#5: Regular Commuting Routes
Daily commuters once developed extraordinarily detailed knowledge of the routes connecting home, work, school, shopping areas, and other routine destinations. Knowing the main route was only the beginning. Experienced drivers also remembered alternate streets for heavy traffic, troublesome intersections, railroad crossings, construction zones, rush-hour bottlenecks, and shortcuts that could save a few minutes. Public-transit commuters built similar mental systems involving transfer points, walking connections, and the times when particular services became crowded. Weather or an unexpected road closure could require improvisation based entirely on accumulated geographic knowledge. Because there was no real-time navigation app constantly evaluating traffic conditions, commuters learned patterns through experience and conversation. Radio traffic reports could help, but the final decision still depended heavily on what the traveler already knew. Smartphones now perform much of that calculation automatically, sometimes recommending routes a local resident would never have considered.
