True, you spend a lot of time going back and forth, but while commuting by car requires that you focus 100% on driving (and the same goes for biking or walking), doing it by train or bus lets you do actual work if all you need is a laptop.
True enough. While you'll still have some overhead due to the walking in between, you'll probably end up with something comparable to a 5-10 minute commute. Still not ideal (due to the working conditions), but not a complete waste of time.