Editing Commuting (section)

== History ==

The first separation between workplace and place of residence occurred as a result of the invention of the [[Steam locomotive|steam railway]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Heblich|first1=Stephan|last2=Redding|first2=Stephen J.|last3=Sturm|first3=Daniel M.|date=2020-11-01|title=The Making of the Modern Metropolis: Evidence from London|url=http://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/download/dp1573.pdf|journal=The Quarterly Journal of Economics|language=en|volume=135|issue=4|pages=2059–2133|doi=10.1093/qje/qjaa014|issn=0033-5533}}</ref> The word ''commuter'' derives from the early days of rail travel in US cities, such as New York, Philadelphia, Boston and Chicago, where, in the 1840s, the railways engendered suburbs from which travelers paid a reduced or 'commuted' fare into the city. Later, the [[back formation]]s "commute" and "commuter" were coined therefrom. Commuted tickets would usually allow the traveler to repeat the same journey as often as they liked during the period of validity: normally, the longer the period the cheaper the cost per day.<ref>{{Citation
  | last = Paumgarten
  | first = Nick
  | title = There and Back Again: The soul of the commuter
  | newspaper = The New Yorker
  | pages = para 14
  | date = 16 April 2007
  | url = http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/04/16/070416fa_fact_paumgarten?printable=true
  | access-date = 9 October 2009
}}</ref>

Before the 19th century, most workers lived less than an hour's walk from their work. The Industrial Revolution brought specialization of work and workplaces, and relocated most paid work from households and rural areas to factories in urban areas.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Encyclopedia of the City|last=Caves|first=R. W.|publisher=Routledge|year=2004|pages=138}}</ref> Today, many people travel daily to work a long way from their own towns, cities, and villages, especially in [[Industrial Revolution|industrialised societies]]. Depending on factors such as the high cost of housing in city centres, lack of [[public transit]], and [[traffic congestion]], [[mode of travel|modes of travel]] may include [[automobile]]s, [[motorcycle]]s, [[train]]s, [[aircraft]], [[bus]]es, and [[bicycle]]s. Where Los Angeles is infamous for its automobile gridlock, commuting in New York is closely associated with the subway; in London and Tokyo and several European cities, "commuter" is automatically associated with rail passengers.<ref>Smoothly from Harrow: A Compendium for the London Commuter by Chris Moss (Blue Guides, 2013)</ref> In the near future{{when|date=January 2021}} there may be another move away from the traditional "commute" with the introduction of flexible working. Some have suggested that many employees would be far more productive and live healthier, stress-free lives if the daily commute is removed completely.

=== Suburbs ===
{{main|commuter town}}
Commuting has had a large impact on modern life. It has allowed cities to grow to sizes that were previously not practical, and it has led to the proliferation of suburbs. Many large cities or [[conurbation]]s are surrounded by [[commuter belt]]s, also known as [[metropolitan area]]s, [[commuter town]]s, dormitory towns, or bedroom communities.  The prototypical commuter lives in one of these areas and travels daily to work or to school in the core city.

As [[urban sprawl]] pushes further and further away from [[central business district]]s, new businesses can appear in [[edge city|outlying cities]], leading to the existence of the [[reverse commuter]] who lives in a core city but works in the suburbs, and to a type of secondary commuter who lives in a more distant [[exurb]] and works in the outlying city or [[industrial suburb]].