The daily life of almost everyone is similar. Everyone works for a salary that allows them to find a place to live, to eat, to buy clothes, to get around, to have fun, to save for retirement and, as much as possible, to have a little time for themselves!
Along the way, individuals come together and form couples, which in most cases will become family units. This is the period when questions about life become more complex. For example, where to settle in order to be close to work, daycare, school... while trying to blossom.
Have you ever wondered if you were organizing your life or if life was organizing you?
Everyone would like to identify what could make their daily life easier, apart from winning the lottery. Here is a small comparison of a daily situation modified only by a change of transport mode. Air cabs of course!
Let's imagine for a moment a couple with a child living on the South or the North Shore of Montreal. One of the parents works near the residence (about 20 minutes by car at traffic time... evening and morning) and the other in an office tower in downtown Montreal (75 to 90 minutes by car at traffic time... evening and morning). What would their daily life look like?
A very early wake-up call (6:00/6:15), to have breakfast, get ready and above all to make sure that nothing is forgotten for the child who has to go to daycare or to school.
The parent who has to travel the shortest distance for work drops off the child and then goes to his or her place of work, with the first car.
The parent who works downtown leaves home for a minimum of 11 hours (including 8 hours of work, not counting overtime), with the second car, it is 7:20.
If all goes well during the day for the child, the closest parent picks him up and brings him home, and takes care of the dinner preparations while trying to spend some quality time with the child.
The one who works downtown gets home... it's past18:30!
A quick dinner if possible, as bedtime preparations are soon underway.
20:00. The speed of everyday life is gone and calm has settled in, parents are now enjoying 1 to 3 hours of peace and quiet.
I can't wait for the weekend to arrive so I can stay home and spend some quality time with my family. Anyway, one of the two parents is sick of the car having spent 15 hours of the week in it.
Now imagine that same couple living on the South or the North Shore of Montreal, but in a TOD neighborhood (see article : Traffic and Urban Development: A Major Paradigm Shift to Be Expected) served by a vertiport that provides access to air cabs and is the same driving distance from downtown Montreal:
A wake-up call, which is very close to sleeping in (7:30/7:45) to have breakfast, get ready and especially to make sure that nothing is forgotten for the child who has to go to the daycare or to school.
The parent who has to travel the shortest distance for work, goes to his or her place of work, with the only family car, it is 8:15.
The parent who works downtown leaves the house at the same time to accompany the child to the daycare center or to school, on foot, which is less than 600 meters away. He or she will even stay a little while enjoying a good coffee. He or she takes an air cab at 8:45 and by 8:51 is in downtown Montreal. After the work day, he or she takes the air cab back home at 17:00 and by 17:06 is back in the neighborhood ready to pick up the child and walk home, again.
Both parents and the child arrive home at almost the same time. Together they prepare supper, making sure to spend some quality time together as a family. The speed of everyday life is gone and calm has settled in, it is not yet 17:30.
A family dinner, another 90 good minutes of quality time before bedtime.
At 20:00, the parents enjoy 1 to 3 hours of their own time.
Can't wait for the weekend to arrive: a mix of good times at home and family outings, since the budget allows it. Despite the $600 per month cost of air cab transportation, having only one car allows savings of more than $400 per month on the rental or payment of a 2nd car, insurance, gas and parking. In addition, 14 hours of family life appeared in the past week alone!
This new way of life can become a reality with the arrival of eVTOLs which will also, in another way, greatly improve the daily life of the so-called remote regions. We will deal with this last point in a future article.
Life goes by at a dizzying pace and we forget that taking the time to measure the impact of our habits on our daily lives can save us a lot of quality time and money.
Whether in the regions or in the metropolis, It is important to think about it, isn't it?
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