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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."
I do remote sysadmin so it takes me a few seconds to get from bed to where I work (about 40 centimeters). The problem is the time it takes for me to actually wake up.
It doesn't really matter if you leave work earlier or later, as long as you leave slightly different from the rest of the pack, the road will most likely be empty.
However, your employer will always notice if you leave early, so the idea situation is to leave late.
Please stop entering code 2,2,7,6,6,4
Unfortunately, he did not take into account the time it took to do this analysis, and now he has even less free time.
That avoiding rush hour traffic could save you time? I appluad this excellent study, and I hope this team continues their fantastic work!
That is why I am leaving in late April.
Virtual Betting on Facebook for non-geeks.
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.
i'm moving to a new job next month. one of the primary considerations i put into housing, was to be as close as possible to work. commuting sucks. we are moving into a smaller place but i figure i could get as much as an hour or two a day more in time with my family. (and the smaller housing is forcing us to get rid of a bunch of junk and simplify)
with the price of fuel and maintenance, and time with kids that wont be kids long, it was worth it to really make an effort.
It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
"... 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."
;)
In France, this means you would gain 2 additional months of free time.
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.
This is such a half baked study and conclusion that I wonder why the hell it's on /.
You must be new here.
No joke. The holiday situation in the U.S. is deplorable compared to the rest of the so-called Western World. If you worked at a low-paying job, like a fast food franchise, you might be lucky to get those 80 hours.
A lot of Europeans complain that Americans are sheltered and don't know anything about the rest of the world. And why should we? We're hard pressed to find any time to travel. If you travel for just one week out of an entire year, that leaves you with just five available vacation days to plan for friends' weddings, a visit from family, a camping trip, etc.
Most of us burn our sick days for short-term time off like that, but that's hardly a good solution. Oh wait -- you have heard about the American healthcare system, haven't you?
Companies in the U.S. are fond of management philosophies that emphasize effective "human capital management." Say that ten times fast. Sounds a lot like "human cattle management," doesn't it? Coincidence?
Breakfast served all day!
The rule is that your work start time and end time should add up to 13.
I have a funny recollection about one programmer I've worked with. He's just got hired. He asked to allow him to arrive to work *really* early so to beat the traffic, and got ok. So he was coming to work around 7 am. The rest of the bunch was showing up sometime between 9 and 10. From 7 to 9 am the guy was practically doing nothing, and I mean nothing: reading newspapers and playing Solitair on PC (that was the time before the company got connected to Internet). Of course he was always promptly leaving at 3 pm. So not only he's managed to beat the traffic but had about 2 hours at work doing nothing. He was so successful in that that eventually he became a consultant (in the same company). No kidding.
the *real* solution is not to drive at all. I know this will make me sound like an unpatriotic communist, but (disclaimer - I live in a relatively small Australian city of about 1 million poeple) I can definitely commute much faster in rush hour traffic than I can in a car. I get to work in about 1/2 the time of driving, and about 1/3 the time of public transport. Cycling's very cheap, and it turns an otherwise stressful time into a pleasant experience. And it gives exercise!! What a deal!! :-)
The other plus, is that finding parking for a bicycle is always easy. No more hunting/paying for car parking. My fiance and I both cycle, and this means that we only run one car. A big economic saving. I highly recommend it.
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:
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.
--JoeProgram Intellivision!
Maybe a 38% boost in vacation time by saving several minutes a day commuting but try to feel the effect of your extra five six minutes a day. It's too short and gets lost in the day. You're going to cause youself more frustration fretting over your six min./day savings especially if the statistics start shifing, which of course will cause you stress and health problems and you'll die that much sooner. Forget about it. Instead start thinking about REAL vacation time. E.g. How can I get an extra week of minutes successfully off this year ...
I used to have a 3 hour (each way) commute from San Jose to San Rafael (north of San Fransisco). I was on the night shift, but that happened to have me leave at the "going home" rush hours and coming back a bit before the "leaving home" rush hours.
I first started by avoiding the city entirely... hitting 237 to 880 and up. But the milpitas junction was always such a crawl that it took far longer than just driving through the city. Then I took 101 up, which would slow to a predictable crawl and take a very long time. Then I started taking the secret route: 280 up through the foothills. Speeds are always in the 90's and there is never a jam unless someone flipped their porche. It still dumps you out in the city, but you avoid the 101 SF traffic jam.
Going back, that route is a nightmare of drunk drivers and morning traffic. Ironically, coming up 580 to 880 to 237 gets you in at ludicrous speeds... I've been going 110 and getting passed by cops on a fully empty 5-lane road.
A three hour commute chopped down to just one hour by judicious exploration of possible routes.
The same has been true in Boston. I used to drive my girlfriend to work from Porter Square to the Cambridgeside Galleria. After experimenting with Mass Ave, Memorial Drive, and a few other routes, it became clear that the fastest way to get there was by taking Somerville to McGrath Highway... both underutilized throughfares that nobody needs to commute on in the morning. A 1 hour commute chopped down to 1/2 hour.
I guess what I'm saying is experiment with your drive. Every place I've lived, from Boston to LA to the silicon valley, has had alternate routes that (once discovered) chopped commute time down tremendously.
The ______ Agenda
And thanks to the better welfare system there, still get paid more ;)
Sure boss, we're doing the same amount of hours, we're just coming in 2 hours late and leaving 2 hours later than we normally do. What I'm fired?
God spoke to me.
