Observe human behavior mostly.

Kidding aside, 50% of the time I read the news on my iPad, 25% chat with my flatmates if we take the same train, 25% of the time Netflix (highly recommend, commute goes by really fast)

 

I actually work. My train ride is almost an hour and I can sit there comfortably at a table. I work in VC where there is always the next business plan to read, the next board meeting to prepare or the next memo to write. I basically walk to the station, jump on the train and start to work. I prefer to rest at home.

I don't understand how people have the luxury to spend 1hr+ driving into work, a complete waste in my view.

 
Best Response

I've had long and short train/subway commutes at various points. The Subway/Tube/T is pretty useless to try to get anything accomplished because you're packed in like a sardine. My London commute, which should have been short, was from only from Kensington to Mayfair and it took 45 minutes but it was useless because I was standing on the platform on the Central Line then packed in the Tube. It was only 5 or 6 stop but I couldn't get a thing done.

I've also had 15-20 minute train rides but they were too short to actually accomplish work so I'd catch up on the news and other BS. My most useful commutes have been the long ones. I did a >1 hr commute for about 1.5 years on a train that was actually comfortable with a table to put a lap top on. I thought I'd hate it but it was great because I could have a coffee, read and respond to emails, look over new deals, and other lighter things (it wasn't worth getting into legal docs that take real concentration for example) so that when I got into the office at the same time I would have even if I lived around the corner, I was that much further into my day and had done all the stupid stuff you tend to do for the first hour. And at the end instead of dicking around at my computer, I knew the train was leaving at, say, 7:15 so I'd get my ass out of the office and still know I was working until 8:15. If you ever do the longer commute though I'd make sure that you don't live or work too far from the train station on either end: you don't want to get to the city after an hour on the train only to have another 20 mins on the subway.

 

My commute is a ~20 minute walk. I listen to music. As Dingdong08 said, it's impossible to get any tangible work done on public transportation. You can only really do work if you are taking a train like the Amtrak or Metro North.

 

~50 minute train ride..either read non-fiction or various newsletters on my phone. Find it hard to focus on work related material that requires strong attention to detail.

 

I would work or study for the CFAs or even take a nap when I took the train. It was great even with an hour long commute. Then I did walking and the subway and it was miserable got nothing done and felt exhausted when I got home.

I will never commute via subway again. I would rather spend half of my free time on an Amtrak or commuter rail than deal with a long subway ride.

 

I used to have an hour and a half commute each way before I moved to be closer to work. But it helped turn me into a morning person--I listened to full albums the whole way through, read a ton of books, and did most of my writing for WSO and HOM during that time.

Metal. Music. Life. www.headofmetal.com
 

It's true that some people enjoy reading on a long commute. I must rather shamefully admit that I too was part of the common herd. However, being a man of taste and refinement I prefer a slightly more sophisticated and discerning pursuit. Mostly just staring at people, originally just young women but a true connoisseur must expand his pallet.

Men, women, the young and old, they all twitch uncomfortable as I peer at them from behind my copy of the FT with a large, silver dollar sized hole in it. You can do this standing or sitting and in either case, once it becomes apparent that they've realized what you are doing, you must edge even closer and violate more of their personal space. Closer and closer until they begin to feel claustrophobic. It's important that no part of your body touches the subject. This a social and psychological exercise.

About once every two weeks, I'll be by the doors on my train and edge closer and closer so that the unlucky subject has to press his/her body against the doors, so stifled by the uncomfortable scrutiny of my gaze. I've found it's easier to do this to the old and the short while young and fat people make the hardest targets. There is actually no difference among the genders or races.

Anyway, by pursuing this exciting, new past-time, I believe you will look forward to each and every trip.

 

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