The mass produced *new time* — commuting time by COVID(~ 7hours/week)
If you are part of the lucky ones which still have a full-time job as a knowledge worker across the globe, you must have achieved an unbelievable goal — saving your whole commuting time. Either you used to drive 2 hours per day in San Francisco or take a crowded subway line in Tokyo, or bike in London.
I did! I have saved 1.5 hours of my drive-to-work commuting per day which is 7.5 hours per week since the forced WFH started from mid March.
With a quick research supported by Google:) Found based on below research by CoPilot, averagely people are saving 5~7 hours per week in below top big cities in US.
WHILE, got a tricky followup question - How have everyone used this significant chunk of *new time*(~15% of our working hours)?
I know the right answer is always like how politicians answer a tricky question — It depends:) Depends on the type of work you do, depends on your family’s condition, if you have young kids to take care since the schools are closed, depends on whether if you have an well isolated space in your house to use as your home office, depends whether your work need a lot of little coordination with your remote colleagues …
I am here just want to remind everyone that how to leverage your saved commuting time is a BIG DEAL for you! Since we have all complained constantly that “… I do NOT have time!” And now you DID get more time by skipping commuting, so use it strategically and wisely!
- Reading more
- Writing more like become a new Medium writer like me
- Learning a new skill: Eg. if you are a super engineer, how about use part of the *new time* to learn how the accounting works or how to market a new app on AppStore etc.
- Learn a new sport: Eg. Golf, Darts, Chess etc.
- Spend more meaningful time with you loved ones like your spouse, kids and parents.
- Do more strategic thinking — How about secure 20min every morning to exercise the long overdue strategic thinking on the industry you are in, and your career planning, evaluate other potential professions you have had some interests while never got time to do the homework to understand about those areas.
Again, your success depends on how you use your time incl. the *saved* commuting time by COVID!
#1. New York, NY
- Time gained back from not commuting: 15.2%
- Total commuting time (prior to COVID): 7.0 hours per week
- Total commuting + working time (prior to COVID): 46.0 hours per week
- Share of workers who commuted alone by car (prior to COVID): 22.5%
#5. Los Angeles, CA
- Time gained back from not commuting: 12.4%
- Total commuting time (prior to COVID): 5.4 hours per week
- Total commuting + working time (prior to COVID): 43.6 hours per week
- Share of workers who commuted alone by car (prior to COVID): 69.6%
#7. San Francisco, CA
- Time gained back from not commuting: 12.0%
- Total commuting time (prior to COVID): 5.5 hours per week
- Total commuting + working time (prior to COVID): 46.0 hours per week
- Share of workers who commuted alone by car (prior to COVID): 30.3%
#8. Boston, MA
- Time gained back from not commuting: 12.0%
- Total commuting time (prior to COVID): 5.2 hours per week
- Total commuting + working time (prior to COVID): 43.5 hours per week
- Share of workers who commuted alone by car (prior to COVID): 38.5%
