地鐵公交通勤路,何處能尋到幸福？
Amid the millions of commuters crowding trains and clogging highways each workday is a rare creature: the contented commuter.
每個工作日，在擠在列車裏、堵在公路上的億萬通勤者中，有一種少見的怪物：心滿意足的通勤者。How to create the perfect commute? Track down a few happy travelers, and they'll tell you it's not just about length. People can enjoy commutes as long as 45 minutes, studies show -- and men are less frustrated by long commutes than women. But a happy commute is predictable. It is productive -- often enlivened by mobile devices and satellite radio. And it offers clear rewards for the hassle. A person who commutes an hour each way has to make 40% more money to be as satisfied with life as a person who lives near the office, according to research co-authored by Alois Stutzer, an economics professor at the University of Basel in Switzerland.
怎樣的通勤纔是完美的？去問一些快樂的旅客，他們會對你說，這不只關係到時間的長短。研究表明，人們可以享受長達45分鐘的通勤，而男性比女性更能忍耐長時間通勤。然而快樂的通勤是可預料的；是高效的──常因手機和衛星廣播的幫助而變得活躍起來；而且會給通勤中的麻煩帶來明確的補償。據瑞士巴塞爾大學(University of Basel)經濟學教授阿盧伊斯・施蒂策(Alois Stutzer)與人合作發表的研究，單向通勤一小時的人必須多掙40%的錢，纔會像住在辦公室附近的人一樣滿意。Mike Venerable plans his 30- to 45-minute car commute from Mason, Ohio, to his job in Cincinnati to gain efficiency and control. If he doesn't have an early meeting at work, he avoids traffic by waiting to hit the road and starts his workday at Starbucks over a grande half-caf with cream. He heeds traffic reports and varies his route to avoid congestion -- taking back streets if necessary. Mr. Venerable, a managing director of CincyTech, a Cincinnati investment group, uses his hands-free phone to stream country music and 'make a ton of calls,' scheduling talks with West Coast clients for the drive home.
邁克・韋納瑞博(Mike Venerable)從俄亥俄州的梅森(Mason)開車到辛辛納提上班要花30至45分鐘。爲取得效率和掌控感，他對這段行程做了一番規劃。如果早上不開會，他就暫時不上路以避開車流，並在星巴克(Starbucks)要一大杯低因咖啡加奶油，開始一天的工作。他留意交通廣播，調整路線以免擁堵──如有必要就走小道。韋納瑞博是辛辛納提投資公司CincyTech的董事總經理。他用搭配藍牙耳機的手機在線播放鄉村音樂，並“打很多電話”，與西海岸地區客戶的交談都安排到開車回家的途中。
He sometimes keeps talking after he pulls into his driveway, even when his three children, ages 11 through 13, peer through the car window. 'The ultimate commuter -- a person who really likes the amenities of commuting -- is somebody like me, who will pull into the driveway and have a conversation going on for 20 minutes without getting out of the car,' Mr. Venerable says.
有時他把車開進回家的車道之後還在講話，三個11歲到13歲的孩子就隔着車窗往外張望。韋納瑞博說：“終極通勤者──一個真正喜歡通勤之便利性的人──就像我一樣，會把車開進車道，然後不出車門讓談話繼續進行20分鐘。”Some of his friends think his commute is long -- and it is by the standards of Cincinnati, where commutes average about 24 minutes. But Mr. Venerable, 51, purposely chose the calm suburb of Mason, which has made Money magazine's best-small-towns list, when he quit his job in northern Virginia several years ago. Congestion in Cincinnati is predictable. His drive takes half as long as the hour to 11/2 hours it took back in Virginia, where 'you can hit a traffic jam at 11 a.m. or 2 p.m. or 8 p.m.,' he says.
有些朋友覺得他的上下班距離太遠──這是按辛辛納提平均24分鐘的通勤時間爲標準來說的。但現年51歲的韋納瑞博在幾年前辭去弗吉尼亞北部一份工作的時候，有意選擇了曾經入選《Money》雜誌最佳小鎮排行的平靜郊區小鎮梅森。辛辛納提的擁堵可以預見。相比在弗吉尼亞時的一到一個半小時，韋納瑞博現在的開車時間只有一半。他說，在弗吉尼亞，上午11點、下午2點或晚上8點都有可能遇到堵車。A growing number of Americans have very long commutes, new national data show. While the average commute has remained unchanged at 25.5 minutes in recent years, those traveling more than an hour each way rose to 11.1 million in 2012, up 300,000 from 2011, says Alan Pisarski, a Falls Church, Va., transportation consultant and author of a series of national commuting studies.
