The Carpool Lane: What does it mean to commute?


car merging out of the carpool lane
(Erica Garay | Daily Trojan)

Prior to deciding on USC as the place where I’d spend the next four years of my life, I struck a deal with my parents: one year on-campus, three years as a commuter, sort out transportation afterwards.

Truthfully, I never really anticipated driving to and from school. Rather, I expected to take the Metro Expo line enroute to Santa Monica and ride a slew of buses to get back home. 

But lo and behold, I was presented with the opportunity to ride along with Bess, who happens to be a Volkswagen Passat. While I may have started this column off as a car-privileged commuter, I grew up with 20 years of using public transportation to get to and from each of my schools, USC among them. 

I agree and have said that the Metros and Big Blues that this city funds may not necessarily be the best modes of transportation, but they’re there for us to take ample advantage of. It is true that this University oftentimes has left its long-distance commuters behind without strong support systems or even general resources on how to get the best out of the commuter lifestyle. However, it seems a bit narrow-minded to downplay the transportation systems that exist around the University and its satellite campuses. 

Some students can travel from an hour or two away, not just by car but by several means of public transportation — bus, shuttle, train, bike. We are often posited with that option; in fact, it can be said that technically all students are commuters in one way or another.

Saying that I was a commuter was a nice little icebreaker more often than not, followed by the question: “Where from?” 

The answer to that question sets the tone of the conversation to follow as well. I usually say, “Oh, from the UCLA area,” to which I’m greeted with a smug grimace at the mention of our crosstown rivals. But a quick follow-up comment is always about some amount of time: “What is that, 30 minutes out?” “Is that like an hour with traffic?” “Is that like 10 minutes if you break the speed limit on the freeway?” 

To that last question, yes. Anyways, let’s throw in a classic transition tool. 

“But Lois,” you, the commuting Trojan, ask. “What does it mean to commute in the first place?”

I could be a real hardass and pull a dictionary definition: “to travel back and forth regularly (as between a suburb and a city).” Others may refer to this commute as the journey between places of home and work. 

When I transitioned from on-campus to off-campus housing (i.e. with my parents), I saw the word change definitions when in different hands. Does the commute start once you get out the front door? Does it start once you start your engine, step foot onto the bus, tap your TAP card? Does it start once you wake up and make your way to the bathroom? What about during the pandemic? Was Zoom — oop — a means of commuting to school?

Commuting, when the letters are jumbled around and some real determination is put into it, means committing. The entire premise of a commute derives itself from our willingness and/or inner push to go somewhere for whatever purpose. We’ll take whatever means available to us to get from point A to point B — sometimes maybe a bit rushed, other times at our own pace. 

Regardless, the commute turns into a physical manifestation of commitment.

Whether it is the five-minute walk to class or the two-hour drive from beyond county lines, there’s a particular reason and a greater goal beyond that which leads us to make the trip. It sounds a bit meta, but give it some thought the next time you make your way to class by whatever means: Why do we do it?

Sometimes, we get tired — more often than not, life doesn’t go our way — so we make a smaller “commute” to a place of refuge and reclusiveness: bed, the bathroom, maybe a place in nature. It’s still a commitment to our personal health and some semblance of well-being.

As folks go beyond the University and into a period of emerging adulthood, we make the commute to new places, new friends, new opportunities. I make the commute to campus in the morning not only to make it on time for class, but also to spend time with my best friends (outside of Bess) who make being at this University worth all the money that went into it from my parents’ wallet. While I may not make that same commute post-December, I’ll make a new commute with new goals and responsibilities. 

It may seem a bit odd to close a column in the middle of the fall, but given that this column kicked off randomly in the spring out of writer’s block, I think that I was able to get everything off my chest in half a year’s time. But even as I say farewell to writing this column, always get home safe, Besties.

Lois Angelo is a senior who wrote about the perks, downsides and necessities of the commuter lifestyle in his column, “The Carpool Lane.”