London Banter - View Single Post

Colin Rosenstiel · November 4th 05, 11:05 PM posted to uk.transport.london

In article ,
(Roland Perry) wrote:

In message .com,
at 04:34:54 on Mon, 31 Oct 2005, Andy :
Background : A significant percentage of commuters travel privately
when making the journey to and from their place of work. They travel
the same route at the same time, day in day out. Often encompassing
the stress and boredom of congestion and road-works. Their time spent
here can add considerable time to their day and can thus be described
as being 'wasted time'.

It's not wasted time if it's quicker door to door than using public
transport.

Nor is it wasted if they can listen to the radio (or other forms of
"entertainment" if preferred).

I used to listen to the R4 "today" programme for the hour I drove to
work, and "PM"/"6-O-Clock News" on the way home. As a result I was
much better informed about what was going on, and didn't regard the
time as wasted at all. In fact, it was quite relaxing. No need to get
stressed out by delays, any more than similarly regular delays on
public transport. Indeed, one is much more the master of one's
destiny in a car as you can take an alternative route so much easier
than if you are stuck on a train.

If I'd taken the train, the journey would have been more like 1.5hrs,
and it's much more effort to listen to the radio whilst buffeted
around on a commuter train, and getting to and from the station,
compared to sitting in a comfortable car.

I find the time on the train used most productively reading newsgroups
like this (though I have to admit I didn't read this thread until after
I got home tonight). A good reason for a laptop and offline reader.

--
Colin Rosenstiel