5 Commuting Tips For Students

Commuting between school, work and home can be a hassle and time consuming for many students. Hopefully, these five commuting tips can ease the stress of commuting and even make your day a little easier. Although this article will be tailored towards college students, high school students can also change the tips to fit their needs as well.

1. Expect The Unexpected Transit

One of the biggest commuting tips I can provide is to expect the unexpected. Specifically, in the wintertime, you can’t continuously use the subway delays as an excuse for why you are not on time. If you have lived in your city for a while, you know when the rush hour is or what transit it like during inclement weather. For this reason, I suggest you take at least two trains before you originally leave if you can help it. By taking two trains, or leaving your house two hours before you need to be in class, you are ensuring you have enough time to commute to school.

2. E-Readers

A great commuting tip related to school is to use an e-reader to do homework. You can easily get a pdf version of a textbook or download your weekly online readings to a Kindle or Kobo. Here, you can spend the 45-minute train ride completing homework instead of wasting it staring at the ceiling. Depending on how packed the train/bus is, you might not want to pull out your laptop due to its bulkiness. However, an e-reader can easily slide in and out of your bag. You can also bring it in your purse if you are just going to work, rather than bringing a heavy and thick textbook.

3. Limit Your Commute

An easy commuting tip for those who travel far between home, work and school are to arrange your schedule to limit the amount of time you commute. For instance, if you work near your school which is far away from your house, try to make sure that you work and go to school on the same day. Let’s say you live in the suburbs of Toronto, but commute downtown for school and work. You have two options. To maximize the money you spend on transit, you might want to combine your workdays and school days on the same day so you are not wasting a $14 train commute for a four-hour shift. If you don’t work, then you might want to schedule all of your classes on one or two days. This way you won’t have to commute many times.

4. Online Work/Courses

Another commuting tip is for students to take online courses as a way to reduce their commute. Some schools allow students to take a mix of online classes and regular classes. If you want to limit your commute or save money, an easy way is to take one or two courses online. Depending on the class, you might only have to come into school for the exam, or not at all.

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5. Start Early

The last commuting tip might be more difficult for those of us who like to sleep in. If you have a class scheduled in the afternoon, a nice way to optimize your time is to commute to school early and spend the extra hours completing homework. This is especially beneficial for students who can’t focus at home, or don’t trust themselves to study in their bedroom. Depending on the timing of your classes, and the amount of homework you have to complete, you can measure how much time to take before class.