Imagine if the road ahead includes driverless cars. Jiha Hwang/Illustration from The Car in 2035: Mobility Planning for the Near Future is courtesy of the Civic Projects Foundation hide caption
U.S. Commutes: The Way We Get To Work Commuting to jobs is unavoidable, often undesirable and in some cases, getting longer. Nationwide, initiatives are helping to make commutes better. NPR explores some of these efforts and invites listeners to join the conversation using #NPRcommute.
Special Series
U.S. Commutes: The Way We Get To Work
NPR explores efforts to solve commuting challenges nationwide.
Texas Highway 130, a new Austin bypass toll road, is so far east of the city that it sees little traffic. The state recently raised the speed limit there to 85 mph in hopes of boosting its use. Wikipedia hide caption
Bike-sharing is increasingly popular. But those who need it most often have the least access to it. Meredith Rizzo/NPR hide caption
Original caption via Instagram: #pscommute 5:15 PM on the C Train. 34th Street, Penn Station back home to Fort Greene, Brooklyn. Giving the gift of reading. A magical moment between mother and son. It may seem like just another subway ride, but with a book and an imagination, the adventures are limitless. Jabali Sawicki/@jsawicki1/Instagram hide caption
It takes Chicago resident Sarah Hairston two hours to go 15 miles to get to her part-time job. David Schaper/NPR hide caption
Neville Amaria's commute to work used to take up to 1.5 hours each way. He carpooled with colleagues including Stefanie McNally, Cristina Cooper and Bryan Kim. The gang passed the time by sleeping and snapping photos of unlucky commuters. Courtesy of Cristina Cooper hide caption
There were 1.5 million boardings on the Emery Go Round last year. Zikhona Tetana, a visiting scientist from South Africa, is taking the Emery Go Round to a Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory facility in Emeryville. "It's convenient and always on time," she says. Cindy Carpien/NPR hide caption
Stephen Linaweaver has been kayaking from Oakland, Calif., to work in San Francisco for four years. Courtesy of Dan Suyeyasu hide caption
Construction of the Atlanta streetcar line has hurt many businesses along the route, but there is hope that economic gains will increase once the line opens next spring. Kathy Lohr/NPR hide caption
NPR's soon-to-be London correspondent Ari Shapiro on his trusty steed. Denise DeBelius/NPR hide caption
Orangutans can get exercise and look down their noses at zoo visitors, thanks to cables that stretch from one side of the primate habitat to the other. Karen Bleier/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
Reverse commuters, include Kathy LeVeque (in the foreground), wait for an approaching outbound Metra commuter train at the Mayfair neighborhood stop on Chicago's northwest side. David Schaper/NPR hide caption
Commuters headed to Oregon Health and Science University use cars, bikes and streetcars to connect with Portland's aerial tram, which whisks them up and over south waterfront neighborhoods. David P. Gilkey/NPR hide caption
Becca Bullard commutes every day from Arlington, Va., via Metro's Virginia Square station to her work in downtown Washington, D.C. Her commute to work begins around 9 a.m. (left), and she arrives home around 6:30 p.m. (right). Courtesy of Becca Bullard hide caption
New York: Taken from the 50th street stop on the 1 train, just blocks from Times Square at 1:30 a.m. A new New Yorker, from Portland, Ore., my favorite activity is people watching, especially underground. @donilee via Instagram hide caption