I have been commuting to campus for the past semester, and starting up this next semester, I have found a few benefits to using the Commuter Rail instead of driving in. These range from being school related to having some personal me time on the train. We all know the downsides of using the T. It can be unreliable, slow, smell weird, and you can get home very late. If you do not have a T pass, the price of taking the train adds up very quickly, and you can find yourself in a place where paying for transportation is hard. I am here to tell you why going through all of the suffering is worth it! 

The first big reason I like taking the train is that I get to beat the traffic. I am not a fan of sitting in bumper to bumper traffic on 95 while listening to the same songs on the radio over and over again. If I was to drive to school everyday, I would be sitting in traffic for at least an hour plus the $15 parking fee on top of that. With the train, I still take an hour to get to work, but it is while I am doing what I want to do. I do not hear any horns, I do not get mad at the stupid drivers, and I do not have to pay for gas. I just sit down, pop in my headphones, and do my thing. In the mornings I do my makeup. It gives me the perfect amount of time to do a full face and I didn’t even have to give up any sleep. I would be waking up even earlier if I was driving because you cannot (well, should not) do your makeup and drive. If I am not doing my makeup, I am doing my homework and getting done what I need to do. It is a great place to read or work on a paper. The double decker cars even have places where you can sit at a table and plug your laptop in to do your work. Lastly, if I am tired, I just sleep. I close my eyes and take a quick half-hour nap. Sleeping and driving do not mix very well, so I would not suggest trying it.

Another benefit of taking the T is the environmental impact. If you are taking the T every day instead of taking your car, you are helping save the earth. Transit.gov states that public transportation, like the subway, produces 75 percent less greenhouse gases per passenger mile than a single person car. That is a huge jump and it can make a big difference in the end. Speaking of nature, we live in New England! It likes to snow during the winter here, and it gets very cold. You do not want to be waking up even earlier to clean off your car to be able to drive to school. And if you live on one of those weird side streets like I do, they might not even plow your street very well. So, if you have been thinking about switching to the Commuter Rail, do it! You save time, sleep, and you get to help out the environment on a daily basis.