(Redirected from Commuters)
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'Commuting' is the process of
travelling between a place of residence and a place of work. Students who are enrolled at a
college or
university but who live off-campus are also typically referred to as commuters; such institutions having few
dormitories are called ''commuter schools'' in the
United States.
Commuting is largely a phenomenon of
industrialised societies, where access to modern
modes of travel such as
automobile,
trains,
buses and
bicycles has enabled people to live far from their workplace. Prior to the
19th century most workers lived less than an hour's walking distance from their workplace. Modern commuting usually refers to people travelling, usually daily, to workplaces beyond their own towns, cities and villages.
The advent of modern commuting has had a large impact on life. It has allowed
cities to expand to sizes which were previously not practical, and it has led to the proliferation of
suburbs.
Many large cities or
conurbations are surrounded by 'commuter belts', also known as
metropolitan areas, where people who work in the
city or conurbation live. These regions are often called
commuter towns, dormitory towns, or bedroom communities.
As
urban sprawl pushes farther and farther away from
central business districts, new businesses can appear in
outlying cities, leading to the existence of the
reverse commuter who lives in a core city but works in the suburbs, and to a type of secondary commuter who lives in a more distant
exurb and works in the outlying city or industrial suburb.
Commuting by car is often regarded as a major contributing factor to
traffic congestion and
air pollution. In response, some governments and employers have introduced employee
travel reduction programs that encourage such alternatives as
carpooling and
telecommuting.
The word 'commute' is derived from the reduced or 'commuted' fare paid by the purchaser of a rail season ticket, where a lesser amount is paid, in advance, for a ticket covering journeys for a period into the future. In general, the longer the validity of the ticket, the greater the discount will be.
See also
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Bicycle commuting
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Motorcycle Commuting
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Extreme Commuting
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Carpooling
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Commuter train
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Commuter worker, a
U.S. term for a person who commutes to work across across the
Mexican-
U.S. Border
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Journey to work
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Roadway air pollution
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Park and ride
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Straphanger
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Slugging
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Suburb
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Telecommuting
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Transit-oriented development
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Urban planning
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Urban sprawl
External links
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US Commuting Averages (2002)
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Some Commuters are travelling from France to London
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Platform 11 - Ireland's National Rail Commuter Group