So the bus I ride from downtown home is okay. It partly uses the freeway (unlike the one I took first, which is surface street all the way), and is usually relatively timely.
However, there’s another bus, an express, that’s about ten minutes quicker ('cause, y’know, express - though given how many more stops the regular bus makes, I’m a little surprised the difference is that low) with a closer stop to my office, and as an express, it’s usually less crowded and usually fewer… colorful characters on board. (Some people like being around when that kind of thing happens; not me, unfortunately.)
The problem is that the last one on this line leaves about 35 minutes before when I would “usually” leave work to make for an eight hour day (assuming I don’t chop my lunch hour down to 20 minutes - which is an option, but one I’d have to think hard about taking). So I could leave earlier… But then, I started taking the bus so I could go to bed later. I’d still be up half an hour later over my previous situation, though, but is it worth it?
So I’d like to toss it out to you - apply it to your own situation if you like. How much earlier would you get up to make your ride home a little better? How would you balance the scales, as it were? (Trying to find an approach here that’ll help me make up my own mind.)
I’d get up an hour earlier to take a more convenient bus and with the extra time at destination look forward to having a bit of a morning coffee and breakfast at a local restaurant
If my boss was flexible with work hours, I’d get up earlier for the bus. Heck I use to get to work an hour early at one job just to find better parking. The parking was horrible. Plus I like to do outdoor activities which are often easier to do in the afternoons. So getting up an hour earlier (6 am in my case) is OK with me.
I put a pretty high premium on being able to stay up late, so unless there were daily knife fights on the later bus, I wouldn’t switch to the earlier one.
No one else can answer this question for you - how much of a night person are you? How much do you value being able to stay up late?
I’d certainly try to switch to the earlier bus, though actually getting up earlier would not be guaranteed.
On a couple of regular journeys (tube or bus) I take, I take a longer way round because I’m much more likely to get a seat. Then you’re comfortable, can read, etc; it doesn’t feel like wasted time.
I’m a night-owl and finally have jobs that allow for it and I don’t get up before noon typically.
That said, it took a couple decades to get here, and even though I prefer staying up late and getting to work at the latest time acceptable, the commute that coincides with getting to work at 8 or even 9 just plain sucks ass. So, for a long time, I preferred getting to work at 7am. I had to get up at 5:30 in the morning, but there is no traffic at all when leaving in time to arrive at work by 7, and leaving work by 3-3:30 there’s a lot less traffic than after 4 or 5. So, for me, it was worth it to do the early thing.
This. I did this all through school (when buses were involved) and for many years at work. I’d MUCH rather have a peaceful commute and arrive ready to go than fight rush hour, if there’s any way around it at all.
I loved getting to my office at 7:30, I got more work done in that hour and a half before the rest of the staff came in to distract me than in the rest of the day often. The trouble was training everyone not to schedule meetings I needed to attend for late afternoon because the whole point was to avoid peak hour both ways.
Removing the stress of the cattle car journey was a sanity saver and well worth it to me.
Welp, for the second time this month, my usual bus was 15 minutes late (last time was 20). Turned the bus into a cattle car, which of course made stops even longer than they usually would be. Very frustrating.
It made me more seriously consider the earlier bus, especially since it seems that if I get up half an hour earlier, I can get home an entire hour earlier, generally. And I could still take my usual bus if that last express is canceled or something (though I can’t imagine that would happen often at ALL, considering it’s the last one).
The only thing stopping me is, of course, the half hour earlier. I started taking the bus so I could get up later to begin with. OTOH, I’d still be getting up later than I would taking the train - I’d just be cutting it in half, and my natural inclinations say the later the better.
One of the hilarious things about my commute was the choke point: if I left between 7and 7:15 a.m., I’d get to work a half hour early. Any time after 7:15 and it was hit or miss if I’d get there by 8. I didn’t have a flexible work schedule, since as a manager there had to be what we called “executive coverage” - someone authorized to make decisions about any issue over $50k.
I got in the habit of getting in early, but I pretty much had to “hide” in a coffee shop until just before my shift. If I went to my desk, it meant starting work early, as people start dragging issues to you (“Oh, you’re here. Can you help with?..”)
Do you need to inform your boss and make an official schedule change? If not, I would suggest doing a test run – try taking the earlier bus for a week and see how it goes. Do you feel miserable and miss your old schedule, or does your easier commute give you more energy and enthusiasm for the day?
I have been tweaking my schedule for a while now, testing out various arrival, departure and bedtimes, and it doesn’t take me too long to grasp whether one will work for me or not.
I often take buses that arrive at my destination much earlier than I need to be there. I like less crowded buses, and I also like getting early to places.
I won’t even get up five or ten minutes earlier to put on makeup or blow dry my hair. Yes, I go to work without makeup on, and no I don’t spend 30 minutes in the office bathroom doing it there. I comb out the wet hair and drive to work… and I’m still usually anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes late, depending on how cooperative my dog is about coming back inside after her morning yard sniffing routine.
So even if that bus had plush seats, free coffee, and had people stationed at each seat to rub my feet or neck while I ride, I still wouldn’t manage to get up early enough to catch that bus. I value every last second of sleep far more than, well, just about anything. Given my natural inclinations, I’d get up around 10, roll in to work by noon, get off around 8, and go to bed about 1 am. Until I transition to a flexible hours work-at-home gig, I am sadly stuck with this get up at 7 bullshit.
If you’re in America outside of New York, why don’t you just drive? Or are there places in America where you have to take public transport apart from New York?
The freeway traffic suxx0rz. Going back would also mean going through an intersection infamous for backups, especially with construction going on nearby.
I work in the middle of downtown, so I’d either have to pay to park (an expense which adds up), or else park in the outer ranges of the city (in the residential areas, where parking’s free) and take the bus. I do the latter on Friday nights, when I have board game night at a friend’s place downtown, but that method’s got its own share of hassles.
Plus, my workplace 100% subsidizes public transportation, so…
