I hear you. For the past 8 years or so I've been commuting by train to Central London on and off and it actually never really bothered me as it was always a good opportunity to read, catch up on some series, do some web browsing etc, and more generally to unwind after a day at work.But driving still cuts a couple of hours out of my life every day. Time behind the wheel is basically unproductive for me.
But train is not an option to get to the new gig's location so it's either renting a room or something locally, or driving. If only fully autonomous cars were there already (even if it's only on motorways, I'm fine with that)...
Meanwhile, AP seems to be the best (the only) option. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