With smartphones, headphones, tablets and smarter cars, your commute can be more productive than ever. Gone are the days of the sleepy office worker shuttling back and forth to her job in a bubble of silence. (Though you can have that, too, if you want it.)
“Commutes are no longer downtime, it’s productivity time,” said Mitchell Moss, director of the Rudin Center for Transportation Policy and Management at New York University.
The increased ability to work or be entertained on your trip to the office may be part of the reason commuting times continue to get longer, Mr. Moss argues. “Commuting is more tolerable in terms of distance and time,” he said, citing better headphones, expanded Wi-Fi networks, more comfortable cars and the growth of podcasting. “No one reads the physical newspaper anymore on the subways; everyone’s listening to podcasts.”
Need downtime? You can easily have it on your way to work.
Need time to listen to an audiobook or podcast, or watch…
