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-   -   Best ways to make the most of your daily commute (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/street-experiences/275836-best-ways-make-most-your-daily-commute.html)

Hey everyone, with the return to office craziness already starting it seems like we'll all be commuting to office daily again (if not already). Was trying to figure out ways to make the daily commute a bit more productive and wanted more suggestions and advise. What I currently have is

• Pocket app : Have been using this to save articles that I come across but want to read later. It can also play the articles back as audio. Have to manually play this from the phone since no android auto integration, but a good way to get my reading list done
• Podcasts : Very new to this and still trying to figure out some good set to listen to, but people tell me it's the best way to learn something on the move
  Audio books : On youtube or Audible, but again something that I've not been able to get used to enjoying yet

Let me know your suggestions, apps, things to do whatever you've used to make that dead commute time a bit better

If roads are empty:

- When my office was at Churchgate and I had a daily one-way commute of 13 km, I used to leave at 0755 in my City / Civic and go high-revving all the way on empty roads. It was incredibly therapeutic. Enjoy the drive, enjoy your car, enjoy the music.

If roads are full of traffic:

- I usually take an Uber / Ola sedan, plonk myself in the front seat and work all the way on my laptop or on calls.

- If driving yourself, I guess podcasts & audiobooks. I am a big fan of long-form content (I read for an hour everyday with my meals) and many big websites now have a "listen to this article" option.

But really, whenever there is heavy traffic on my route, I just call for an app-based taxi and work.

Excellent thread this one, espcially since I reside in Bangalore, and I spend close to 1-2 hours everyday in traffic depending on my luck.

Key stuff for me to do while driving:

1. Talking to family and friends on phone - keeps my irritation level down and under control given the chaotic traffic that I see everyday. Also good to connect with folks when it's difficult to find time given the workload at office and family commitments. (Please note that I use handsfree connection, so it's completely safe)

2. Listen to podcasts on YT/Google Podcasts and audiobooks on Audible: There are pretty amazing podcasts on Google podcasts and creators on YT who come up with wonderful content on everything from politics, movies, science and automobiles. Audible has wonderful narrations of books by renowned folks (e.g. Sherlock Holmes by Stephen Fry, that's wonderful to listen. Was also hooked to Kumar Vishwas's channel sometime back. Plug in and enjoy.

3. Deliberate on life priorities and solutions to problems faced: not kidding, driving even in congested traffic areas helps me focus and I've figured out decent approaches to stuff that I faced at work/personal front.

4. If traveling with company (family/friends) - just chit chat and catch up on things that we haven't talked about in a while. It's so much fun to travel with mom/wife and catch up on family matters that I keep missing out on regular basis because of professional commitments.

What I don't do: listen to songs (bored of it, and songs usually do not help me drive better, but again that's a personal preference).

Doing all this, while with enough focus on traffic conditions has made my commute much easier, also helped me keep away drowsiness and keep myself calm despite provocations from morons on the road. Will look forward to responses on this thread to see if I can add anything to my list.

Edit:

GTO - Here's a feature suggestion (not sure if this can be integrated with forum s/w, but here goes) - we should have a "listen to this thread" feature on forum, especially for reviews and travelogues.

I don't drive to work anymore, but here are a few things that I used to do (at various points as I grew older)
1. Back in the day when Sirius/XM were popular I used to subscribe to their comedy channels. You'd want to stay in the car to hear the punch line. I'd like to think those punch lines have made me a funny guy to be with. Today's equivalent would be similar stuff from the music app of your choice.
2. Regular radio - there are channels in major metros with really witty RJs and music to my liking. 94.3 in Bangalore and now in Chennai too. (Nothing compares to Drew & Mike on WRIF in Detroit area)
3. Catching up with friends and family - as the free time at work and home becomes sparse now I almost always talk to friends and family during walks or while sitting in cabs
4. Most recently I've started to think how to derive high school math formulae from first principles. It was triggered by a dosa we got which was served in a conical way. Unwrapping the cone resulted in a circle. This led to thoughts about surface area of cone...
5. When the odd investment pays off, I start eyeing houses and wonder if I could afford them and how I could convince my wife to take out another loan

I have to go to office like twice a week and rest of the days can WFH. So I have taken this opportunity to better understand my daily drive. I have learnt ways to extract best mileage out of my car and the best I could get is 26 though I don't have that picture, but for reference I am attaching one on my recent trip to Vikarabad near Hyderabad. And this is my 1.2 petrol i20.

