why is this bike
so much easier to commute on
than this bike?

I would ride the cruiser everyday except for the having to wear a back pack.

Tires, I'm guessing.

Tires, fenders, cable and padlock, geometry...just about everything. For a back-pack try an Arkel Bug. They're designed to allow one's back to not sweat.

the pedals are different. the saddle on one is flat, and it looks like the saddle on the other is tilted up a moderate amount, nor are they the same. it also looks like the handlebars height vs. seapost height are off by an inch or two. and as others have mentioned tires may be different and inflated differently too. and the bicycles as an entity may be mismatched as weight is concerned.

components can sometimes be swapped between bicycles successfully. if i really wanted to know, and was not just curious what others thought, i would swap out the saddle first and set it up the same when installing on the other bike, then the pedals and finally the handlebars, measuring the drop carefully on the donor before reinstalling it on the donee.

each swap would be done separately and test for a week or two, then all together. after such an exhaustive exercise i'm pretty sure i could come up with a reasonable explanation for the comfort difference i was experiencing. even if it was wrong.

Pease define "easier". In what way is it easier?

I like that panasonic -- send it my way if you don't want it .

Much more on the Panasonic effort to cover the same distance. Even with gears. I really like it but it freaks me out how a single speed BMX bike is so much all around pleasurable experience. I think ya'll are on to something about bar height and seat angle. Wonder what BMX bars would look like on the Panny?