In my opinion the actual problem with the article is that it's not clear these people are actually wasting time. Maybe they use this time to listen to language tapes, audio books or something. In that case it could actually be valuable time to them. I treasure my 2 hours on the train because it's the only place I can't be interrupted and don't have to feel bad about that fact.
I'm pretty sure it's just a reminder of things you do day in and day out that are "wasteful". For me, it was TV.
On the flip side, time is money but sometimes you don't have money so you have to spend your time instead. Parking in NYC is expensive for lots so waiting for a spot on the street is sometimes the only option.
In terms of city planning, the other option is riding a bike and not having a car (well, I have neither and just use the subways). For people that choose to have a car in the city, you have a price to pay. That price is usually in parking.
I've been seeing this one a lot lately so I'm going to go ahead and call it. Bullshit. Most people directly exchange time for money in the course of "making a living". This is why poverty is referred to as a trap (and a desperate one at that). Poverty is what happens at the limit of this exchange when it takes an extraordinary amount of time to to get very little (or goods worth very little) money.
Instead of people "wasting their lives", what we see in this example is a broken economic system that makes it more valuable for people to sit in their cars two hours a week while the street is cleaned than the other available alternatives. This should open the debate about the failures of public transport or city planning or whatever, not merely provide a smug fellow on a bike an opportunity to look down his nose at others.