Commuting (travel)

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; institutions that have 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. Commuters, however, do not necessarily live far from their workplace by choice, but may be forced to do so by the high cost of housing in city centres. 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.In US commuting chore is becoming more demanding.(In 1980 the average commute was 21.7 minutes,in 1990 average commute was 22.4...(In CUSAT commuters are few) by SARITH )

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.