12 days a year... WASTED
Statistics Canada filed a report recently on commuting times for Canadians. Their study found that the average Canadian spends 12 full days a year getting to work and returning home.
12 DAYS.
That's a hefty chunk of time in my opinion. Just think what we communters could be doing with 12 whole extra days. I could finish a really nice scrapbook, do a major renovation on my home, take a hot vacation, redesign my blog, learn a second language.
Okay, so maybe not the last one, but seriously, perhaps I need to re-evaluate my life, my career, my place of work if it means adding 12 days more days of free time to my life! If I worked from home every day that means I would have 12 extra days a year to devote to ME, without feeling like I was behind the rest of the world!
As I read the Stats Can study I found their results to be pretty accurate, or at least truthful to my daily routine. It says that communters spend an average of 63 minutes a day making the round trip to and from work. 63 minutes is about what it takes me to commute to and from Ottawa... and I am not complaining as I like to think that those 32.5 minutes each way (especially in the morning) make me a better person. I have time to wake up, collect my thoughts, and therefore when I arrive at the office/school, I am generally a more pleasant person to be around (so to my co-workers, consider yourself lucky that I live 20 minutes outside the city!).
The other point that made me smile when I read the results of survery was that mode of transportation was a major factor to the study. Apararently commuters who use public transit to get to work (without also using their automobile) spend an average of 41 minutes longer on their commute than those using an automobile.
Whooooooooooo....hooo! I know many of you OC Transpo riders here in Ottawa are convinced that taking the bus is quicker, but if you factor in your walk to the bus stop, the stop'n'go time, the walk from the bus stop to the office, you are looking at 41 minutes longer than Moi!
Sometimes people ask me, how can I live in the boon-docks, but it all boils down to preference... and my perference is to be in a smaller community that is close to an urban centre. And according to the study you are losing 14 days a year commuting, as opposed to my 12, so I feel better already!
Does hearing that we waste 12 days a year on communting surprise you... ? Do you think this only an issue for major cities, or is this the case everywhere? Is the public transit vs. automobile argument accurate?
12 DAYS.
That's a hefty chunk of time in my opinion. Just think what we communters could be doing with 12 whole extra days. I could finish a really nice scrapbook, do a major renovation on my home, take a hot vacation, redesign my blog, learn a second language.
Okay, so maybe not the last one, but seriously, perhaps I need to re-evaluate my life, my career, my place of work if it means adding 12 days more days of free time to my life! If I worked from home every day that means I would have 12 extra days a year to devote to ME, without feeling like I was behind the rest of the world!
As I read the Stats Can study I found their results to be pretty accurate, or at least truthful to my daily routine. It says that communters spend an average of 63 minutes a day making the round trip to and from work. 63 minutes is about what it takes me to commute to and from Ottawa... and I am not complaining as I like to think that those 32.5 minutes each way (especially in the morning) make me a better person. I have time to wake up, collect my thoughts, and therefore when I arrive at the office/school, I am generally a more pleasant person to be around (so to my co-workers, consider yourself lucky that I live 20 minutes outside the city!).
The other point that made me smile when I read the results of survery was that mode of transportation was a major factor to the study. Apararently commuters who use public transit to get to work (without also using their automobile) spend an average of 41 minutes longer on their commute than those using an automobile.
Whooooooooooo....hooo! I know many of you OC Transpo riders here in Ottawa are convinced that taking the bus is quicker, but if you factor in your walk to the bus stop, the stop'n'go time, the walk from the bus stop to the office, you are looking at 41 minutes longer than Moi!
Sometimes people ask me, how can I live in the boon-docks, but it all boils down to preference... and my perference is to be in a smaller community that is close to an urban centre. And according to the study you are losing 14 days a year commuting, as opposed to my 12, so I feel better already!
Does hearing that we waste 12 days a year on communting surprise you... ? Do you think this only an issue for major cities, or is this the case everywhere? Is the public transit vs. automobile argument accurate?
posted by SC at 3:47 PM
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