Depletion on the Move

Abstract

Abstract Commuting intensifies depletion. Travel for paid as well as unpaid work, done over space and time in unequal contexts, stretches the margins of work-time and increases physical tiredness and the sense of insecurity, can damage reputations, family status, and is a tax on wages. The chapter maps the literature on commuting to work, and then examines the costs of commuting in different frames: time, timeliness, temporality, health costs, economic costs, and issues of sociality and solidarity during commuting. It explores these issues through a close discussion of three stories, of an Indian domestic worker, a low income homemaker and a journalist, whose different modes of travel to and from work and for care contribute to their depletion. The chapter identifies some policy gaps that can be seen because of overlooking the mobilities of care.