Say that you live in a metropolitan area and that everyone works downtown. If you leave early, then you get to work WAY early. If you leave late, then you get to work WAY late. What’s up with that? Let’s say that the closer people live to downtown, the proportionally deeper you work in downtown.

Odds are that you live somewhere in between super far away and somewhere super close. That means that when you arrive at work, there are people closer to and further from the city center also arriving at their jobs. They are your competition. Their mere existence adds congestion to the roads and slows your velocity. As you all make your way closer to the downtown area, the congestion increases and the velocity falls still further such that your slowest speed occurs as you approach work.

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