The Alternative To A 2.5-Hour Commute: THE VOTER

09/28/2024

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I spoke to someone who was late on her first three-day-week day because of the LRT failure.

She then spent 4.5 hours on various Zoom calls, both with colleagues and in a meeting. Everything else she did that day was solo on her computer. Then she headed out for her 80-minute commute home. Very, very little of her 7.5-hour day was spent on any work-related personal interaction with other staff.

Other than the LRT unavailability, her next few days played out pretty well the same. She did eat lunch with some other fellow employees but that was personal, social time.

Had she been in her home office, she would have had virtually the same work experience minus the three-plus hours travel time and the transit fare. She also wouldn’t have been as tired and had more time with her family. Fortunately her children aren’t little so she has no child-care costs.

By the way, she spent nothing at any of the downtown shops or restaurants that the mayor said were going to be saved by the three-day week. Neither did any of her colleagues – she knows that because they were discussing it. With the added travel time and cost, they have no time or money to shop downtown.

The Voter is a respected community activist and long-time Bulldog contributor who prefers to keep her identity private.