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Leaving Early May Cost You Time
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."
Wow, site is already slashdotted.
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.
No karma whoring link to the article.
http://www.networkmirror.com/QmlonkirybL8mCvu/www. omninerd.com/2006/04/21/articles/50.html
"I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey
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.
"Spread out over 50 work weeks, that results in a total savings of over 30 hours a year - the equivalent of about a 38% boost to my existing 80 hours of vacation."
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).
http://www.mirrordot.org/
Not much of a nerd if that didn't ring a thousand bells as it was written. That figure is flat out impossible. Daily gasoline consumption in the USA is estimated at almost 9 million barrels, far less than 800 million gallons.
I'm not sure on what basis you're drawing your conclusion that French, German and British's worker productivity per hour is "way higher" than US worker productivity. The comparative statistics released by U.S. Department of Labor shows that American worker's productivity per hour in manufacturing has been significantly higher than France, Germany, and UK in recent years.
Regards,
Spock_NPA
Yes, that is one of great pleasures of life. More often than not, I even beat these guys to the same destination.
... I, too, live in Houston and the areas in the study are by no means the highest/worst traffic areas in this sprawling metropolis. This is not to say that the traffic there isn't bad - no doubt it exists just about everywhere - but just pointing out that it may not reflect Houston accurately. Just ask anyone who has been anywhere near the I-10/I-610/59 Hwy tangle if you're interested in new ways to string together a few expletives.
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.
I'm not familiar with Australian weather, but here in northeast Ohio, snow and ice and the like make cycling problematic at best for several months out of the year; "impossible" is probably closer to the truth.
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.
How can a post be modded "overrated" or "underrated" when it hasn't been rated yet?
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.
I think we can keep recursing like this until someone returns 1
Shouldn't that be "America doesn't use 24 hour clock time like Europe does, we're insensitive clods!"
US is now divided as the "Red" and "blue" states. Red States = communist countries. Coincidence? I think not
-- To dream a dream is grand, but to live it is divine. -- Leto ][
I found the article rather interesting, and it is probably interesting as a hint for a city planner.
.. 35 days.
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
This guy is dead on. Check out the facts about this socialist country: just recently elimiated their national debt, low unemployment, high incomes, free health care and near free education (MBAs were recently told they get to pay) that has resulted in the most educated workforce going.