How To Spend Less Time Driving
Probably a good thing
My first full-time job involved a commute an hour each way. It certainly could have been longer, but I left at 5:30AM to try to minimize it. Ten hours a week I spent in the car just getting to and from work. It’s been more than ten years now and I think the tide has turned quite a bit. People don’t want to spend time and money in their car when they can work from home. Even so, you’ll still see rush hours and traffic just about everywhere. Some people don’t have the luxury of working from home and others may be driving to a leisure activity. Either way, let’s see if there is any way to get back your time from the car.
First, you need to identify and quantify all the time you are spending in your car. For many people their top in terms of time would be commute to work, dropping off kids, and running errands. For you, it might be long drives to the ocean to surf. Whatever it is list it and then sort it in descending order, which is biggest opportunities first.
Avoiding the drive
Outsource
For each item think if you really NEED to be there. For example, I could skip a trip to Costco if I use Instacart. However, I can’t replace a trip to the beach because it is the destination that’s important. For the items that you don’t need to be at the place think of what it would cost avoid the trip. If you use Amazon you are doing just that. But you can also do it for groceries or have services come to you (massage, piano lessons, and more).
Move
Moving is an extreme measure, but living closer to what you do frequently will likely improve your quality of life. You’ll have to take into consideration a ton of factors, but if the most time you are spending in the car is due to your commute then moving could help. Our house it within walking distance of the grocery store and this has increased our quality of life.
Find new employment
If you enjoy where you live, but don’t like your commute you can look for a job closer to where you live. I did this when I wanted to stop driving two hours a day to and from work.
Work Remotely
The heyday of remote working was during covid. Since then it has been pulled back some. I don’t know the future, but if you are able to work remotely or find a job that permits it I would highly recommend it. Since the pandemic I have been fully remote and have enjoyed being able to be eating breakfast one moment and five minutes later be in a meeting. Yes, it does blur the lines between work and home, but I’d argue having a phone with email/Slack does that as well. What it does save me is lots of time where I’d be in the car.
Still getting there
Public transportation
Using public transportation will reduce the time you drive to zero, but it might not save you time. If you haven’t checked yet, see what the options are and how convenient they are.
Shared transportation
Carpooling is a good way to reduce the amount you need to drive. If you get 4 people in a car all going to the same place you’ll only need to drive 1/4 of the time. It will save you money too as you can divide the cost multiple ways. It may not save you time as you have to meet somewhere. However, if it allows you to utilize the carpool lane, then it likely will.
Carpool lanes
This won’t be applicable everywhere, but in some places there are lanes for cars which are carrying a minimum number of passengers. If you can figure out carpooling then it’s a great way to save time. If not, sometimes the rules will allow you to use the lane with only one person if you have a special type of car. Back when I commuted in California this was certain EVs and CNG cars. I seriously considered getting a CNG Civic which I figured would save me 2 hours a week, but instead optimized for cost and got a diesel VW which saved a lot on high gas prices. Later I realized it would be better to try to find a new job which didn’t involve such a long commute. Going from 10 hours to 8 hours would have been wonderful, but it still would’ve been longer than I desired.
Toll roads
Toll roads are a way to exchange your money for time. Some are fixed rate and others could be variable with higher prices during congested times. You’ll have to make a calculation to determine whether the cost is worth the time you save.
Uber
Taking an Uber allows you the convenience of a car without having to drive. You don’t actually save time, but you are getting time back that you could use to do other tasks while someone else drives.
Private driver
At some level of wealth it makes sense to get a private driver. If you’ve seen Succession you know they have drivers so they can do business more efficiently. Rather than worrying about driving they are working. If an executive is getting paid $10 million a year that means ever hour is around $5,000, so they will want to save as much of it as possible.
Helicopter
I include this because it’s a really good option for time savings (at a large cost). I’m kind of surprised that more rich people don’t fly around all the time.
Manhattan to JFK in a car takes 40 minutes on a good day. Using Blade’s helicopter will take you 5 minutes any day. If your time is valuable enough, taking a helicopter may be worth it. With all the drone development maybe there will even be a cheaper alternative in the future.
Conclusion
There are lots of options and you’ve likely assessed many of them before. I think our default in America is to drive and make it as cheap as possible by sitting in traffic. However, you should explore your options. Moving and job switching are more extreme options, but it could be highly rewarding not only in time, but also in money and happiness. Don’t be afraid to try something new. Surely the grass isn’t always greener, but you should be able to quantify your time savings.
Finally, being in the car doesn’t have to be too painful. If a drive is long I try to listen to an audiobook as a way of using the time in a way I would enjoy. Over the years I’ve tried almost all the method I listed (no helicopters). I started with a 10 hour weekly commute, then reduced it to 4 hours with a new job. Then I moved closer and reduced it to 1 hour with car but opted for 2 hours by bike. When I was searching for a new job last year I found a fully remote one and now have no commute. Now the constraint has shifted to my children’s drop off and pickup, but I can apply the same ideas.