I seriously believe that the term "rush hour" should be banned. It is so last-century. Today, we have "rush hours" (note the plural) that tend to the "rush day" in the limit.
I charted Google Traffic's travel time estimates for my commute back home yesterday, by sampling from the website at sporadic time points in the afternoon. Here is the result for potential departure time points ranging between 2:15 PM and 6:00 PM, on a Monday afternoon:
The starting point is just west of Boston, inside Route 128/I-95. The end point is roughly 21 miles north-west of there.
The free-flow time for this trip is about 30 minutes, which is reported by Google around 2:15. But it goes downhill fast from there, reaching a maximum of 56 minutes... yes, nearly an hour, at about 3:15.
If I want to have a decent commute back home, I need to leave work by 2 o'clock. Or, wait until about 7 o'clock! Wow, what level of service! What quality of life!
It should be noted that the above times are those reported by Google, which (in my experience) systematically under-estimates the level of congestion. Also, these are instantaneous travel times, so leaving at 2:15 does not guarantee a 31-minute ride home. In fact, it is guaranteed that several minutes will be added to that estimate.
Tip of the day: Add at least 5 minutes to what Google tells you, and be prepared to add a whole lot more when Google realizes it messed up badly while guiding you onto the most congested way home!
Or, call me and we'll chat about ways to do better than Google. I have my bag of tricks, but do not want to reveal them to everyone and thus ruin my own commute :-)
I charted Google Traffic's travel time estimates for my commute back home yesterday, by sampling from the website at sporadic time points in the afternoon. Here is the result for potential departure time points ranging between 2:15 PM and 6:00 PM, on a Monday afternoon:
The free-flow time for this trip is about 30 minutes, which is reported by Google around 2:15. But it goes downhill fast from there, reaching a maximum of 56 minutes... yes, nearly an hour, at about 3:15.
If I want to have a decent commute back home, I need to leave work by 2 o'clock. Or, wait until about 7 o'clock! Wow, what level of service! What quality of life!
It should be noted that the above times are those reported by Google, which (in my experience) systematically under-estimates the level of congestion. Also, these are instantaneous travel times, so leaving at 2:15 does not guarantee a 31-minute ride home. In fact, it is guaranteed that several minutes will be added to that estimate.
Tip of the day: Add at least 5 minutes to what Google tells you, and be prepared to add a whole lot more when Google realizes it messed up badly while guiding you onto the most congested way home!
Or, call me and we'll chat about ways to do better than Google. I have my bag of tricks, but do not want to reveal them to everyone and thus ruin my own commute :-)
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