The Human Capital Corridor

If you want to get to Sacramento from the San Francisco Bay, you can take the Capitol Corridor: 11–14 round trips per day, 2 hours from Emeryville, $30.

There’s a route to another capital I frequent. It may be a few times longer and more expensive, but it carries just as many passengers. That would be the SFO–BOS flight route, which I affectionately call the Human Capital Corridor.

What makes this route special is the people. On my recent flights I’ve had the fortune to sit next to:

• a neuromuscular disease researcher at Sanofi
• a biotech patent lawyer
• a Planet Labs engineer and countless PhD students at the gate or baggage claim.

It makes sense: these are the metros with the top research universities in the world (MIT and Harvard, Berkeley and Stanford). They’re also tech hotspots. In particular, Boston/Cambridge and South SF are the largest centers for biotech in the US.

So the next time you’re flying this route, don’t be afraid to get to the gate early and mingle with your fellow passengers!