The Commute

Believe it or not, the thing I miss about going to an office is the commute. No really.

But not the train commute, and thank God I don't have to drive.

I miss the bike commute. Last month I went into the client's office much more than I do now (only twice in June) so I was really getting good at shaving off valuable seconds and minutes to the point where riding the bike to work only took five minutes more (40-45) than taking the subway (35-40).

Now, the subway has the benefit of providing time to read, but biking has the benefit of listening to NPR podcasts. What's more, on part of the route Tomoe and I take (she rides it every day now) we get to cruise down a beautiful, wide, car-free path around the Emperor's palace. It was especially invigorating a few weeks ago when the flowers were blooming and the air was a bit crisper. Now, as summer sets in, that particular portion is still nice, but Tomoe is complaining that she needs to find another route to spice up the commute.

For some reason the other people in the office are always amazed that anyone would ride a bike -gasp- 40 minutes! Which, I guess, is part of the fun - doing something different. (remember now, this is a sustainability consultancy that, in theory, believes that more people should commute by bike.)

Of course, we do have the luxury of living quite close to the city center (yet as nice a neighborhood as they come in Tokyo), which means that we can reach most activities within a 45-60 minute ride. What is unfathomable to me is that some people working on our office actually take the train for over an hour to get to work.

I actually used to do this - back when I first came to Tokyo I lived 50 minutes and two transfers from my 4-days-a-week job. One day a week I had a 1.75 hour commute each way with three transfers and 15 minute walk at one of those transfers. Needless to say, that was not my favorite day.

After a few months of that, I changed jobs to where I worked only a 7 minute train-ride from home. Very quickly though, I moved to a 30 minute, one-transfer ride on a major in-bound line. Again, it sucked. It especially sucked in the summer when the train was full of sweaty men in suits, stuffy air, and steamy windows.

That is when I first started biking to work. That bike trip was also 30 minutes exactly. Despite the crappiness of riding a bike with a suit in the summer, I kept it up because it was much better than that crowded train.

I eventually changed jobs to where I was working about 25 minute direct train ride (on the same line) from home. The difference was that this time I was one of the few people taking the train out of Tokyo. There was always a seat, and it was always pleasantly cool. When this happened I lost the habit of biking to work except for in spring and fall when the weather was nice and I could follow the river right outside my window right up to the office door, passing through one of the most popular parks in Tokyo along the way.

The ride to work now is not nearly as nice, even with the section riding by the palace, but we have become more accustomed to riding with cars, and because we are riding through the middle of the city the drivers are a little more aware of bikers (especially at that hour there are a lot of bike delivery people)

Even still, when Tomoe gets on her bike to head to the office, I am often setting out on my morning jog, running in circles, but I still feel a bit of jealousy that she actually has an actual destination.