1 hour of commuting a day = 15 days of your life a year
I went to see Jerry Spring the Musical this weekend at the Bailiwick Theatre in Chicago. A great show, by the way, although some may consider it heretical (Jesus and the Devil are heavily involved in the second act, but I don't want to give anything away so I won't say more).
Anyways, on the train ride on the way back my mind was wondering and I did some math in my head, trying to figure out how many days a year you spend in your car for every hour a day you commute. Here's my math:
- 5 work days a week x 50 weeks a year (assuming you don't work 2 weeks) x 1 commuting hour a day = 250 hours a year
- remember, these are all awake hours, so if you have 16 awake hours in one day then 250 hours a year / 16 awake hours per day = 15.625 days / year
Every hour of your total daily commute time is the equivalent of 15 days a year. If you commute an hour both ways for a total of two hours a day, that's 30 days a year you spend commuting, sitting in your car or in public transportation.
Indiana ranks 35th of all U.S. states with an average daily commute (for workers 16 and older who did not work at home) of 21.2 minutes. NY, MD, NJ, DC, and IL are the top 5. I walk to work (if I don't need my car that day) in 10 minutes. If I drive, I'm there in 2.
