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."

Comments

What rush hour?

[Rurik]

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.

Missing the Point

[pen]

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.

Re:80 hours vacation?

[Mr Z]

Google for distribution of wealth and you'll get tons of links, such as this one, which includes such nifty statistics for the US as:

• The wealthiest 5% of households hold nearly 60% of all the wealth.
• Wealth disparity has increased over the last 20 years.
• The bottom 60% of households hold 4.2% of the wealth despite earning 26.8% of the income.

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.

--Joe

Re:Leaving Differently

[TheRealBurKaZoiD]

But it is fun to give a smug wave to the ass that blew past you at 90mph about 20-30 minutes ago as you pass him stopped in traffic because you chosae the correct lane to stay in while he keeps switching lane to lane.

Yes, that is one of great pleasures of life. More often than not, I even beat these guys to the same destination.

Re:Doing the math...

[Dion]

Uh, no. Sorry, but the US has the most productive people in the world, along with highest per-capita income among comparable countries (certain middle eastern countries have a higher per-capita for obvious reasons). I don't feel like looking up the stats.

I'd like to see your "Uh, no. Sorry", and raise you with a "nuh uh": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_ GDP_(nominal)_per_capita As you can see we (Denmark) is ranked slightly above the US and we *have* over 5 weeks of mandatory hollidays each year, free healthcare (my granny just had a double bypass within hours of feeling ill, total cost: 0) and free education. While you are at it, examine this list, we are at a respectable 25'th place and solidly in the black, see if you can figure out who the deadbeat who is an order of magniture worse than the second worst is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_ current_account_balance The US economy, civil rights and customer rights are in the crapper and your current administration is not helping matters.