(we) Country people ALSO commute, but we get out of bed and enter the vehicle that transports and we transport
City folks get out of bed and walk to one transport to transfer to another transport and walk to work .... reverse at the end of the day>
Consider how much time is saved by home schooling (no bells, put your stuff away, line up at the door, change class, wait 'til everybody settles down ... etc.) ... Home schoolers get out of bed, start school ... end school ... many times by 12 noon
So too city workers
I think part of this also, is that many people live and work in a place where they were born and raised.
There are huge numbers of people who would never dream of moving away from their home town.
And if their hometown happens to be a big city, with problems such as long commute times, they just live with it. It’s just a part of their lives which they feel they have no control over.