The Morning Commute

I’m an early bird, usually on the train by 7 am. At that point, the trains are open, lots of seats, and lots of space to work. At 8 am, it’s not quite the same as this photo shows. I would describe it as a packed haus. Don’t get me wrong, it was nothing like the sardine can that was the Paris Metro at 9 am, but for Munich natives who like their space and order – it was quite disrupting. While in Paris, I noticed that the metro at 7 am was filled with an ethnic smorgasbord, mostly people going to blue collar jobs – cleaning, maintenance, security, etc. The White collar crowd never hit the trains until around 9 am. In Munich, it’s quite different. The 6:50 train is longer and more crowded than the train at 8 am. Germans are early to work, and early to play – or whatever they do in the evening That’s true of just about all types on the morning S-bahn. In some ways, public transit becomes the great equalizer.