 THE JUGGLE

“The Gift of Travel Time:” When a

Commute is Actually Enjoyable
By Don Ciandella
Jun 3, 2009 1:00 am ET
0 RESPONSES

Associated Press

Sometimes a commute can be inspiring, like this view of St. Paul's Cathedral in London. 

I've had an easy ride when it comes to commuting.

For most of my working life, I've been able to walk to work - and some of these trips
have even been inspiring.

For several years I walked to work through the rich history of the South Bank of the
Thames river in London, from an apartment near Tower Bridge past London Bridge,
Shakespeare's Globe Theatre and the Tate Modern and then over the river past St. Paul's
Cathedral, Sir Christopher Wren’s 17th Century masterpiece. Years earlier in Boston, I
went through the well-kept streets of Back Bay and the Commons, the oldest park in the
U.S., to the financial district.

Even the less interesting walks had some pluses - like the cross-town New York walk
past the Empire State Building and the stride through Chicago’s art gallery-filled Near
North neighborhood to the Loop.
Now my walk-to-work days will soon be over. My employer is moving us to midtown
New York from the banks of the Hudson River in Jersey City. Instead of a 15-minute
walk from my brownstone neighborhood, I'll have to take a Path train into the city.

I’m of two minds about the commute. Relying on my own two feet to get to work has
been simple and satisfying - less draining on me and the environment and a source of
exercise (like Harry S. Truman I like to walk with purpose). It’s also freed up time that I
can spend with my two young children. On top of that, my downtown Jersey City
neighborhood has a 94 “walk score” on the online real estate information
provider Zillow - making it a solid walker's paradise. (The walk score awards points for a
home’s proximity to stores, restaurants, schools and parks.)
But there's only one New York. And, not only am I overdue for a commute, I’m curious
about what it may offer. A study by the University of the West of England last year found
a commute can provide time for a "transition" between work and home – something I
don’t get now unless I stop for a coffee or drink.
"Travel is assumed to be the price that is paid for reaching the destination,” Professor
Glenn Lyons says. "However, this apparent burden of travel can be viewed quite
differently as a gift. The gift can take the form of transition time.”

Lyons and principal researcher, Juliet Jain, said in “The Gift of Travel Time” that a
commute can be “time to think and prepare for the activities ahead, while for the return
journey it was about unwinding and shedding the stresses of the day to ensure that
negative moods were not taken home and a clean break between each day is made.”

It’s no walk, but I’m looking forward to this forced downtime – or what a University of
California-Davis study called “anti-activity.”
The hassles of our commutes have long been popular Juggle topics. Readers, do any of
you actually cherish your commutes and the downtime they provide?