Tom Vanderbilt directs us to a study about the effect of long commuting times on absenteeism.
The problem is measureable to a typical 10-15% increase in absenteeism,
The knee jerk reaction here is to pose a "smart growth", changing density over time. But there is more on the menu, one of them is speed up the commute velocity, another is to let the commuter read the morning paper while commuting. Not to mention a third, reduce the number of changeovers. All of the solutions bound into two resources, silicon brains and existing asphalt roads. Make note of this, Venture Capitalists.
Why now?
We do something now we didn't do before, we click on something called Shipping Charge, we even get distance and time to ship, route and maps. A sign of an economy where the information technology advances much faster than transportation.
Back to the numbers
This cost is not 'in addition to' saved labor on reducing commutes, that is a fallacy of composition. The total cost of commute times are composed of many more partially correlated costs, probably five or six; with a multiplier of hidden costs.
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