How do you beat traffic if everyone does it?

I used to arrive promptly at 7am, and clock out at 3:30pm.

The bus to the office was always empty.

The bus home was always packed.

Now I work from home

When I worked in healthcare there were days where I clocked in at 7am and was forced to keep working until 11pm without any lunch or dinner break. Worker rights in the US are almost completely non-existent and the way some workers get treated is hellish