新的全國性數據顯示，美國通勤時間非常長的人越來越多。雖然近幾年平均通勤時間一直保持在25.5分鐘不變，但據弗吉尼亞弗爾斯徹奇(Falls Church)交通諮詢師、多份全國性通勤研究報告的作者艾倫・皮薩爾斯基(Alan Pisarski)說，2012年單向通勤時間超過一小時的人數已較2011年增加30萬，達到1,110萬人。More women are making long commutes than in the past, and a growing percentage drive alone rather than car-pooling or taking mass transit, Mr. Pisarski says. Women tend to be unhappier about long commutes than men, even after controlling for any improvement in income, job satisfaction or housing quality -- perhaps because women tend to shoulder more housework at home, says a 2011 study in the Journal of Health Economics.
皮薩爾斯基說，經歷長時間通勤的女性多於以往，並且單獨開車而不是拼車或搭乘公共交通的比例也在上升。據《衛生經濟學雜誌》(Journal of Health Economics)2011年發表的一篇論文，即使排除收入、工作滿意度或居住質量這些因素的影響，女性對長時間通勤的不滿程度往往也高於男性──這可能是因爲女性往往負擔了更多的家務。While a growing number of people bike to work, it is small. More than 75% of commuters travel alone by car, Census data show. Driving is usually faster than mass transit. But it can add stress. In big cities, car commuters waste 52 hours a year stuck in traffic, according to the Texas A&M Transportation Institute, College Station, Texas. Mr. Pisarski adds, 'A commuter who says, 'This trip should take 20 minutes and it's taking 30' can get very frustrated.' The desire for predictability drives many commuters to switch to mass transit, says a 2011 study by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania.
騎車上班的人在增多，但數量仍然很少。美國人口普查局(Census)數據顯示，單獨開車上下班的通勤者佔75%以上。開車上下班通常比乘坐公共交通更快，但也有可能增加人的壓力。據德州農工交通運輸研究所(Texas A&M Transportation Institute)數據，在大城市開車通勤的人一年有52小時因爲堵在車流裏而白白浪費。皮薩爾斯基說，“說‘這一趟本該20分鐘走完，結果走了30分鐘’的通勤者可能會感到非常惱火”。賓夕法尼亞大學(University of Pennsylvania)研究人員2011年發表的一篇論文說，很多通勤者希望通勤路途可以預見，所以改乘公共交通。Holland Sullivan of Bronxville, N.Y., a close-in suburb of New York City, has what he considers the perfect commute. When he and his wife moved from the city last year, Mr. Griffin swapped a subway ride for a 27-minute train ride, followed by a 10- to 15-minute subway trip, to his job in the city as a managing director at Griffin Securities, an investment-banking firm. But he's happy with the trade-off, having gained 2,000 additional square feet of space in their home, two more bedrooms and a yard, he says.
紐約城近郊小鎮布朗克斯維爾(Bronxville，紐約州境內)的霍蘭德・沙利文(Holland Sullivan)認爲自己的通勤屬於完美。在投資銀行Griffin Securities任董事總經理的沙利文原來上班只坐一段地鐵就到了，去年和妻子一起搬離市區後，他得先坐27分鐘的火車然後再坐10至15分鐘的地鐵才能到達位於城內的公司。但沙利文說，他對這種妥協感到滿意，因爲他們的住宅增加了2,000平方英尺（約合186平方米）的面積，多了兩間臥室和一個後院。Mr. Sullivan, 35, downloads several newspapers and magazines onto his smartphone each night to get all his reading done on the train. He gets exercise walking to the station -- 0.91 mile, according to his Nike app. He boards the first car, in order to be among the first in line for the subway when he gets off, then stakes out a position on the platform to get closer to a subway-car door. When he carries an umbrella, he makes sure it can hang on his briefcase, so he can keep one hand free for reading while strap-hanging.
現年35歲的沙利文每晚將多份報紙雜誌下載到智能手機上，全部拿到火車上去讀。步行去車站的路上，他得到了鍛鍊──Nike應用程度顯示的距離爲0.91英里（約合1,465米）。他上第一節車廂，以便下車時第一批進入地鐵，然後在站臺上找一個更加接近地鐵車廂門的位置。在帶傘的時候，他確保傘能夠掛在公文包上，以便在抓緊扶手時還能騰出一隻手用於閱讀。'Even when I'm standing in the subway jammed shoulder-to-shoulder, I'm getting something done,' he says.
他說：“哪怕是跟人肩並肩擠在地鐵裏的時候，我也是在做某件事情。”Nicole Engelbert, 41, could save time most days by driving from Bronxville to her job in Manhattan as a research-team leader at Ovum, a technology-research company. But she opts for a one-hour commute by train and subway instead.
