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How Many Days Americans Waste Commuting In The Course Of A Lifetime, Mapped By City (digg.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Have you ever stopped to think that over the course of your lifetime, you will likely spend hundreds of days commuting back and forth from home and work? If not, we've got a great map that's sure to make you question what you're doing with your life. The good folks over at Educated Driver used Census Bureau data on average daily roundtrip commute times in hundreds of cities nationwide to calculate how much time Americans spend traveling to and from work over the course of their lives. (They assumed a 45-year career working 250 days a year.) The results, mapped by city, are pretty horrifying.
Method of travel also matters -- you can read a book on a train or bus. You can't in a (not self-driving) car stuck in traffic.
I bike to work most days and don't consider any of that time "wasted" -- I spend less time in the gym and more time on my bike, and I look forward to the bike ride home, sitting in traffic in my car is no fun.
My commute to my job is about 30 minutes each way, and I've been doing it 5 days a week, for almost 20 years now, so that's ~250 hours of commuting time a year, or ~5000 hours of commuting time total.
So that's ~208 24-hour days of my life wasted, right?
Well, the kicker (and I know this is going to sound obnoxious/pretentious, but it's true so I'll post it anyway) is that I've been commuting by bike, and enjoying all of that commuting time as exercise and a recreational activity. I wouldn't count it as wasted at all.
If your situation allows you to commute by bike, I highly recommend it -- it transforms a tedious daily chore into something you can look forward to both before and after work. It also cuts down on the time you need to spend at the gym, since part of your exercise quota you now get "for free" as part of your commute.
I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
I bike to work most days and don't consider any of that time "wasted" -- I spend less time in the gym and more time on my bike, and I look forward to the bike ride home, sitting in traffic in my car is no fun.
Then again if you bike to work, you are among the few who have very short commutes. I have a 40 minute commute, but it would be an 175 minute commute by bike.
In this country, a bike friendly commute doesn't usually happen by accident. My wife and I chose where to live based on our commutes -- we live a 10 minute walk from a train station for her, and a 10 mile ride to work for me. Hopefully to become a 5 mile ride early next year when my employer moves to a new office.
My bike commute is a consistent 45 minutes (mostly on little used neighborhood streets and dedicated trails), my car commute is 30 - 60 minutes.