Epic Commutes Face Those Caught In Public Transit Puzzle
It's a sign of the times: More people are commuting for more than an hour to get to work, and many of the longest commutes are at least partially on public transportation.
Take Sarah Hairston's commute from her apartment on Chicago's South Side to her part-time job at a shelter for homeless teens on the north side of town.
Hairston, a 25-year-old graduate student, begins her trek at 4 a.m. by walking to a nearby bus stop, in the hopes of catching a bus to the L train. But if Hairston misses the bus to that train or if the bus is late, she'll turn to plan B — walking a few more blocks to a different train station where she'll have to wait 20 to 30 minutes for the next train. Or she defaults to plan C: walking to a different bus stop to take her to yet another train line.
And generally, she does a whole lot of waiting. In fact, Hairston spends almost as much time waiting outside in Chicago's sometimes brutal weather as she does riding, all while navigating a complicated public transit puzzle. For Hairston, it's a two-hour commute to go 15 miles to work a four-hour shift at the shelter. If she could afford a car, she says the drive to the shelter would take her just 20 minutes.
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