You can do those things if you get a seat, which you generally cannot during commuting hours in any city where public transit is good enough to be popular.
I commuted for awhile between Baltimore and DC on Amtrak and apart from being hellaciously unreliable it was great for working. But my commute from the upper west side to east midtown when I lived in NYC was completely different—being crammed into the 1/2/3 and then fighting through the masses to take the S across town.
> You can do those things if you get a seat, which you generally cannot during commuting hours in any city where public transit is good enough to be popular.
I see lots of people watching movies/series or reading books (physical or ebooks) while standing up in various Paris transit during rush hour.
You can listen to music or a podcast while standing.
I just plugged in upper west side and midtown Manhattan into google maps... It said 18 minutes via transit. Maybe your commute had more complications, last mile and so on.
You can listen to music or a podcast while driving. You can even hear it over the din of your car engine, which is much less loud than being shoved into a box with a hundred other people.
I commuted for awhile between Baltimore and DC on Amtrak and apart from being hellaciously unreliable it was great for working. But my commute from the upper west side to east midtown when I lived in NYC was completely different—being crammed into the 1/2/3 and then fighting through the masses to take the S across town.