Music, good music and some great music. Nothing more is needed for me !!

For me its free flowing traffic in the morning and heavy traffic in the evening.

In the mornings, I enjoy listening to my favorite tracks while driving. Its an amazing feeling.

In the evenings, during bumper to bumper traffic, I catch up with friends/family members via phone calls. No better way to kill time than to chit-chat with your loved ones. Helps me stay updated with what's going on in my circle.

Discovering alternate routes with less traffic is an interesting activity. Especially routes that bypass the chokepoints, even if it takes longer time.

The problem with getting across chokepoints is that it can either take 10 minutes or 40 minutes depending on your luck. But if an alternate route takes 20 mins anytime of day (because of free flowing or less traffic), this route might be better. Time consistency of commute is highly underrated. If you know beforehand that the commute will take exactly 1 hour come what may, it will be less stressful than a commute that takes 45 mins to 1.5 hours, depending on the traffic.

You have to have an open mind of going through residential areas if necessary, and not always the "main roads". However, it is best to avoid narrow roads, because that introduces an element of uncertainty into the route (badly parked car or two wheeler)

Music, music and more music. Fingers tapping on the steering wheel, head nodding to the beat forgetting worries.

When in Jndia I drove to work at odd times to experience slightly lesser traffic. I put on a wide variety of music and sing along. The list is more
Classical music on the way to office and on the way back it’s rock and rap..

Back when I was driving to work everyday myself (I then switched to carpooling), I took the longer but way more scenic route each day. There are about four routes from my place to office: three that go through the highway and main road to the business area, and one that takes country roads, passing through fields and hills. Back then, very few knew / preferred it, given that it wasn't in the best shape.

Thankfully, I was able to time my to/fro journeys to ensure I got the least traffic en route. The journeys were always very enjoyable given the lovely views, that became magical during the monsoon.

During these commutes, I typically played the Today's Chill playlist on Apple Music, that seemed to make everything better. In fact, a few times, my co-passengers and I were tempted to ditch going to work and instead go to a popular lake city nearby!

So:
1) if possible, time your commute to get lesser traffic
2) have no / good co-passengers depending on your personality
3) play music (or podcasts if that's your thing) that let's you focus on it vs. the traffic

My daily commute involves around 16km to and fro. My one way commute takes around 35-45 mins. 90% of the time I offer car pooling. So, while going to office, folks from my locality join the ride and while coming back folks from my office join. And we discuss everything from Cinema, Travel, Cars, tech to Politics, Work. And the remaining 10% of the time and if there is traffic, I call my Mom or friends and if there is no traffic, then it is just Music. This might or might not work for some.

Interesting thread.

I go to the office 5 days a week. My one-way commute is 25 km and through bad traffic on Chakan road with never completing road work.

I use Spotify for my music and Kuku FM for book summaries.
I prefer headsets over car infotainment since my car is very old and does not support AA.

Depends on the type of traffic, generally while driving I only listen to music. Don’t like talking to anyone or listening to anything that requires cognitive resources as I’ve seen it takes away from my performance on the road.

Pilots will attest to this, under heavy cognitive load, your hearing is the first thing that takes a hit. So you lose track of what’s being discussed say in a podcast. I guess for very sedate drivers this won’t apply as your processing loads are lowered with lowered speed.

My work demands me to drive 6 days of the week (at times all 7 days too).

I spend on an average 3 to 3.5 hours driving every day, of which 70% is on the highways.

50% of my drives, it is podcasts in YouTube/Spotify. 30% of it is music from my USB/Spotify. 20% of the time I floor the heck out of my cars & I don't listen to anything except the engine note :D

I also have drivers, and when I am chauffeur driven, it's mostly peace and quiet inside the cabin while the car is chugging along at a peaceful 80 kmph on the highways.

I find podcasts the best way to make long driving hours productive as well as enjoyable.