“Some of the MARC riders with whom I once shared two hours a day, for example, clearly could not get enough of the stuff. For years, I marveled at the train’s “

“Some of the MARC riders with whom I once shared two hours a day, for example, clearly could not get enough of the stuff. For years, I marveled at the train’s “party car” scene — a clutch of garrulous characters who claimed the quartet of face-to-face seats and spent every evening sharing snacks and happy-hour-grade yuks. They often kept this up into the station; as the rest of us trudged past on our way home, a half-dozen might be holding forth in a little knot in the center of the hall, too lost in happy gab to part ways. One standing-room-only ride home late in December, I wedged myself into their party zone, uninvited, and was immediately handed liquor-filled chocolates. These people’s souls were not being crushed.” During my many years regularly using public transit (buses, trains (including MARC), subways, limos) and public air carriers, I cannot recall a single instance over many hundreds of trips observing anything close to a “party” attitude from my fellow business travelers/commuters. Airplane lounges for frequent flyers were the only thing that ever came close. Free booze will do that. There was a low-key camaraderie, often mentioned in 20th C literature, that developed among rail commuters in bedroom communities in NYC. The last day of a train conductor’s career would be celebrated with a party given by the commuters with whom he shared many years of many rides. If a regular didn’t show up for a few consecutive rides, there would be questions asked and discreet inquiries made. Maybe a wedding in the car if the happy couple met during commutes, as a PR stunt. But mostly it was a daily foreshadowing of a Limbo-to-Come, a necessary evil. I suppose you could take mind-altering pharmaceuticals if you aren’t doing the driving, and that might make the time pass more pleasantly. That might also explain the author’s remembrances. In my experience, commuters just wanted to get to their destination as quickly as possible with minimum hassle and discomfort. Over-romanticizing long unpleasant urban commutes…just another service offered by Manhattan-based Bloomberg Media.