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Kyle Rice, a paramedic and father of two who works for a tech company in Manhattan, explained his viral commute from his home in Delaware to the Big Apple, including how he saves money along the way.
“The commute door to door is about an hour and 45 minutes,” Rice said of his new and improved travel time.
Rice initially went viral on TikTok for his lengthy commute, which made for a difficult daily routine: in the morning, he would drive to Wilmington train station in Delaware, take the train all the way to Grand Central in New York City, hop on the subway to the World Trade Center and then finally make a short walk over to his office.
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Kyle Rice, a paramedic and father of two who works for a tech company in Manhattan, explained his viral commute from his home in Delaware to the Big Apple, including how he saves money. (Fox News Digital / Getty Images)
But that all changed once TikTokers gave him advice for a more streamlined route that Rice still takes today.
“I made my TikTok about my commute, and people immediately jumped on and said, ‘you’re doing this all the wrong way,'” explaining that he learned from comments online that there was actually an alternate route that uses the Newark PATH train.
“TikTok has saved me 30 to 45 minutes off my commute now in the mornings,” Rice said.
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Train approaching elevated subway station in Queens, New York. (Bim via Getty Images)
Rice, who is also an EMS educator, has over 86,000 likes on his TikTok account. One of his videos, which has over 1.2 million views, shows him walking through his commute and traveling through 4 states along the way.
“On the way home, it goes a little bit faster,” he said of his commute back from work. “I’m not sure why, but I’m leaving [work] around 5:20pm in the afternoon and I’m on my couch with my kids before 7:30pm.”
Despite a considerable commute to and from work, Rice was adamant that he believed working in New York City was “worth it.”
“The job was a significant raise for me compared to what I was making here in Delaware,” he said. “It’s Manhattan money with the cost of living of Delaware.”
“The job was a significant raise for me compared to what I was making here in Delaware,” he said. “It’s Manhattan money with the cost of living of Delaware.” (Silverstein Properties, Inc.)
He said that with commuter benefits through work, Amtrak points and other cost-saving measures, the math made it clear that overall he was still saving money, even with travel costs. But just to be sure, he also makes sure to pack food and snacks so he can avoid paying extra on the train.
“This is worth it to myself and my family with the extra pay, the flexibility of working from home, a little bit more of the increased travel, which has helped,” he said.
And if Rice could pick any city in the world to work in, New York City is a particularly unique location.
“Getting the chance to work in a place like New York City is not something that everybody gets to do in their lifetime,” he said. “With the cost of living so high in some of these major areas, Philadelphia and New York, D.C., or even anywhere in the country as people have more difficulty affording things. This job really offered me the ability to do that and have more time at home with my family.”
Rice said that “super commuting” was becoming increasingly popular because more people are “understanding the benefit of living where they are and getting paid where they end up, which is a big thing.”
“It’s not for everybody, for sure,” he added. “But it is worth it for for me and my family.”
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From Rice’s point of view, being able to have the networking of a big city while still being able to save on cost of living expenses with “just a short train ride” makes the lifestyle a no-brainer. (iStock)
While Rice conceded that there were definitely some “disadvantages” to the super commuting lifestyle, which includes time away from family, he still enjoys his experience.
“Just financially, personally, professionally, it was really hard to find a lot of the downsides to this,” he said. “Because even when you’re on the train, that’s workable time,” he said. “There’s Wi-Fi in the train that’s free, so I can be doing work, checking emails with schoolwork, whatever.”
“Or simply just sleeping, which is rest time that we all need,” Rice added.
Rice recommended that people considering super commuting first check if it “fits with their lifestyle and with their goals.”
“I see this becoming more of a more of a popular way of working, because you get to individualize your experience personally and professionally,” he added. “You can pick the area you want to work in and as long as it’s within a commutable distance, you can be there.”
From Rice’s point of view, being able to have the networking of a big city while still being able to save on cost of living expenses with “just a short train ride” makes the lifestyle a no-brainer.
“[It’s] a “really incredible experience,” he said.
He also noted the fringe benefits of his commute, including the sightseeing.
“Probably one of the most beautiful train rides I’ve been on is the trip from New York City to Albany,” he said. “That was gorgeous.”
Megan Myers is an associate producer/writer with Fox News Digital Originals.
