A Short Commute

I'm glad I don't have a commute into work every day.  That is probably the biggest advantage of working from home -- no daily travel to and from work.

It hasn't always been that way.  My first job out of college was about a 6 or 7 mile commute into town every day.  We lived in the country.  The next two were just a couple of miles.  The third one varied because we moved in the middle of it, but it was anywhere from 12 miles down to about a mile.  Later jobs had as much as 30 miles one way commute, but all of those were country miles and were a great way to get "geared up" for work and then to "unwind" on the way back home.

The worst commute I ever had to deal with was driving into Grapevine from Justin, Texas, on a daily basis.  The distance wasn't unreasonable, but the traffic often was.  I generally allowed an hour for that travel -- one way.

For many years I have worked from home.  The downside is that most "from home" jobs also require lots of travel.  Your office is where ever you happen to be.  As long as I had my cell phone, laptop computer and an Internet connection, I was at the office.  That makes for some very long days when on the road, because often, the evenings at the hotel were spent working on various projects, whether involving spreadsheets, presentations or, just responding to e-mails that accumulated during the day.

I always thought some type of Star Trek transporter device would be ideal for those who have jobs requiring extensive travel.  I can see having a device on your belt that you program coordinates into, push a button and are suddenly transported elsewhere.  There are lots of problems with such a device beyond the obvious one that it doesn't exist.  It would have to include a proximity alert so you didn't suddenly materialize inside another object -- or another person.  It could be used by criminals to pop in and out of targets.

One solution would be to have designated platforms for departures and arrivals -- such as the "transporter room" on Star Trek.  The limitations would simply be the queue for the transporter -- how long would you have to stand in line waiting for a departure and arrival time?  Can you imagine the logistical nightmare computer algorithms required to handle that problem for a giant skyscraper in New York where 10's of thousands of people work and are arriving to/from just as many different places?  There would also still be some other form of travel to your actual office.  Maybe have one transporter platform per block -- but that's a lot of infrastructure cost.

I guess there will always be problems and inconvenience associated with travel.  Mass transit is a solution that works in some places.  Car pooling works in other cases.  Working from home at least eliminates some travel for those able to do so.

Maybe the best solution is for more people to live where they work.  There was a time when most store owners lived either in the back or, above their store.  In our small town we are seeing a number of those old buildings being restored with apartments above that are accessed by street front private stairways.  The apartments are operated as a separate business from the store or, restaurant below.

Well, it's time for me to head to work.  I will finish this post and switch applications on my computer....