Not surprisingly, those with minimal commutes (often the young single, or the most senior executive) seem most likely to head back into the office. Those with substantial commutes, that is, the great majority of middle managers priced out of SF real estate/private schools, are most reluctant to return to the office.
Google provides buses - with very workable schedules - serving the areas surrounding the mother ship. DS restricted his home purchasing search based on the bus stops for Google. A commute is very different when you aren’t driving but instead are in a super comfortable seat, with wi-fi, a bathroom and the company of others. He also has the opportunity to ride his bike - either in both directions - or take the bike on the bus and just ride in one direction . It’s a very flexible life.
DS was also eager to return to the office in some fashion. Yes, the sparks of creativity which come about via in person contact are different than those generated by zoomers in the privacy of their own space.
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SF downtown is not that hard to get to by train.
However, reluctance by “middle managers” and the like may be more to do with such factors as having more constraints at home. Those with kids may need to provide more supervision for them, particularly since helicopter parenting is now seen as socially and sometimes legally mandatory. Age and pre-existing medical conditions may also make “middle managers” more reluctant to risk COVID-19 than younger employees.
If I could take a bus like that for commutes to Silicon Valley, I would do so instantly.
One thing that I have noticed on my commutes to SV is that the traffic does seem more manageable than it did pre-pandemic. Part of the problem in the Bay Area, depending on where you are coming from and where you are going to are the bridges and the often narrow freeways/highways (in terms of the number of lanes). They can still serve as choke-points for traffic, particularly during rush hours.
It does seem to me a bit better than it used to be.
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And I think that’s the reason a lot of companies are requiring people back at work. While people think they are just ‘supervising’ grade school kids or teens, they are really paying more attention to them than to the work. While there is some chitchat that happens at the office, there is much more that happens at home unless the person lives alone. Letting the dog in and out, doing some laundry ‘on my break’, watching the news over lunch and then eating lunch takes a lot of time. I worked at an agency that allowed for several different types of work schedules (four 10 hour days, WFH one day, traditional) and everyone admitted that all had pros and cons, but WFH all the time didn’t work for the agency. Also, those at work did more spur of the moment things as someone would walk up and ask for help on this project or for ‘someone’ to sit in on a meeting. Sure, they could have called the person WFH, but it was easier to just ask someone sitting there to help. It was nice to have flexibility to WFH on a day with a doctor’s appointment or if something was being delivered, but day in and day out, having people in the office works best.
My son goes into the MV office T/W/TH and works from home Monday and Friday - he does rid the shuttle to work - he’s missed it a time or two and has had to drive in, but I guess that’s why he pays for that ridiculously expensive parking garage under his apartment. he is mid-30s and single with a dog - so, it works for him at this point in his life.
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As someone who has been back in the office Monday - Friday since the fall of 2020 it amazes me that some people are still WFH.
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Trains break down. And are costly both in time and fares. Took my brother 3 hours to get to NYC today on NJ transit from 20.1 miles away. Why bother?
And now T-Mobile
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Commuting by car is subject to breakdowns, costs (of fuel, maintenance, parking, etc.), and other unpredictable time factors. Despite occasional train breakdowns, the time used commuting by train tends to be more predictable than commuting by car. Time spent on the train can also be used for resting, checking email, etc. that cannot be done while driving.
Obviously, your brother bothered to use the train instead of driving, probably for the above reason.
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He unwisely chose to go into the office at all. I agree that driving has its own set of expenses and concerns-no method of commuting is ideal or cost free ( except maybe those cushy Google buses), hence many people wish to avoid the experience. “Working” on public transit is not necessarily wise or easy.
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I would say me too… I’ve been working in the office M-F, 8-5 with little to no protection since June 2020. But I have an S who was 100% WFH for about 18 months, and then only had to go in 1xweek until last week. Now, it’s 3xweek. So far he prefers it at home. He says most of his team is scattered around the world, so he either zooms at home or zooms at work. I figure he’ll get used to it. But I admit I am jealous. The 3 months I was at home I got 2-3x the usual amount of work done.
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Because that’s your job.
Long before WFH or covid, I worked for a company with 10k employees 1k in the home office and the rest in branches around the country. Everyone worked the day after Thanksgiving. There was no need for ME to be in the office that day, or my secretary, or the accounting department or HR, but there was a need for the branch employees to be there as it was (rumored) to be ‘the busiest day of the year’ (it wasn’t). But the higher ups wanted that to be the rule, that everyone worked, so we did.
My daughter and her BF were WFH and she was called back last summer and he’s in the office 3-4 days per week. He gets more done at home but goes in because that’s what his bosses want. My niece is a contract worker and her company requires everyone to go in now, even the contractors. She doesn’t mind and can work from home if necessary. She goes home every day at lunch to let the dogs out, read the paper, relax. Almost all of her time at work is spent online so she could do it from home, but the bosses want her there (even though she isn’t an employee).
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Bay area is considered a difficult commute.
Many employees would answer that their job is to get the work done, regardless of how or where that is accomplished.
Employees increasingly opt for location-flexible employers, and those insisting on RTO expect greater attrition. That may be fine with both parties.
At Google? Based on what? That’s not what my kids are reporting.
It was in 1999-2000 too. Not in 2002-03. Back then I could drive 30 miles to downtown SF at 8.30am in 35 mins.
We had a long period up until last Christmas when it was quiet on the roads. Then everyone panicked about potentially being the next in line to be let go. That will last a while, but there’s a long tail of failures to come as companies run out of money. And it’s still much better than 2019. By next year the commute should be mostly ok again (if you still have a job).
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Tell him to drive to YouTube, park there and take the shuttle from there. My guys did that if the shuttles were not at the times they wanted at their stops. Older s now lives in the E bay, so when he goes in and has to go down to MV, he may do that. His primary office is in SF. Younger s’s office is in Sunnyvale. When he lived in SF one of the shuttle stops was practically outside his condo building, but with covid, it was less of a benefit.
But, speaking of benefits, one of the best ones they had that went bye bye with covid was that they provided a last minute childcare person/babysitter if your kid was sick and you had to get to work. Now THAT was fabulous!
Raise your hand if you went to “take your parents to work day” in the past 
if they do it again, we need a CC meetup!!
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This is OLD data (pre covid) “American commutes are getting longer, with a U.S. Census Bureau report released in 2021 revealing the average one-way commute in 2019. “
With 2020 5 year “estimates.” Traffic can be bad, but quite better since covid and even since many people work hybrid now. Traffic in my cuts is often worse. Also bad around DC, in NY, LA, etc.
**** ETA is see another poster already commented on the old data.
No, not at Google. Google provides the cushy buses. Very, very few other employers do so.
In any event, this is all rather off-topic.