Traffic. It’s a word New Yorkers hate. Visions of hundreds of license plates, scratched bumpers, yellow taxis, and endless lines of trucks and cars come to mind. As commuters to Queens College, many of us struggle with this inescapable truth of urban living.
If you are coming into school for an early morning class or leaving during the evening commute from a considerable distance, if you are driving a car or riding the bus (walking from your apartment a couple of blocks away does not count), it’s likely that you are all too familiar with this situation. According to Google Maps, my commute should take 25 minutes. When I first started sitting in the car for close to an hour, I was annoyed by the time I finally pulled into the Queens College parking lot. I went to high school five minutes away from my home, so I was not prepared for the Van Wyck Expressway. After realizing that I would be doing this for a while, I decided I had to change my attitude.
One evening on the Long Island Rail Road, I overheard a smartly dressed young guy telling his friend that his daily commute took about 90 minutes, “but it’s really not bad—I can’t complain.” This time spent commuting is simply part of the job. The city is a landscape of opportunities and its roads are jammed with people accessing them. We are sharing both an appreciation for the city and a frustration for the too-narrow highways that simply cannot keep up with the ambitious rush hour drivers.
Sitting in traffic exercises patience. Patience is a virtue that is difficult to develop but incredibly beneficial. The next time it takes the cashier five minutes to check you out of the grocery store or fifteen minutes for the subway to arrive, it may not bother you as much. Patience may ease the anxious feeling you have waiting to get that paper back from a month ago. It may lessen the irritation you feel from your siblings, parents, or friends. Patience is a quality I want to develop, and sitting in traffic for extended periods each day is a great starting point.
If I cannot avoid the issue by taking service roads, I try and simply accept the situation, without letting myself get frustrated. Downloading podcasts or listening to an iPod (the radio music gets old pretty quickly) are great ways to keep entertained. The Moth, a comical and inspirational storytelling podcast, and Freakonomics, an insightful economics discussion for people who are not actually interested in economics, are some of my favorites. Carpooling is another great way to improve car rides. I love having that solid time to talk to friends whom I do not get to see that much on campus. The commute is here for a while—may as well enjoy it!
