Leaving Early May Cost You Time 678
markmcb writes "OmniNerd has an interesting traffic article demonstrating how leaving early for work may cost you time. Brandon Hansen uses a year's worth of data collected on his urban drive to and from work along with statistical analysis to show the effects of varying departure times and considering external factors like nearby school districts' schedules. In the end, a minor shift in his departure time results in saving driving hours equivalent to over a third of the vacation time given annually by his employer."
What rush hour? (Score:3, Informative)
I work in IT, and a specialized form, around a metro area. Rush hour is typically from 8-10AM, and 3:30-6PM. I live 45 miles from my work, and have tried for years to find the best time. The best solution I found was getting up at 5, leaving by 5:30, and cutting my 1-hour commute to half an hour. And, it works great! I get in by 6:00AM, and have nearly two hours of quiet with a few coworkers before the loud masses come in with their whining and requests for help.
I just wish that coming in earlier meant leaving earlier.
Dead link... here's a mirror (Score:0, Informative)
mirror (Score:2, Informative)
Missing the Point (Score:4, Informative)
It's not leaving later that saves you time, it's not driving when everyone else is driving. Not only does this ignore anyone who doesn't drive to work -- my subway commute is a lot faster during rush hour -- but it totally misses the point.
At a previous job, leaving 15 minutes early would save me 30 minutes of commute time, since I would get in before rush hour traffic.
80 hours vacation? (Score:2, Informative)
Now I'm always hearing how "good" we have it in Europe, what with 25 days (187.5 hours) holiday each year plus 8-10 bank holidays.
Finally something us Brits do better than the Yanks (even the US version of our Office is better).
Re:And how much time will I save? (Score:1, Informative)
Re:Missing the Point (Score:2, Informative)
I save a HUGE amount of time by going to and from work after rush hour. Fortunately my employer permits this (within reason). As an added bonus, I get to sleep late. For whatever reason, sleep between 6 AM and 8 AM seems to be the most "productive" for me, regardless of when I go to bed.
Granted, I now live close enough that when the temperature and weather are reasonable (meaning I don't waste further time by having to shower after I arrive at the office, and don't risk being stuck for hours after work hours due to the evening thunderstorms), I can walk in about 20 minutes max.
When I drive during (or attempt to go before) rush hour, the drive takes about 20 minutes. When I go 15 minutes after 9, it's 5 minutes.
A lot of that has to do with people who are getting on the interstate, have a much longer drive, and are so resigned that they don't pay enough attention for everyone to hit the lights properly...Or are obsessed with doing business on their cell phones when they're supposed to be driving...
So in part I guess you're right, it's not driving when everyone else is driving, but I'm not getting up at 5 AM to miss the rush, so I really don't think he was missing the point entirely...
Re:80 hours vacation? (Score:5, Informative)
Google for distribution of wealth [google.com] and you'll get tons of links, such as this one [fairfield.edu], which includes such nifty statistics for the US as:
Careening back on topic... for what it's worth, I tend to telecommute in the morning and show up after lunch. I then drive home after the dinner rush--around 7PM. That usually works out pretty well.
--Joe800 million gallons wasted daily...?! (Score:3, Informative)
US productivity per hour higher than EU (Score:2, Informative)
Re:800 million gallons wasted daily...?! (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Leaving Differently (Score:3, Informative)
Yes, that is one of great pleasures of life. More often than not, I even beat these guys to the same destination.
Don't know if this matters but.... (Score:2, Informative)
I really don't know if the results can be applied generically or really can only be pertinent to the same area studied.
Interesting project, though.
Re:cycling (Score:3, Informative)
Much of the spring and fall, frequent rain is likewise a problem; I'm told (though I haven't counted 'em myself) that we have fewer sunny days annually here than Seattle. I don't have a problem getting wet, but we have no shower or locker room facilities where I work, and a poncho/raincoat/whatever can only keep you so dry. I DO have a problem with sitting in wet clothes all day long.
Summers, cycling could work, but it's very humid here in the summers, and again, no shower facilities at work, and I value my co-workers' goodwill too much to do that.
As for finding parking for a bicycle, again, I can't speak for Australia, but where I work there is no safe place to store a bike. They aren't allowed in the building, and the bike rack itself got stolen once, so I wouldn't be comfortable chaining a bike to it. We have running complaints from customers whose bikes have been stolen, locks and all.
Weather permitting, I walk to work. I'm lucky enough to live close enough to do so. But given Ohio weather, it isn't always a reasonable option, especially when I'm expected to "look professional" when I arrive and stay that way all day long.
Re:US productivity per hour higher than EU (Score:2, Informative)
Re:well... (Score:3, Informative)
It's a common trend, my employer said before he hired me that he wanted me to "rather work 2 hours at home instead of standing 2 hours in traffic each day."
I haven't seen the office customers interface with, but I'm their main programmer working remotely on virtual machines on our serverfarm and having meetings occasionally wherever is most convenient for everyone needing to be present. (depends where my employer is networking with customers or wherever my collegues at the helpdesk are on interventions at the moment.)
I might get 2 junior programmers which might require me to work in the office though.
Re:Rule of 13 (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Doing the math... (Score:5, Informative)
Ethnocentrism and commute times (Score:3, Informative)
Not personally really relevant, but generally interesting, but what made me laught was the conclusion at the end.
30% increase in hollydays ? hum, even ignoring the fact that 7minutes in the evening is not the same as 7minutes on the beach during a hollyday, reality hit home when I read that it is 30hours in addition to the 80hours of "normal hollydays", that is 10 days ?
In continental europe the normal number of hollydays for IT people is at least 25 days, and typically 30
Therefore the result is not only that since there are less work days the 30 hours gain would be about 10% lower, but it would have to be compared to a much higher number of hours.
In europe (where the typical worker productivity is higher than in the US) the news would be:
By careful planning of your commute hours you can gain about 10% of additional "free time minutes", wich would of course be a great conversation piece in front of the coffe machine.
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Work less, work smarter
Re:Doing the math... (Score:1, Informative)