Tuesday, November 21, 2017

Ignore Google's Thanksgiving Travel Advice


According to Google for most people the best time to travel home for Thanksgiving is early Wednesday morning (3-4 am).  Google analysed traffic data from last year's Thanksgiving holiday to determine the best and worst times to travel by car from a number of major cities. But ignore Google's advice about the worst time to travel. It isn't during rush-hour tomorrow. The worst time to travel is during rush-hour today.

Mapping Thanksgiving includes a tool which allows you to discover the best and worst times to leave a number of American cities. Select the city where you live and the tool will tell you the best time to travel - before and after Thanksgiving. Unfortunately Google has only looked at data starting the day before Thanksgiving. Which is why I've told you to ignore Google's travel advice! Google claims that the worst time to travel for most people is around 4 pm tomorrow. The actual worst time to travel is during rush hour today. This is because a lot of people will actually finish work before their usual time tomorrow.

The AAA says that in 8 out of the top 10 congested cities the worst time to travel is during rush hour on Tuesday (if you live in Atlanta or Houston then Google is correct & Wednesday rush hour is the busiest time). The AAA has also listed the worst times to travel to America's busiest airports. Some are busiest Tuesday & some busier on Wednesday (check the AAA list for the different airport times).

The University of Virginia agrees with the AAA that Tuesday evening rush hour is normally the worst time to travel. They have released an interactive map which uses data from last year to show the best and worst times to travel in Virginia this week. The Virginia Thanksgiving Holiday Historic Travel Trends map allows you to use a timeline to see how busy the state's roads are (historically) during this whole holiday week.

No comments: