What have we done to ourselves? So dependent upon vehicles that we’ve destroyed the infrastructure for effective mass transportation?
We also centralize businesses in inner cities that depend upon workers who live in the suburbs.
Robert Puentes, president of the Washington-based Eno Center for Transportation, said the Robert Half finding that 23 percent of employees surveyed had bailed on their jobs due to bad commutes seemed high, but there’s no dispute about some of the downsides of long, stressful commutes to work.
“We do know that there are big impacts of long commutes on the American workforce,” Puentes told Watchdog.org, adding that these include mental health issues, higher divorce rates and high blood pressure.
But the quality of the commute may be just as relevant as the time spent, he said. Research shows workers who are able to walk to work are highly satisfied, and employees who have the option of a pleasant light-rail ride tend to be happier than those who are constantly in bumper-to-bumper traffic, according to Puentes.
More @ Survey Finds 20% of American Workers in Major Cities Quitting Over Unbearable Commutes