I carry a bunch of stuff for my EDC and I am not sure I need all of it. What I use daily is knife, cord and bandaids (bandaids are for the kids mostly).<br><br>For a commuter kit I would think that the contents would be determined by the mode of commute and the communities passed through on the way. I live some distance from the nearest city and often have a 1+ hour commute by car through mostly suburbs. If I were to commute on public trans through ghetto urban areas I would carry a substantially different commuter kit. My commuter preparedness kit is an attempt to prepare for road-side breakdown and the contingencies of daily life. I give but little concern to self-defense. If I were commuting through urban ghetto I would probably include a weapon of some sort or a fixed-blade or pepper spray. If you are preparing for potential disaster such as multi-car crash, train derailment, building collapse you have such a wide variety of contingencies that you might have a difficult time getting a useful arangement of tools. In a highway commute you might want to prepare for a HazMat experience with snarled traffic pinning you in close proximity to a spilled tanker. Gas-masks might be helpful but a wet bandanna is easier to carry and might work against a wide variety of materials. Building collapse might call for one of those nifty 18" titanium pry-bars or some such. ( the pry-bar would also work in the urban ghetto scenario nicely) <br><br>As always the question of how to prepare begs the question of what you are preparing for.<br><br>