~ Killing time in Bangalore traffic ~

I lose (spend) 3 hours of my day in Bangalore traffic. That's significant amount of time for me. Here are some ways I kill (utilise) time while commuting in office shuttle. 

1. Read a book - kindle fits the need
2. Listen to music - if I need to relax
3. Talk to friends - helps me keep connected with friends regularly.
4. Twitter - mostly evenings
5. Sleep - if too tired
6. Youtube Offline - Dev Talks, TED, Documentaries, John Oliver, NewsLaundry, etc
7. News / Blogs - Mostly aggregate content on Pocket. 
1. Pocket - really cool app if you are an avid reader. 
2. Medium, has some great content too.

If you are an urban commuter in Bangalore or elsewhere, who happens to spend gruelling hours travelling in traffic then I would like to know how do you kill your time?

~ Bangalore commute ~

Has been 2 years & 6 days since I changed my job & that's how my date with Whitefield started. It has changed my daily lifestyle from my previous job. 

Earlier, my commute was 3kms to my workplace with an average of 5 minutes (via bike). Now, it takes an average time of 75 mins (via company shuttle) to reach office, covering 25 kms with 10 pick-up points doing North Bangalore darshan.

The journey to home gets even better in the evening based on when I exit office

1. 5pm shuttle will take an average of 90 minutes to reach Hebbal
2. 7pm shuttle will take an average of 110 minutes to reach Hebbal
3. 9pm shuttle will take an average of 65 minutes to reach Hebbal

On rainy days, one requires 45 minutes to just cross Whitefield & Mahadevpura area. In a nutshell, here is my commuting timecard:

     

     Mornings = 6 hours 25 minutes / week

     Evenings = 8 hours 33 minutes / week 

     Total Commuting per day = 2 hours 55 minutes (3 hours round off)

     Total Commuting per week = 15 hours

Assuming that I went to work for 202 days in a year (i.e. deducting 50 days for Leaves & Work From Home) then the total commuting hours sums up to 606 hours (25 days). 

So, I loose 25 days of my life in Bangalore traffic every year discounting weekend commuting :)

I had thought of writing this article last year but that never materialised. Today, after reading this article The upside of living in the cities with the worst commutes, it motivated me to compute the hours I loose in commuting.

Am still better off than the Urban American who is spending 40 hours commuting every week. But, imagine the total number of hours wasted by all of us in traffic jam. Companies should pro-actively need to adapt remote work for better work-life balance & productiveness of their employees.

Here is my list of longest commutes in Bangalore.

Would like to hear how much time you spend commuting to work in Bangalore or which ever urban city you live in.