I did know one man who never
under-estimated the length of his daily trips, but he was a cynic who
hated the country and lived there because his wife's mother owned the
house, and he multiplied by two the time it really took him to get into
town. The exact truth I have never had.
As a matter of fact, sitting there in a rather stuffy car which made its
way through much unlovely landscape, I reflected that there are really
three different schedules on which suburban traffic is conducted. One is
the time it takes a commuter's friends to come out to see him. Another
is the time he claims it takes him to come into town every day. The
third, and incomparably the shortest of the three, is the time your
friend says it will take him to come into town after the completion of
some very extensive railway improvements which, in practice, I have
found are never completed. I am quite aware that great bridges have
been built, and that railway tunnels have been opened into Long Island
and other railway tunnels into New Jersey, and that steam is being
rapidly replaced by electricity. But it is my firm belief that such of
my suburban friends as live within the zone affected by these
improvements will move away before the change for the better actually
comes.
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