Does anyone actually enjoy their commute?
Obviously no one enjoys getting up for work in the morning, no one enjoys being seated within close proximity to other humans at 8am (or any other hour of the day, come to that) and no one enjoys spending upwards of £100 per month on what is, essentially, a daily exercise in self restraint.
But can we agree that every commute has its flipside? For me, that’s having 45 minutes to listen or read or watch something without feeling like I should be doing something else. Looking out of the window soundtracked by some gentle pre-recorded chatter instead of a man shouting “I HAVE FIRM FEELINGS ABOUT THIS. CAN YOU SEE THIS? THIS IS WHAT I THINK’ and flipping his middle finger up into his iPhone at 9.30am.
Problem is, once you start listening to podcasts – you sort of start wishing your commute was actually longer. If that sounds like something you can live with, here’s some recommendations for your journey to and from work.
Song Exploder
Ever wanted to know how Mobb Deep came up with the piano riff on Shook Ones? No? About how they found this Herbie Hancock sample and reversed it and slowed it wayyyy down and that’s how it came together? Do you care? No? Then this podcast is not for you. It is, however, for me.
Search Engine
Once upon a time there was a great podcast called Reply All, and then like all good partnerships there was a scandal which caused hosts PJ Vogt and Alex Goldman to part ways. Like Ant and Dec, or Bill and Ben, or Mel and Sue, these two men are interchangeable, so one of them – Alex and / or PJ, created Search Engine, which is a show that tries to make sense of a question that’s been plaguing them.
This is Love
I’m Phoebe Judge and This… is Love. This is one I put on and fall asleep to, not because it’s boring, but because it has such a nice gentle way of telling a story that isn’t explicitly about love but also very much is. Phoebe also presents Criminal.
Where Should We Begin?
If I could pay to have a voice in my head telling me what to do in life it would be Esther Perel’s. Relationship therapist and author of Mating in Captivity, each episode is a one-time counselling session between a couple or person, and edits the shit out of it to get all the boring fluff out.
Modern Love (NY Times)
Length: 23 minutes
If you’ve ever read the Modern Love column in the New York Times and liked it, or even if you haven’t and you just like listening to stories about relationships in whatever form they take. These are really lovely essays read out by a well-known person. Nice and short.
Heavyweight
Length: 50 minutes
A new podcast, and probably one of my favourites. How to explain this one? Each episode is about someone wanting to change or fix something that’s been weighing on them for ages. Like, the person’s estranged from their brother, or they want a CD back from a friend (who happens to be Moby), or they need to scatter their dad’s ashes on the 18th hole of a golf course but haven’t done it and it’s been 16 years – and it’s how they work it out. It’s hard to explain, but it’s usually poignant and funny and lovely. Am I explaining this terribly? Yes, yes. I am. Just listen.
This American Life
Length: 1 hour
Probably the best and most well known podcast on the list, this is an hour long radio show hosted by Ira Glass. If you listen to Serial, and liked it, then hurrah! These are the women and men behind it. Each week there’s a few different real life stories based on a chosen theme. It’s really good.
Death, Sex and Money
Length: 25 mins
This podcast focuses on honest discussions of things everyone thinks about at some point throughout the day: relationships, money, work, family issues, and features both celebrities and us normals. Usually pretty thought provoking, especially the series they did 10 years after Hurricane Katrina.
Snap Judgement
Length: 50 mins
It takes a little bit to get into, because the presenter usually does a bit of a story told to music at the beginning before they get into the actual thing. But even if you don’t listen to anything else, click on this episode about the bloke who found hip hop legend J Dilla’s “Lost Scrolls”. It’s amazing and if it doesn’t bring a tear to your eye on the bus, you’re dead inside.
Criminal
Length: 20-40 mins
A good short one if you’re lucky enough to only spend 20 minutes getting to work. As the name suggests, each episode tells one story with a criminal theme. I liked this recent one about an officer and his new police dog. Obviously.
Serial
Length: 1 hour
I’d harbour a bet that even your most elderly relative probably knows about Serial by now. But if by some miracle you haven’t listened to the first series which investigated, week by week, the story of a teenager called Adnan who was in prison for murder (rightly or wrongly, the debate still rages), then start there. Otherwise, as you were: frantically refreshing every Thursday.
Want more?
I also dip in and out of Love + Radio (54 mins), Longform (1 hour), Hidden Brain (20 mins) and TED Radio Hour (55 mins), Revisionist History, and Note to Self.
If you listen to podcasts on the way to work, tell me, educate me, let me know which ones.
That way, along with stories about our awful commutes, we’ll never run out of things to say at a party.
This post was originally published when we all commuted daily in 2016, and was updated in 2026.
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