I would note that other issues affect RTO. For instance, office layouts and ventilation / air filtering. I once worked just north of GCT in a mold filled office on Park. Top building, major bank, very sick office space. Also, while midtown has always been expensive to eat in, not that many firms have cafeterias, let alone ones that are affordable, and most smaller buildings with affordable delis, fast food (including Chinese) are long gone, and even food carts - at least the ones that are not disgusting, tend to be very fancy and expensive. IOTW, on top of several hundred bucks a month for the commute, plus car parking fees at your home station, and now $20 a day or more for not very fancy breakfast and lunch, commuting has become very expensive, a lot more so than a few years ago. And food options are few enough that you can encounter long lines, so by the time you have food you don't have time to eat. The Oriental bank I worked for pre COVID had one badly overcrowded lunch room for multiple floors, and water dispensers were frequently broken. Oh, and vending machines were like playing the slots!
IOTW, employers at many firms have made commuting something they require but make as painful as possible. And that's before I talk about how hard it is to get any work done in an overcrowded, noisy office.
IOTW, employers at many firms have made commuting something they require but make as painful as possible. And that's before I talk about how hard it is to get any work done in an overcrowded, noisy office.