If only this were true. Commuting means hoping to catch that one flight you really want and need at the beginning and end of every single trip, every week. And if you don't make that one, scrambling to catch Plan B. Sometimes that will mean getting home a day later and sleeping in a crew room. Or you may have to come in the night before to start a trip with an early show. Do either of those every week coming and going and it gets old real quick. Not to mention if you are on reserve, you have to be in base for five days typically and they may not use you once. That means you are stuck sitting around a crash pad (which you are paying for btw = less income) bored and wishing you were home.

Live in base and you never have to check a flight load again. You never have to check the weather to see if a flight is going to cancel. You never have to use a day off to get to work because of an early show the next day. When you are on reserve, you sit at home, or play golf, or
go fishing, or see your family, or run a business, or whatever - you're HOME. Trust me, commuting means a heck of a lot more than 2-3 hours.