't think most US cities would ever get to a point where public transport and bicycles are much faster for a lot of regular routes (like in some European cities), but the gap can be closed if there is political and financial support to improve the infrastructure.
My most productive time each day is the ~half hour on the bus or train to work. I plan my day, answer all simple emails, and when I’m in the office I can get right to the important things.
I get that many jobs (and even more employers) require 8 hours attendance, that not everyone has volunteer work to do when they can’t work work on their commute, and that some public transport doesn’t accommodate any kind of being productive - but I’m still amazed at how many people prefer say 40 minutes driving to an hour sitting on a train and a 10 minute walk.
There are also other ways to reclaim dead time on public transport like reading a book, listening to podcast, or just plain relax. You can't do those while driving without compromising your attention and (therefore) safety of yourself and others.
With the right infrastructure, 12 miles is about a 45-50 minute ride, for what it's worth. When I commuted from Santa Monica to El Segundo it was 13 miles and the bike averaged ~5 minutes slower than car (I was in the best shape of my life and loved starting the day that way, to boot.)
At lot of that depends on where you live. Southern California has a pretty ideal climate. I'm in Austin and I can manage my 7 mile commute in the summer until the temperature gets above about 102. I'm fortunate that my workplace has a shower.
A 12 mile winter commute in some of the northern states could be pretty dangerous.
