Big Time
My head is spinning from the attention paid to transportation issues by traditional news outlets. The latest publication to take an interest in this formerly mundane topic is The New Yorker, which recently ran a page-turner on commuting. The impetus for the article is the extreme commuter phenomenon, which received attention in various local newspapers last fall. Like those articles, this piece by The New Yorker’s Nick Paumgarten attempts to place few stories behind the stunning statistics. Despite the use of humanizing anecdotes that lull the reader into occasional thoughts of sympathy for these brainwashed worker bees, Paumgarten's message is a familiar one: commutes are getting longer and ever larger numbers of people are accepting commutes of at least 90 minutes each way. While the stories and conclusions are not new, this article, like Thomas Friedman’s New York Times Magazine article last Sunday, represents a critical mainstreaming of the issues underlying the challenge we face in living more sustainable lives. The analysis in these articles is more than just the “feel good” lip service paid to these topics once a year on Earth Day, but an in-depth discussion of nuts and bolts topics like mobility and technological innovation that are essential to reducing our dependence on carbon-emitting activities, such as driving a car.
Paumgarten rightfully pinpoints the insidious pattern of denial among extreme commuters. He writes:
[C]ommuting is like sex or sleep: everyone lies. It is said that doctors, when they ask you how much you drink, will take the answer and double it. When a commuter says, “It’s an hour, door-to-door,” tack on twenty minutes.
The lying by these commuters is not just a benign fish tale, though. What long commuters really lie about is the impact long commutes have on their quality of life. Paumgarten pulls in some research to prove his point:
Three years ago, two economists at the University of Zurich, Bruno Frey and Alois Stutzer, released a study called “Stress That Doesn’t Pay: The Commuting Paradox.” They found that, if your trip is an hour each way, you’d have to make forty per cent more in salary to be as “satisfied” with life as a noncommuter is….“They have to trade off social goods for material goods,” Stutzer said. “This is very difficult for people. They make systematic mistakes...” Frey and Stutzer infer that some people, even when the costs become clear, just lack the will power to change. “People have limited self-control and insufficient energy, inducing some people to not even try to improve their lot,” they write. In this regard, they say, commuting resembles smoking and failing to save money.
This observation is solidly supported by Paumgarten’s “role models.” Upon reading their stories, you can’t help but wonder why any of these jobs is so unique that these people wouldn’t have figured a way to work closer to home. In fact, one of the women profiled admits she hasn't looked for another job in years. These people, like their sleep-derived compatriots all along their daily route to work, are chasing a lifestyle that doesn’t exist. A perpetually expanding triangle between work, home and play is destructive to not simply the surrounding environment but to the people inside and out.
With the nation’s longest average commute and a gridlocked core, New York is a prime candidate for many of the innovative policies for reducing congestion discussed on this site. Thankfully, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg agrees with that sentiment. Yesterday, Bloomberg used Earth Day to announce the details of his 25 year plan to create a sustainable city. As predicted, Bloomberg finally endorsed a proposal for congestion pricing for Manhattan. Under the plan, drivers would be charged $8 per day to enter Manhattan below 86th Street. The funds raised would be used to help finance a range of transportation and livability projects included in the Mayor’s plan.
As I wrote last week, Bloomberg’s 2030 plan has been characterized by an uncommon level of substance and thoughtfulness since its introduction late last year. The inclusion of congestion pricing in the package of proposals further signals that the Mayor is serious about fighting congestion and reducing carbon emissions. More importantly, his courage in introducing a concept sure to draw the ire of car addicts across the country, despite its record of succes abroad, should provide some cover for politicians in other U.S. cities with a desperate need to control the flood of cars into downtown. If successful, Bloomberg's plan may remembered as the beginning of the end to car-centric transportation policy in the U.S.
Photo Credit: Michael Rosenthal, New Jersey Transit