I live 25 minutes away from work. During rush hour, that number goes up to an hour 30 (anyone asking, this is the dreaded commute from Caguas, PR to San Juan, PR). What I do to beat the traffic is that I wake up at 3:30. I usually leave my house around 4, 4:15(at 5am, there's already transit going to San Juan). I get to my office at 15 minutes to 5am. I get the best parking spot(no parking in the building), plus I get around two and a half hours of sleep in my car before getting to the office (>3 min walk). I start my day relaxed at 8am after a nice breakfast, and I am very productive during the day.
When I go back home, I usually bite the bullet and take the hour long (hopefully) trip back home. I have a lot of advantage over the other drivers because I only go through rush hour once. They have these desperate faces, and I am just relaxed with my iPod-iTrip combo, listening to some tunes while I get home.
--MaxPowerDJ
I could never figure out how I could leave for work 10 minutes earlier and still get there at the same damn time. I knew traffic patterns were killing my commute time.
Exactly. That's the real problem in the US -- people buy debt faster than Big Macs. Debt is okay to some extent, but it should always be paid off as soon as possible. And really, when you think about it, it's much more satisfying to look back and say "Man, I have my house paid off after only 10 years," than "Remember that new TV we bought 10 years ago, and all those DVDs, and those new rims.. Damn.. they ain't spinnin' no mo!" That's why there will always be poor people; because some people will always be lured into buying comsumables and depreciable assets, racking up debt, etc. It doesn't take much to save serious money on debts either. Pay half your monthly mortgage payment every 2 weeks instead of the full payment once a month and you'll shave 6 years off a 30 year mortgage, and save almost $70k in interest on a $200k mortgage. Throw an extra $100 at the principle instead of buying new shoes and it'll be paid even sooner. Same thing for car payments, credit cards, etc.
Um.
Wow.
You TOTALLY missed the point.
The "poor people" you're talking about... I don't know how to break this to you, but they don't HAVE 200k mortgages. They tend to not even own. (Since owning takes capital.) They don't HAVE DVDs. They can afford the INTEREST on their loans, if they're lucky. And where do they get these loans? It's not from flat panel TV purchases. It's from things like medical problems when you don't have insurance. Whoops, you got sick? That's gonna cost you. And of course, it will cost you even more, since if you don't have insurance, you don't go in unless it's REALLY BAD (since you know it will cost you) so preventative medicine doesn't really happen much...
The problem isn't that "poor people don't know how to save". The problem is that the people that set the minimum wage don't seem to think that working at a job full time should at least earn you enough money to purchase both food AND shelter.
Step away from your OWN flat panel TV and DVD rack long enough to go look outside your window for a moment. See that? That's the "real world". And it extends a bit beyond the middle-class suburban skyline that no doubt graces your view.
The view "Poor people are there because they are lazy/don't want to work/lack motivation/can't plan well" is almost always exclusively found in.. wait for it... people who AREN'T POOR. Try it yourself sometime before you make broad, sweeping, generalizations.
I carpool to and from work about 20 miles each way. Interestingly, my non-scientific observation of our commute times and what affects it matches pretty closely with the linked article:
1) Friday mornings are usually pretty smooth. Mondays are often smooth too.
2) Evenings are always terrible. It doesn't matter the day of the week, they're just consistently awful.
3) Days/weeks without school are lighter.
4) Leaving at 8:40 gives a pretty consistent 30 minute commute. Leaving an hour earlier guarantees bad traffic.
The author did miss one key point though, which I call the Nielson Law of Traffic Dynamics (named for my carpool buddy who discovered it):
Traffic on the evening of October 31st is unquestionably always the worst traffic of the year, every year.
Every year we forget about this law, and every year we curse the thousands of parents who *have* *to* *be* *home* *before* *sunset*.
Neil
With your family, that is.
The primary goal isn't to minimize the time spent driving (though that would be nice). The goal is to maximize time with your friends, family, hobby, etc. Staying late to avoid rush hour is pointless if you have somewhere you want to get to.
The most rabid believers in American Exceptionalism are the exact same people whose policies are destroying it.
Now the interesting thing, which I have noticed is that when I throw the usual routine on its head and add some mutation to my search, everything works completely differently. You wake up at an insane hour of the morning and drink coffee. You then get on one of the first few trains to depart, these are invariably on time; I suppose the train drivers responsible enough to get up early are the most competent and the least likely to end up in Scotland by accident. This train is empty and free of smelly arm-pits. It is also fast and direct, requiring no further changes. Why this is not the case with the later trains, is beyond me.
The general spirit at this time of the morning, is one of champions. "I woke up before the world, therefore I am a man of power, ambition and lots of loud alarm clocks." You then stroll at leisure from station to work place with a trendy coffee in hand. The work done on the train is then casually uploaded onto workstation and you continue on a roll, glancing at those lazy sods strolling in at 9am. Your spirits are on top of the world. Come mid-afternoon, you're tired, but you've been there since the early hours. If you can't cope you can responsibly excuse yourself due to hard work and head home, stating that your work will be continued on the train. This is then valued, given that the announcement is made up front.
Somehow leaving early gives you a buzz. One should be warned, however, that insanely early starts for more than two days in a row can be hazardous to your health and lead to death by foolishly strolling in front of an old granny's very slow push bike.
[1]( George Michael lives there, and obviously never takes the train. )
I know this wont work for large distances (20km+) but I just got a bike this week and I drive ~10km a day with it to work and home. ;)
In a green city like mine (Munich, Germany) it does not only make driving to work fun, its healty, I am just as fast as with a car in a urabn environment and since I own a smart roadster it doesnt make much difference on what I can carry with me.
An additional plus: you can take shortcuts through parks and industrial sites where no car can get through wich cuts the distance even further.