Now? 30 minutes on the Subway, even standing room only seems normal, even though I've only gone a handful of miles, not 30 miles.
(In steady state, of course, I expect someone's first 30 minutes on the NYC subway to be a shock if they haven't experienced it already.)
I find driving to be a relaxing almost meditative experience while not in traffic. My parents are just short of terrified of driving in normal-for-cities traffic.
Standing room only public transit is still like my own personal hell. Standing in a box that jerks me one way or another jammed between people going to a place where there will be no space which is "mine" and no escape nor self determination besides through a repeat reverse journey many hours later. Honestly I think I would prefer being locked in prison 14 hours a day than have to go back to commuting by public transit to a city center.