The NJ Transit train between Penn Station and points west is a perfect and clear example of the bedroom commute. I never really knew what it meant until I boarded the train and rode it for about an hour through these small towns, built with access to the New York bound train. By this I mean, the towns were designed with train accessibility as the main feature. The towns could be anywhere USA. Nice houses, grassy back yards; mini main streets with a restaurant or two, a flower shop, pizza joint, cleaners, workout gym and expensive cars parked at the curb. But the reason these houses and towns exist is for the family to live there while the breadwinner travels daily to the City to earn their keep. It is, in my opinion, a very divided way to live. Monday through Friday, the breadwinner [bw] catches at 6:30 am train and an hour later is in the office. The day in the town is just beginning as the bw sits at their desk with probably the 3rd cup of coffee. The family does not see the bw again until after 8 pm at the earliest. This continues for the week, until the weekend. Then, I believe, everyone is at a bit of a loss as to how to incorporate each other into their daily life pattern. Saturday afternoon the stay-at-home-kids board the train to head into the City for the nightlife, and the bw is at home with the other spouse. I watched the kids being dropped off at the quaintly designed station, to board these up-to-date-well kept trains. I wonder how they all make sense of it over their lifetimes.