Commuter trains literally created the modern concept of commuting in the 1840s when railways started offering deeply discounted fares for passengers who bought tickets on a regular basis.

A closer look

Commuter trains literally created the modern concept of commuting in the 1840s when railways started offering deeply discounted fares for passengers who bought tickets on a regular basis. The railways would commute or reduce the financial penalty of the daily fare, meaning the term originally referred to the price of the ticket itself rather than the agonizing journey into the city. Over time, people began to call the passengers themselves commuters, fundamentally altering the English language to describe the crushing reality of waking up at dawn to travel to a cubicle. It is deeply fitting that the very word we use to describe the depressing daily trek to work originates from a desperate corporate discount designed to trick people into moving out to the suburbs and permanently tying their existence to a train schedule