Comments on: Life on the LIRR

By: C

Sat, 08 Apr 2017 12:46:51 +0000

You’ve painted a bit of a negative picture for those who commute, but I’d like to offer a different perspective: I lived in Brooklyn and commuted into Midtown for years – that subway commute was 45 min and full of jostling/pushing and rude passengers (at times). I moved to a CT suburb and now my train commute is nearly an hour. But in that morning hour, I start emails for the day, plan out my work and goals, read news relevant to my industry, and do other projects from my laptop that don’t require an internet connection. On the way home, I finish up work or respond to emails (to login and send once back at home and kids are settled), I read for fun, order groceries online, find last-minute birthday gifts on Amazon and generally manage the house as much as I can from my phone. By making these hours work for me as much as I can, I find I am more productive than I ever was when I lived in the city. And I always get a seat, so that helps 🙂

By: J.

J. — Fri, 07 Apr 2017 19:55:11 +0000

A similar culture exists among Metra train users in the Chicago suburbs. Midwesterners are willing to strike up conversations with familiar-looking strangers on the platforms, and regular commuters who hit it off often start sitting together in a particular train car–especially on Friday evenings, when young women in short-shorts sell beers to the homebound crowds streaming down the escalators in Union Station. My father rode the Burlington-Northern line for 25 years, and had friends he only socialized with on the inbound or outbound trains. They celebrated promotions, retirements and other milestones by bringing coffee and donuts to share on the inbound ride–or mixers and snacks for the outbound ride’s cocktail hour (Metra conductors look the other way if alcohol drinkers are discreet and dispose of their trash). There are kiss-and-ride lanes and years-long waiting lists for parking spaces near the suburban stations.

By: jennie

jennie — Thu, 06 Apr 2017 18:08:53 +0000

Your post has me thinking.My husband drives 25 minutes to a larger town for his job, but I could almost walk if it weren’t for the rural nature of our town. I live about 5 minutes by car from my job. Because I am closest in proximity to the kids, I seem to do all of the back and forth. Even though my husband arrives home before I do, I am usually the one who does all of the little trips back and forth. I wonder if I did have to commute farther would I be more organized in my trips. Because it is such a small thing to run back and forth, I probably waste a great deal of time not thinking through my afternoon errands. If I really thought about it (and tracked my time more thoroughly) I would probably find that I lose an hour or more just by not being conscientious. I may even be losing more time than if I had a larger commute. It seems like nothing to arrive home and realize I am out of milk and pop into town to get more. The whole trip probably takes 15 minutes, but over time, and the fact that I do something similar almost daily…. hmmm.

By: Gillian

Gillian — Thu, 06 Apr 2017 17:57:52 +0000

In reply to lauravanderkam. The NYTimes recently had a graphic on their website that looked at price/sqft, public school ratings and commute. It was interesting to look at, but it used average commute of the population living there not minutes to NYC. This was super deceiving. It made place in far northern Westchester and the eastern end of LI look much more attractive than they would be for someone trying to get into Manhattan daily. In this case this is definitely a time vs. money calculus.

By: lauravanderkam

lauravanderkam — Thu, 06 Apr 2017 17:21:42 +0000

In reply to Gillian.

@Gillian – if one is sitting on the train it can be pretty pleasant as a commute – but yes, when people do something 10 times a week, every minute adds up. There can be a big difference between a 30-minute train ride and a 50-minute one, and I suspect it affects the choices people make. It affects prices of houses too, of course, which is something that is going on. the longer the train ride, or distance from a station, the less housing costs.
And it is a very NY phenomenon to think of towns as being “minutes” from Grand Central, or Penn, as opposed to miles (a more unusual unit of distance).

By: Gillian

Gillian — Thu, 06 Apr 2017 16:22:16 +0000

I commute from southern Westchester, sometimes by train and sometimes by car. Our town is a brief 34 minutes to Grand Central by train. But there are things within our town that hinge on the train commute too. Homes that are walking distance from the train are at a premium. The public schools and two if the nursery schools are all within walking distance to the train. When I take my kids to school we go to the big school, the nursery school and then I have just enough time to swing by for a coffee before catching the 9:07. Conversely, on the way home everyone in my train car is from my town. That car offers the quickest walk home. However, I think because we are situated closer to Manhattan we have a lot more moms who continue to work in our town and the surrounding ones. Having grown up on the west coast, train commuting does seem a uniquely east coast phenomenon.