Ever had loads of projects on your to-do list, but ended up procrastinating until the very last minute to complete them?

One method that might help you overcome the inertia and get some work done is by taking bus route 858, as shown in a TikTok video posted by an 18-year-old Singaporean, who wished to be known only as Jia Yu.

@keerigiri taking the longest bus ride in singapore to force me to study #singapore #sgtiktok ♬ original sound - keerigiri

Speaking to Mothership, Jia Yu said he decided to ride on bus route 858 on the afternoon of Jul. 1 to force himself to concentrate, as he would be rid of the distractions in his room and school library.

Additionally, he also hoped that a change of scenery (or "sceneries that kept changing", to borrow his words) along the bus ride would help him become more productive.

Spanning 73.4km, bus route 858 is dubbed one of Singapore's "lengthiest bus routes" by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) as it brings passengers from Woodlands Interchange to Changi Airport before making a return to Woodlands Interchange.

According to LTA, the entire route would typically take 163 minutes, or more than 2.5 hours, to complete.

Three-hour bus ride

In the video, Jia Yu shared that he boarded the bus at around 12:50pm and sat down near the end of the bus.

He then took out his laptop and completed a Wordle game before he began doing his schoolwork.

As Jia Yu was travelling on a Monday afternoon when there was less traffic, it only took around an hour for the bus to arrive at Changi Airport.

On the way back to Woodlands, Jia Yu had another hour of deep focus before the bus reached Yishun at around 3:35pm.

He arrived at Woodlands Bus Interchange shortly after and alighted the bus after spending almost three hours on it.

Other than feeling a little bit of numbness in his buttocks, Jia Yu was happy with the trip as he was able to get "some work done".

Second attempt at taking bus 858

While Jia Yu lived in Woodlands until 2019, he told Mothership he only came to know about bus route 858 after searching for Singapore’s lengthiest bus route on Google.

This unfamiliarity with the bus route also led Jia Yu to misunderstand that the bus would end at Changi Airport without returning to Woodlands during his first attempt at taking the bus trip to boost his productivity on Jun. 21.

While Jia Yu gave up his first bus trip halfway as he did not like how it turned out, he soon made his second attempt 10 days later, which he documented via his TikTok video.

Bus ride 'conducive to working'

To ensure he could maximise his productivity on his second attempt on Jul. 1, Jia Yu said he deliberatively chose to embark on the bus ride on a Monday afternoon because he wanted "as few people on the bus as possible".

"I was afraid if I were to ride too early or too late, the bus would have gotten too crowded for me to do work and film footage," he shared.

Jia Yu was eventually proven right on Jul. 1, as his bus ride was only "a bit crowded" for a few stops and was "relatively empty" throughout the rest.

As a result, Jia Yu was able to take up two seats to ensure some personal space during his ride without coming across as hogging them.

The fact that bus ride was "not too shaky" and none of the passengers were "particularly loud" also helped make his bus trip conducive to working, recounted Jia Yu.

Overall rating: 7/10

Overall, Jia Yu was quite satisfied with his experience working on bus route 858 and gave it a rating of 7/10.

This rating took into consideration of the many "annoying little steps" people need to undertake to complete such bus trips, said Jia Yu.

One such steps is that passengers must make sure both their phones and laptops are properly charged as they would be using mobile hotspots while working on a bus.

When asked whether he would recommend his method of overcoming procrastination to others, Jia Yu said he would only recommend it to those who do not suffer from motion sickness and are looking for a change of scenery to focus on their work.

As for himself, Jia Yu shared that he might go on more such bus trips in the future:

"I am now aware that there are actually many other bus routes that can also be considered the 'lengthiest', thanks to the many comments I received on TikTok.

I might reattempt [at taking bus trips along] the many bus routes I received [in the comments section]."

Top images via keerigiri/TikTok; some quotes are edited for clarity