現年41歲的妮科爾・恩格爾貝特(Nicole Engelbert)是科技研究公司Ovum一支研究團隊的帶頭人，家住布朗克斯維爾(Bronxville)，上班地點在曼哈頓。大多數時候，如果她開車上班的話都能節省時間，但她仍然選擇火車加地鐵的上班方式，時間爲一個小時。She walks to and from the station every day, taking her 2-year-old son to preschool in the morning and doing errands in the evening. She avoids chatting with other passengers, using the ride as 'an in-between space' to read or think. Sketching on a note pad during a recent ride, she came up with a new idea for analyzing technology markets. 'Driving could take half as much time, but I could be cursing at the driver in front of me and not getting a chance to read my book or relax,' she says.
她每天都是步行進出車站，早上順路把兩歲的兒子送到託兒所，晚上順路買些東西。她避免跟其他乘客交談，把這段路途當作一種用於閱讀或思考的“過渡空間”。前不久在路上用記事本寫寫劃劃的時候，她就想出了一條分析科技市場的新方法。她說：“開車的時間或許只佔一半，但我可能是在咒罵前面的司機，而沒有機會閱讀或放鬆。”Predictability is worth a lot to Bobby Brancazio when he commutes -- $174 a month, to be exact. Mr. Brancazio became so frustrated by long lines and delays on his bus commute from Hoboken, N.J., to New York City that he switched a year ago to the ferry. The cost is $272 a month, compared with $98 for the bus, says Mr. Brancazio, 29, a civil engineer. But his new route takes 30 to 45 minutes, compared with 11/2 to 2 hours on the bus. He loves standing on the ferry's top deck, taking photos of the skyline. 'It's like an eight-minute vacation every day, a mini-cruise in the middle of the concrete jungle,' he says.
通勤的可預見性對於鮑比・布蘭卡奇奧(Bobby Brancazio)來說十分重要──具體而言價值每月174美元（約合人民幣1,067元）。他坐巴士從新澤西州的霍博肯(Hoboken)到紐約城上班的時候要排很長的隊，而巴士又經常晚點，一氣之下他在一年前改坐渡輪。這位29歲的土木工程師說，坐渡輪的成本是一個月272美元（約合人民幣1,667元），坐巴士是一個月98美元（約合人民幣600元），但新的路線只需耗時30到45分鐘，而坐巴士要一個半到兩個小時。他喜歡站在渡輪的頂層甲板上拍攝城市的天際線。他說：“這就像每天度假八分鐘，像混凝土叢林中的一次小規模巡遊。”There are signs that more people are enjoying their commute. 'I'm amazed at how often people say the commute is pleasurable,' Mr. Pisarski says. Many regard it as 'a positive bridge' between work and home, he says. For others, cellphones and social media ease the frustrations of the past, such as feeling cut off or surprised by traffic jams.
從一些跡象來看，享受上下班路途的人越來越多。皮薩爾斯基說：“說上下班路途心情舒暢的人之多，讓我感到驚奇。”他說，很多人將通勤路途視爲工作與家之間的“積極橋樑”。對於另一些人來說，手機和社交媒體減輕了過去的焦躁，比如在堵車時的隔絕感或意外感。A six-year study of 27,556 British rail passengers, published earlier this year, found 37% fewer commuters felt their travel time was wasted in 2010, compared with 2004. One reason, researchers hypothesized, was a doubling of passengers listening to music, radio or podcasts on mobile devices in the six-year period and an 83% rise in commuters browsing the Internet or checking email during the ride.
今年早些時候發表的一項針對英國27,556名軌道交通乘客、爲期六年的調查發現，2010年感到上下班時間被浪費掉的通勤者相比2004年少了37%。研究人員猜測，原因之一是這六年期間在手機上聽音樂、廣播或播客的乘客數量翻了一倍，路上瀏覽網頁、查看郵件的通勤者也增加了83%。Janice Berlik, a 34-year-old ski-apparel buyer, drives 35 minutes from her home in Eagle, Colo., to her job in Vail. Traveling rugged terrain, she packs water, a blanket, boots, jumper cables and flares. But she looks forward to the journey, she says, because she can tune in to the Howard Stern show on Sirius satellite radio. Listening to interviews and music, she says, 'gets me through the morning drive.'
34歲的滑雪裝備採購員賈尼絲・貝爾利克(Janice Berlik)從她位於科羅拉多州伊格爾(Eagle)的家中開車去韋爾(Eagle)上班要花35分鐘時間。由於要穿越崎嶇地帶，她在車上放了水、毯子、靴子、跳接線和照明彈。但她說，這段旅程她很期待，因爲她可以調到Sirius衛星廣播聽霍華德・斯特恩(Howard Stern)主持的節目。她說，聽訪談和音樂“讓我熬過了早上的駕駛旅程”。
