Either way articles like these are horseshit and likely sponsored by those renting human farm space (offices).
If your employer requires you to come to the office, then getting there is part of the job, and I think you should be compensated for that time. Commuting during rush hour certainly isn't a pleasure activity that I'd be doing without obligation.
But if you move to the city center and now have a 15-minute commute, your housing costs have likely gone up a lot, and your employer is now only paying you for 30 minutes of commute time per day.
Now, you could say that an employer wouldn't do it this way; they'd basically just give everyone a fixed "commute time stipend", and let people "spend" it how they wish: either on an actual longer commute, or on higher housing costs that shorten the commute. That's probably more fair in the case where the office is in a city center. But if it's the reverse, and the office is out in a cheap suburb, then it perhaps becomes more fair again to pay for the actual amount of time in someone's commute.
I don't know what you mean by "rational" but it sounds like there's a hidden assumption that the only thing with value in life is cash. If your life is completely devoid of anything outside of work, then, sure, I guess that makes sense. But I have hobbies, I have a child, I have a spouse, and time spent outside of work is extremely valuable. If I commute 2 hours each way, I get less sleep, I don't have time to cook so I eat drive-through garbage, I barely see my spouse, I leave home before my child is awake and return after bedtime. If you're still only focused on the cash, I'll note that my mental and physical health will degrade quite rapidly under this condition, which will impact my work performance, which will eventually cost me my job. To me, "rational" is not a synonym of "short-sighted profit-seeking," but that's how you're using it.
You seem to be doing that a lot in these threads; ignoring parts of what other people say so you have something to argue about. Please stop doing that.